El Olivo Cave (Pruvia de Arriba, Llanera, Asturias, Spain) is a small karst cave located in the Aboño River basin and formed in the Cretaceous limestone of the Mesozoic cover of the Cantabrian Mountains (north of the Iberian Peninsula). It contains an important upper Pleistocene sedimentary, archaeological, and paleontological record, with abundant technological evidence and faunal remains. The archaeological record shows a first occupation that could correspond to the Middle Paleolithic and a second occupation in the Middle Magdalenian. The stratigraphic sequence inside and outside the cave was studied with geoarchaeological methodology. In this paper, the lithostratigraphic sequence is analyzed, and the data from the granulometric, mineralogical, edaphological, and radiometric analyses are presented. The results of these analyses enable an accurate interpretation of both the lithostratigraphy of the deposit and the processes responsible for its formation and subsequent evolution. The available numerical dates allow us to locate the first sedimentation episode in the cave in OIS 7a, in the Middle Pleistocene, the base of the outer fluvial sedimentation in the cold OIS 3a stage of the Upper Pleistocene and the Magdalenian occupation in the Last Glacial Maximum (OIS 2) at the end of the Late Pleistocene., This work and this article has been carried out within the projects CantabricOIS2 (PID2020-115192GB-I00), funded by the Government of Spain, and FUO-367-16, funded by the University of Oviedo Foundation. DB is affiliated to Plan Andaluz de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación 2020 (Junta de Andalucía, Spain), and both DB and MJS belong to the GEOCANTABRICAE Project (SV-PA-21-AYUD/2021/51766, FEDER-FICYT)., Peer reviewed

Estos trabajos se han desarrollado contando con el
preceptivo permiso de la Consejería de Cultura, Política
Llingüística y Deporte del Gobierno del Principado de
Asturias, en el marco de los proyectos competitivos CantabricOIS2-Poblamiento humano, territorio y cambios ambientales durante el final del Paleolítico superior (OIS 2)
en el sector central de la Cordillera Cantábrica (PID2020-
115192GB-I00) (2021/2025) y PaleontheMove-Contactos a
corta, media y larga distancia entre los grupos humanos
del Paleolítico superior en el Golfo de Bizkaia a través
de los recursos bióticos y abióticos (PID2020-114462GBI00) (2021/2024), financiados por Ministerio de Ciencia
e Innovación, Agencia Estatal de Investigación, Programa
Estatal de Generación de Conocimiento y Fortalecimiento
Científico y Tecnológico del Sistema de I+D+i en el marco
del Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de
Innovación 2017-2020., Peer reviewed

Datos del proyecto CantabricOIS2, PID2020-115192GB-I00. Inventario del registro arqueológico recuperado en las excavaciones arqueológicas realizadas durante 2022 y 2023 en la sala de la Natividad de la cueva de El Cierro (Fresnu, Ribadesella, Asturias).

[Abstract] El Olivo Cave (Pruvia de Arriba, Llanera, Asturias, Spain) is a small karst cave located in the Aboño River basin and formed in the Cretaceous limestone of the Mesozoic cover of the Cantabrian Mountains (north of the Iberian Peninsula). It contains an important upper Pleistocene sedimentary, archaeological, and paleontological record, with abundant technological evidence and faunal remains. The archaeological record shows a first occupation that could correspond to the Middle Paleolithic and a second occupation in the Middle Magdalenian. The stratigraphic sequence inside and outside the cave was studied with geoarchaeological methodology. In this paper, the lithostratigraphic sequence is analyzed, and the data from the granulometric, mineralogical, edaphological, and radiometric analyses are presented. The results of these analyses enable an accurate interpretation of both the lithostratigraphy of the deposit and the processes responsible for its formation and subsequent evolution. The available numerical dates allow us to locate the first sedimentation episode in the cave in OIS 7a, in the Middle Pleistocene, the base of the outer fluvial sedimentation in the cold OIS 3a stage of the Upper Pleistocene and the Magdalenian occupation in the Last Glacial Maximum (OIS 2) at the end of the Late Pleistocene., The excavation in El Olivo Cave was funded by the Llanera City Council and Fluor S.A. This work and this article has been carried out within the projects CantabricOIS2 (PID2020- 115192GB-I00), funded by the Government of Spain, and FUO-367-16, funded by the University of Oviedo Foundation. DB is affiliated to Plan Andaluz de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación 2020 (Junta de Andalucía, Spain), and both DB and MJS belong to the GEOCANTABRICAE Project (SV-PA-21-AYUD/2021/51766, FEDER-FICYT)., Fundación Universidad de Oviedo; FUO-367-16