Impacts of Early Holocene environmental dynamics on open-air occupation patterns in the Western Mediterranean: insights from El Arenal de la Virgen (Alicante, Spain)

Open-air sites represent a fundamental proxy of the Early Holocene adaptive systems in the Iberian Peninsula. However, its research potential for the study of human-environmental interactions has been minimally explored. In this work, we present the results of an integrated research programme focused on open-area excavations at the Mesolithic site of Arenal de la Virgen (Alicante, Spain). Novel multi-scalar geoarchaeological and archaeo-stratigraphic studies, coupled with featured-based palaeobotanical analysis, were used to design an extensive radiocarbon dating programme and produce different Bayesian chronological models. Our results distinguish two different Mesolithic occupation phases, dating to 9.3-9.1 and 8.6-8.3k cal a bp respectively, consisting of combustion features and lithic scatters. The comparison of occupational dynamics with the nearby palaeoecological records of Salines and Villena indicated that both Mesolithic phases occurred under relatively stable environmental conditions. The second Mesolithic phase, however, ended during the onset of the 8.2k cal a bp climatic event, when sedimentation processes shifted from soil formation to accretion of aeolian sands. We demonstrate that the end of the Mesolithic occupations at Arenal de la Virgen coincides with the cessation of radiocarbon-dated activity in other open-air Postglacial sites in the central Mediterranean region of Iberia.