Firewood in the Fireplace: Fuel Use in the Solutrean of La Boja Rock-Shelter (Murcia, Spain).

Our paper focuses on plant use in the Lower Solutrean to Solutreogravettian sequence of La Boja, a rock-shelter in the Rambla Perea gorge, near Mula (Murcia, Spain). We report on 5692 fragments of charcoal collected (a) within, or in immediate proximity, of 19 fireplaces, or (b) scattered away from hearth features in the same occupation horizons. Firewood selection patterns are the same throughout: >96% is Juniper sp. Small-diameter wood from shrubs and bushes (Artemisia sp., Ephedra sp., etc.) was used to initiate or rekindle the fire. The taxonomic composition of the assemblage indicates that, during the LGM (Last Glacial Maximum), Rambla Perea featured a landscape like that extant at the summit of nearby Sierra Espuña (Murcia), >1200 m amsl (above modern sea level). In Iberia’s Southeast, aridity is a structural feature of climate; therefore, we infer that LGM rainfall would have been of the semiarid or dry types. The limited presence of Pinus nigra / P. sylvestris supports this inference and further suggests an annual average temperature in the range of 8-15ºC, significantly cooler than at present.