Zilhão, JoãoAngelucci, Diego E.Arnold, Lee J.Demuro, MartinaHoffmann, Dirk L.Pike, Alistair W. G.2021-03-182021-03-182021Zilhão, J., Angelucci, D. E., Arnold, L. J., Demuro, M., Hoffmann, D. L., & Pike, A. W. G. (2021). A revised, Last Interglacial chronology for the Middle Palaeolithic sequence of Gruta da Oliveira (Almonda karst system, Torres Novas, Portugal). Quaternary Science Reviews, 258 106885. doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.1068850277-3791http://hdl.handle.net/10451/46894Based on previous radiocarbon and U-series (Diffusion/Adsorption) dating of bone samples, the Middle Palaeolithic has been thought to persist at Gruta da Oliveira until ∼37 thousand years (ka) ago. New U-series ages for stratigraphically constraining speleothems, coupled with new luminescence ages for sediment infill, show that the site’s ∼6 m-thick archaeological stratigraphy dates entirely within a <30 ka interval spanning substages 5a-5b of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5. Significant technological change is observed across the sequence, akin to that seen in the Upper Palaeolithic over similar timescales. Flake-cleavers and bifaces, normatively definitional of the Vasconian facies, are restricted to a short interval correlated with Greenland Stadial (GS) 22, 85.1–87.6 ka ago. In cave and rock-shelter sites of southern and western Iberia, intact archaeological deposits securely dated to the ∼37–42 ka interval remain elusive. Geological dynamics (e.g., erosion, sedimentation hiatuses, palimpsest formation) and human adaptive responses to climate-driven environmental change (e.g., abandonment of now forest-covered low- and mid-altitude karst areas, concentration of settlement in alluvial plains and coastal settings) are possible explanations for this pattern.engPleistocenePalaeogeographyWestern EuropeOptically stimulated luminescence datingRadiocarbonSpeleothemsU-seriesNeandertalsMiddle PalaeolithicVasconianjournal articlehttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.106885