A study led by Asier Gomez-Olivencia, from National Museum of Natural History in Paris, and Joseba Rios-Garaizar, from the Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), has just been published in Boreas, which raises an arqueopaleontológicas and chronological review of the presence of reindeer in the Iberian Peninsula during the Pleistocene, due to the large number of new remains of Rangifer tarandus from Northern Spain sites, like the site of Arlanpe (Lemoa, Vizcaya).

Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) populations reached the Iberian Peninsula during the end of the Middle Pleistocene and there are numerous examples of this species from Late Pleistocene Mousterian and Upper Palaeolithic sites.

In this paper, new evidence of reindeer in the east Cantabrian region is presented that further supports the timing of this species’ first appearance, and previous assessments are updated. To date, the presence of this species has been identified at 55 sites in the Iberian Peninsula, nearly as many as those of mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) and woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) combined.

Most of the sites with presence of reindeer (50) are located in the Cantabrian region with a clear increase in the density of sites and remains towards the Pyrenees. The remaining five sites with evidence of reindeer are located on the other side of the Pyrenees in the NW corner of Catalonia.

In contrast, archaeological evidence of reindeer in the form of art (both parietal and portable) is more scarce and scattered. Evidence for the representation of these animals has been found outside the northern fringe of the Iberian Peninsula, which could reflect either long-distance cultural communication or the movement of human groups.