Abstract
Palaeological, palaeoclimatic and palaeogeographic background of the Neandertals of the Boquete de Zafarraya. The Boquete de Zafarraya cave (Andalusia, province of Málaga), situated at an altitude of 1022 meters, open up in a mountainous terrain presenting diverse biotopes propicious to the survival of Neandertals. Several excavation campaigns were undertaken by Cecilio Barroso-Ruíz prior to the Franco-Spanish collaboration wich led to the publication of an exceptional monograph . Several exhaustive studies were undertaken in 1996, integrating all the disciplines relevant to the study of the Quaternary : geology, paleontology, anthropology and prehistory. Paleontological, taphonomical and archeozoological data have not only brought to light the richness and importance of this statigraphy, but have also enabled to precisely identify the occupations level of the site bi mousterians hunters, These men specialized in the hunt of Pyrenean ibex (NR=2660) gathered en the Boquete de Zafarraya at the beginning of summer. The climate was then slightly more humid and cooler than today. The environnment was of a mosaic type ; in other words, it encompassed a diversity of ecological niches brought to light by palaeoecological and palaeoclimatic studies. However , the Mediterranean character of the region is evidenced by the presence of floral and animal species with Meditteranean climato-ecological affinities. The presence of some animal species rarely found during the Late Pleistocene (e.g. Galemys pyrenaicus described for the first time in southern Spain), and the absence of some species frequently found during this period (e.g. Canis lupus, a gap with corresponds either to its replacement by Cuon alpinus and Panthera pardus) make this site a reference statigraphy for the understanding of the evolution of the Quaternary in southern Spain.