Landscape evolution studies enable us to understand site formation processes affecting past hunter-gatherer settlements. This work presents a landscape reconstruction of Roca dels Bous site (RB), which is a reference site for the Late Mousterian occupation of the incised valleys of the southeastern Pyrenees. For this purpose, we combined geomorphological studies, stratigraphic descriptions, new single-grain optically stimulated luminescence datasets, statistical methods, and geophysical surveys. RB formed by gravitational processes induced by fluvial undermining of the Segre River during changing late Pleistocene climatic conditions. Geomorphological and chronological data combined with fluvial age-incision models suggest that, during Late Mousterian occupation, RB was located very near the Segre floodplain level and closer to water and raw material natural resources than at present. The accumulation of gravitational deposits associated with the archaeological levels occurred at rates of 0.16–0.44 m ka-1, between 55 and 47 ka, coinciding with Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 3 (MIS3). More detailed comparison with available climatic curves suggests that the dated RB layers were potentially deposited during cold phases within MIS3. This work provides new landscape-based evidence to examine the paleoenvironmental context of Neanderthal presence in the southeastern Pre-Pyrenees, an important region in the debate regarding Neanderthal demise in Western Europe around 40 ka.

中文翻译：

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重建比利牛斯山脉东南部的穆斯特地貌（西班牙比利牛斯山脉前罗卡德尔斯布斯遗址）

景观演变研究使我们能够了解影响过去狩猎采集者定居点的场地形成过程。这项工作展示了 Roca dels Bous 遗址 (RB) 的景观重建，该遗址是晚期 Mousterian 占领比利牛斯山脉东南部切割山谷的参考地点。为此，我们结合了地貌研究、地层描述、新的单粒光激发发光数据集、统计方法和地球物理调查。RB 由在更新世晚期气候条件变化期间由塞格雷河的河流侵蚀引起的重力过程形成。地貌学和年代学数据与河流年龄-切口模型相结合表明，在穆斯特晚期占领期间，RB 的位置非常靠近 Segre 洪泛区水平，并且比现在更靠近水和原材料自然资源。与考古水平相关的重力沉积物的积累速度为 0.16-0.44 m ka-1，在 55 和 47 ka 之间，与海洋氧同位素第 3 阶段 (MIS3) 一致。与现有气候曲线的更详细比较表明，过时的 RB 层可能在 MIS3 内的冷阶段沉积。这项工作提供了新的基于景观的证据，以检查尼安德特人在比利牛斯山脉东南部存在的古环境背景，这是关于 40 ka 左右西欧尼安德特人消亡辩论的重要地区。