New excavations at Barranc de la Boella expand the record of one-million-year-old stone tools and recover new remains of large mammals
The 20th consecutive excavation campaign at the La Canonja site has yielded new Acheulean tools and rhinoceros remains, among other finds
A team of 50 people took part in the work, carried out during September under the direction of IPHES-CERCA researchers Palmira Saladié and Josep Vallverdú
Between 7 and 30 September, a new excavation campaign was carried out at the Barranc de la Boella site (La Canonja, Tarragona), under the direction of IPHES-CERCA researchers Palmira Saladié and Josep Vallverdú. The work has expanded the assemblage of Acheulean stone tools dating to approximately one million years ago and recovered new remains of large mammals, including a rhinoceros scapula found in association with two large knapped flint artefacts.
This year’s campaign, the twentieth consecutive season at the site, has further advanced knowledge of the earliest human occupations in southern Europe and their relationship with the large animals that inhabited the region during the Early Pleistocene.
One-million-year-old stone tools
Excavations were conducted mainly at the La Mina and Cala 1 localities, where the collection of Acheulean stone tools from Barranc de la Boella has been expanded. This assemblage provides an especially significant record for studying the earliest human dispersals from Africa into Eurasia and the arrival of Acheulean technology on the continent.
At Cala 1, one of the most notable finds was a rhinoceros scapula. The specimen will now undergo careful restoration so that its surface can be studied in detail and the possible presence of taphonomic modifications caused by human activity or by carnivores, particularly hyenas, can be determined.
The significance of the find also lies in its archaeological context, as the scapula was found in association with two large knapped flint artefacts. This association adds to an archaeological record characterised by large-mammal remains and stone tools, which is essential for reconstructing the activities of the human groups that frequented this environment nearly one million years ago.
Other knapped stones were also recovered during the campaign, including a quartzitic schist cobble bearing numerous marks and fractures produced by percussion.
An exceptional record of large mammals
The archaeopalaeontological assemblage at Barranc de la Boella preserves an especially rich record of Early Pleistocene large mammals. This year, a palaeontological synthesis devoted to the proboscidean remains recovered at the site was published, bringing together studies in systematic palaeontology, restoration and conservation, virtual reconstruction, and isotopic and taphonomic analyses.
The study, published in volume 38, issue 7 of the international journal Historical Biology, analyses the mammoth remains from Barranc de la Boella and attributes them to an advanced form of Mammuthus meridionalis. Carbon isotope analyses of dental cementum have also made it possible to characterise an environment rich in herbaceous vegetation within a Mediterranean climatic setting.
The taphonomic study of the remains also provides information about the relationship between these large animals and other actors in that ecosystem. The observations support the interpretation that both human groups and hyenas had access to the proboscidean carcasses documented at Barranc de la Boella.
The significance of this assemblage has also been recognised by the journal itself: the tusks and molars of the mammoth discovered at Barranc de la Boella in 2007 feature on the cover of the issue of Historical Biology in which the study was published.
Twenty consecutive research campaigns
The 2026 campaign marks the twentieth consecutive archaeological field season at Barranc de la Boella. This year, 50 people took part in two shifts, in a project that combines scientific research with the training of new generations of archaeologists.
The excavations provide practical training in prehistoric archaeology for undergraduate and master’s students and foster exchange between researchers and students from different universities and national and international research centres.
A significant proportion of the participating students come from the Erasmus Mundus interuniversity master’s degree in Quaternary Archaeology and Human Evolution, involving the Università degli Studi di Ferrara, which coordinates the programme; Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV); Instituto Politécnico de Tomar in Portugal; and the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle in France. Research at Barranc de la Boella also benefits from the participation and scientific support of IPHES-CERCA and the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (MNCN-CSIC) in Madrid.
Funding
The archaeological work at Barranc de la Boella forms part of the four-year project “Evolució del paleoambiental i poblament prehistòric a les comarques tarragonines”, approved by the Department of Culture of the Government of Catalonia, which has funded the campaign (ARQ001SOLC-287-2025) together with La Canonja Town Council.
