Aproximaciones metodológicas desde la arqueopalinología a contextos antropogénicos de la Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos) y a secuencias naturales del litoral mediterráneo

Identifier:  TDX:3028

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TDX3028

Authors:  Expósito Barea, Isabel

Abstract:
This work considers the palynological analysis from the perspective of anthropization for the reconstruction of the plant environment in which human activities were developed during the Pleistocene and Holocene in the Iberian Peninsula. With the intensification of human activities, human communities alter the environment, favoring deforestation and degradation of plant communities. Thus, through the analysis of pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs (NPPs) of the Holocene sequence of the El Mirador Cave (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos), vegetation and climate of Neolithic and the Bronze Age have been reconstructed. The analysis has evidenced the intensity of anthropic pressure and has contributed to the knowledge of the formation of a fumier deposit. The particularity of this infilling has led to the taphonomic analysis of the palynological ensemble of the Mir4 level, framed in the Bronze Age. The main contribution of this study is the description of the relationship of the set of palynomorphs identified with the characteristics described for the sedimentary facies, and has contributed significantly to the knowledge of the deposit formation processes. The low pollen resolution that characterizes the Pleistocene deposits has motivated the analysis of the NPPs of the Sima del Elefante, Gran Dolina and Galería sequences (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos) and has ratified the suitability of NPPs as paleoecological indicators. On the other hand, pollen and microcharcoal results obtained from some Holocene sedimentary sequences in the Mediterranean area of the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands have confirmed the importance of fires and anthropization in the formation of Mediterranean vegetation. Finally, the questions generated by the works carried out, have motivated the implementation of an experimental program aimed at contrasting some of the hypotheses.