At the edge of the Cantabrian sea. New data on the Pleistocene and Holocene archaeological open-air site of Bañugues (Gozón, Asturias, Spain): Palaeogeography, geoarchaeology and geochronology

Abstract Located at the center of the Cantabrian coast in a sedimentary terrace currently at the sea shore, the site of Banugues (Gozon, Asturias) is one of the key places for studying the first settlements of the Iberian North. In the present work, we show the results of the geoarchaeological study undertaken on the bay of Banugues and on the stratigraphic sections of the site that still subsist. Likewise, we have included the palaeogeographic study of the coast from the Cape Penas area; the OSL ages obtained; and the revision (technological and taphonomic analysis) of the archaeological materials coming from the diggings of the 1970s. The lithostratigraphic sequence of Banugues is composed of two well differentiated units: (1) inferior, on the alteration of the substrate formed by breccia and silty and sandy materials with Palaeolithic remains, deposited by solifluction; (2) superior, disconforming from the other, formed by intertidal beachlike silt and sands, with technological remains from the Mesolithic. Concerning the chronology of the lithic materials from the Middle Palaeolithic, the fact that it was part of a solifluction deposit prevents at this moment its precise comprehension.