Neanderthal subsistence strategies: new evidence from the Mousterian Level XV of the Sope?a rock shelter (Asturias, northern Spain)

Many Palaeolithic archaeological sites have been excavated in the Cantabrian region of northern Spain, between the Cantabrian mountain range and the coast of the Bay of Biscay. The analyses of the materials thus recovered in sites such as El Castillo, Morin, Pendo, Covalejos, Esquilleu, El Miron, Hornos de la Pena, El Cuco, El Ruso, Lezetxiki, Axlor, Arrillor, Amalda, Abauntz, and Gatzarria, among others, have contributed greatly to the understanding of Neanderthal animal-based subsistence in the area. However, most of the sites studied are in the eastern part of this area, and we know little on the western part, from just a handful of sites (El Sidron, Llonin, La Vina, and La Guelga in Asturias; Cova Eiros in Galicia) and the zooarchaeological information has been limited, but is currently growing. El Sidron has many cannibalized Neanderthal bones but few faunal remains, the Llonin cave shows short Neanderthal occupations, the Mousterian of La Vina yielded few faunal remains, and the three Mousterian levels of Cova Eiros were also short occupations. In this work, we present the zooarchaeological and taphonomical analyses from the Mousterian Level XV of Sopena (Onis, Asturias), very rich in faunal remains, aiming to shed light on the Neanderthal subsistence on the western part of northern Spain. Faunal remains from Sopena Level XV appear very modified by neanderthal actions. They did exploit a variety of ungulates from diverse ecosystems, both high mountains and river valleys, displaying the great versatility and adaptability in their subsistence strategies.