Surviving the Last Ice Age: Prehistoric Humans Thrived in Spain's Upland Regions

A study published in PLOS ONE reveals that prehistoric humans occupied upland regions of inland Spain, even during the coldest periods of the last Ice Age. The research challenges the notion that the harsh climate of inland Iberia would have deterred human settlement, as evidence from the Charco Verde II site shows a recurring sequence of human occupation between 21,000 and 15,000 years ago. These findings suggest that the lack of evidence for hunter-gatherer sites in inland Iberia is due to a focus on coastal regions in previous research, rather than an accurate reflection of prehistoric human distributions.