Hunter-Gatherer adaptations in northern iberian refugia from the last glacial maximum to the mesolithic: a multi-proxy climatic investigation.
CLIMPROX uses a ground breaking multi-proxy methodology integrating isotopic analysis of ungulates and archaeozooological reappraisal with a additional climatic proxies (pollen, sediments, anthracology, and microfauna) to understand human responses to palaeoenvironmental change over 21 to 7 uncal. ka BP, a crucial period in human evolution. CLIMAPROX explores the role of the environment and climate in the migration of people into the refugia of the Cantabrian region, the flourishing of Upper Palaeolithic societies, and in the subsequent dietary diversification at the end of the Last Glacial period that lay the foundation for the origins of farming in Europe. The multiple scientific datasets, regional and temporal scale of the analysis make CLIMAPROX highly innovative, acting as a case method for future research investigating human-environment interactions across the globe. This project will therefore have a high scientific impact not only in Iberian archaeology, but within the field of European Palaeolithic research, and bioarchaeological, contributing to pertinent discourse into human-environment interactions.