Neanderthal Spatial Patterns and Occupation Dynamics: A Focus on the Central Region in Mediterranean Iberia

This paper focuses on the study of some Middle Palaeolithic assemblages from Mediterranean Iberia to examine Neanderthal occupation patterns and territory management strategies, paying special attention to raw material procurement and technological behaviours, zooarchaeological data and microspatial patterning. The site occupation types are variable, and some of the results may have more importance than is immediately apparent, but there does not seem to be a single cultural, functional, temporal or environmental explanation. Rather, the wide variability in the technical behaviours observed can be explained with reference to the particular requirements of the populations in each specific region. The results obtained allow us to interrogate the data and, drawing comparisons with the southwest European context, establish an initial approach to Neanderthal subsistence strategies and mobility in a region so far little known in this regard.