Investigation of Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene palaeoenvironmental change at El Miron cave (Cantabria, Spain): Insights from carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of red deer

El Miron Cave was occupied by humans for over 40,000 years. Evidence of Late Mousterian, Gravettian, Solutrean, Magdalenian, Azilian, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Bronze Age and Mediaeval occupations has been found in the cave. Understanding the local environmental conditions during the occupations is crucial for gaining an insight into the lifeways of El Miron's inhabitants as they relied on the surrounding region and its natural resources for their subsistence. 170 bones of hunted red deer recovered from the cave were sampled for carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses with the aim of reconstructing the palaeoenvironment and palaeoclimate during the human occupation. The results show that the surrounding landscape underwent considerable environmental change during the Late Pleistocene and Early to Mid-Holocene. Shifts in delta C-13 values between the Last Glacial Maximum, Heinrich stadial 1, Heinrich event 1, the Late-glacial interstadial and the onset of the Holocene are likely to reflect changes in water availability and temperature. Deer delta N-15 generally increased over time indicating the regeneration of soil biological activity and nitrogen cycling, which was temporarily halted during the Younger Dryas. Comparison of the El Miron results with those of 300 deer from other regions of Europe shows geographical variations in the timing and magnitude of the variation in delta C-13 and delta N-15 values. This variation tracks local climate (temperature and water availability) and environmental (vegetation and forest development) changes. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.