CLIMATE@COA project: Climate and human adaptation during the Last Glacial Period in the C&#244;a Valley region (Portugal)
Authors: Dimuccio Luca , Aubry Thierry , Cunha Lúcio , Rodrigues Nelson 
Published: March 2021

&lt;p&gt;In Portugal, climate fluctuations of Late Pleistocene are well-known from marine record on the western Iberian continental margin, particularly of Marine Isotope Stages 4, 3 and 2, and they include various events of secular abrupt climate changes. During cooling phases the Heinrich Events (HE) occurred, corresponding to episodes of massive ice-discharges from Northern Hemisphere ice sheets. Furthermore, several climate phases with relatively warmer conditions, known as Dansgaard-Oeschger (D-O) cycles, characterized by an abrupt warming (D-O event) followed by a more gradual cooling, took place in-between HE. This pronounced climate instability that characterizes the Last Glacial Period between ca. 80-12 ka is recorded in a variety of marine and terrestrial archives worldwide. It had a recognized impact on the bioclimatic zones and, possibly, on the Neanderthal and Anatomically Modern Human (AMH) settlements of Iberia.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Based mainly on the study of geoarchaeological records preserved in caves and rock-shelters of Iberia, a correlation framework with climate shifts has been proposed to explain the observed discontinuities between sequences containing late Middle and early Upper Palaeolithic remains. Moreover, a climate driven model has been advanced to explain the chronological differences between northern and southern Pyrenean data by a later dispersion of AMH and the persistence of last Neanderthals in Southern Iberia, which were interpreted as a direct impact of HE4 (40-38 ka) in the distribution of large ungulate populations.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Despite all these data, the exact impact of HE on terrestrial systems, the evaluation of the latitudinal differentiation of their impact and time-gap, as well as the correlation between periods of relative stabilization/soil formation and the D-O events remain to be clearly established. In addition, the whole framework relating to the Middle-to-Upper Palaeolithic transition has been excessively dependent on karst archives and it should be investigated in other geomorphological settings - among these the fluvial and Iberian plateau (&amp;#8220;Meseta&amp;#8221;), both present in the C&amp;#244;a Valley region (Douro Basin, north-east of Portugal). Alluvial and colluvial deposits preserved in the C&amp;#244;a Valley (e.g. at the Cardina-Salto do Boi, Quinta da Barca Sul, Penascosa, Fariseu, Olga de Ervamoira sites) have demonstrated to be a valuable record of information about Late Pleistocene sedimentary processes, depositional environments, and hunter-gatherer&amp;#8217;s behaviour at local and regional scales.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In this context, the CLIMATE@COA project (COA/CAC/0031/2019), funded by the Funda&amp;#231;&amp;#227;o para a Ci&amp;#234;ncia e Tecnologia (FCT), proposes an integrated multi/interdisciplinary approach based on the stratigraphical, sedimentological, geochemical, geomorphological, geoarchaeological, and geochronological analyses of terrestrial record (natural and cultural) preserved in the C&amp;#244;a Valley and surrounding plateau areas, with the aim to develop an evolutionary model for the region and to deduce the environmental forcing factors for such evolution - namely climate and ecosystem changes. In addition, the project&amp;#8217;s data will allow to define better the chronology of the transition between Neanderthal and AMH and to infer on land use and social organization in its environmental context.&lt;/p&gt;