Sima de las Palomas de Teba

Description

Sima de Las Palomas de Teba lies in the karstic complex of the Peñarrubia mountain zone in Guadalteba county near the town Teba (Málaga, Spain). Sima means hole and the site consists of a 8m deep hole next to a limestone wall which was illegally dug in the second half of the 20th century. It shows anthropic evidence of Pleistocene and Holocene periods. A few meters away from this site lies the cave Las Palomas which opens on the small stream La Venta flowing through a narrow canyon. In the frame of the CRC-806 project, two small campaigns were conducted in 2011 and 2012 to understand morphology, stratigraphy and chronology of the site. In the ongoing campaign that started in 2015, the objective is to excavate the area in front of the hole to connect the profile with its sediment and to document the stratigraphy, especially the archaeological layers of the Neolithic, Upper and Middle Palaeolithic periods. This site could offers important information on Neanderthal occupation and lithic technology and contribute to recent debates on transition between Middle and Upper Palaeolithic in South Spain.