Lapa do Picareiro: Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in western Iberia

This Colloquium talk presented by Dr. Lukas Friedl speaking on Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition (MUPT). MUPT in Europe is still relatively poorly understood despite decades of research on the topic. The transition is characterised by the disappearance of Neanderthals and arrival of modern humans, two human species which differed in their anatomy as well as behaviour. The paleontological evidence for the transition is scarce, most likely due to low population counts and densities and resulting preservation bias. Therefore, archaeological evidence is the best proxy for the population turnover. Here, I will present some insights into the MUPT in Iberia from our ongoing field research at Lapa do Picareiro, a cave site in central Portugal. The site preserves an uninterrupted stratigraphic sequence spanning the last 70+ thousand years and offers a unique opportunity to test hypotheses about the timing and the nature of the transition.