The late Early Pleistocene site Barranc de la Boella provides an unparalleled opportunity to assess the context of the activities of the hominin populations that inhabited the Iberian Peninsula at 1 Ma. Recently, strong evidence for access to mammoth meat has been described at the Pit 1 locality. At the la Mina and el Forn excavation areas, little evidence exists for the anthropogenic processing of macromammals. However, the presence of humans is recorded, and the available evidence suggests these populations had access to several interesting resources. By analysing and comparing ¿ve separate assemblages at Barranc de la Boella, we assess the ¿uctuating presence of hominins and carnivores and the levels of competition among predators in each assemblage. Our analysis re-veals different levels of competition intensity during the formation of assemblages when hominin groups were present, as evidenced by the abundance and diversity of stone artefacts. The analyses of skeletal component ratios indicate several competitive contexts, and the greatest presence of hominin groups is associated with the most c om pe ti t i ve sc e n a ri os . T h e p al a e oe n vi r on m e nt a t Ba r ra nc de l a Bo e ll a wa s r i ch i n r e so u rc e s t ha t ho m in i n s could exploit. The presence of hominin and carnivore groups appears to have been higher in levels with more in-ferred competition. This scenario supports prior research that concludes that carnivore abundance and highly competitive contexts were two constants in the lives of these hominin groups. Thus, the criteria determining wh e th e r ho m i n i ns c ou l d i nh a bi t a gi v e n l a nd s ca pe we re m os t l i k e l y r el a te d to th e pr e se n ce or ab se n ce of resources, such as animal resources, water and raw materials, rather than the dynamics of the carnivore popula-tions, to which the hominins were able to become habituated.

The research at Barranc de la Boella was performed with the financial support of the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad projects CGL2015-65387-C3-1-P (MINECO/FEDER) and CGL2016-80000- P (MINECO) and the Generalitat de Catalunya, AGAUR agency, funded projects 2014 SGR-899 and 2014 SGR-901 and supported with the framework of CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya.

Peer Reviewed