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During the late pleistocene, 126,000–11,700 years ago, relatively mild Mediterranean and Atlantic climates, allowed species to persist while populations elsewhere declined, or vanished under glacial pressure

Fossil and archaeological records from caves, river terraces, and coastal plains show that Iberia supported a diverse assemblage of terrestrial and freshwater turtles, many closely related to species still living in Spain today.

Ibera was not uniformly glacieted during the late pleistocene. It featured mediterranean woodlands and scrublands along the east and south. Open steppe and grassland in the interior basins (Ebro, Meseta). Riverine systems and wetlands. And, Coastal habitats with milder microclimates than today.

These consitions created ideal habitats for both terrestrial tortoises (testudindae), and freshwater turtles (geomydidae, Emydidae)

Terrestrial tortoises included several
The testudo hermanni or hermanns tortoise. Associated with eastern and north eastern Iberias open woodlands and dry grasses. It still survives today in smaller populations. The testudo graeca or spur thighed tortoise was around too. It was more dominant in southern and south eastern Iberia, because of its adaptation to arid and semi arid environments. There were both herbivorious, requiring warm temperatures, seasonal rain. And used burrows or vegetation for thermoregulation. Expanding during interglacial periods, or when refugium disappeared from much of central Europe.

Freshwater turtles were the Mediterranean pond turtle or Mauremy leprosa. It thrived in rivers, marhses or seasonal wetlands. And, the European pond turtle (emys orbicularis)

Numerous sites included Atapuerca, and Cueva del Boquete de Zafarraya

Evidence turtles and tortoises were collected by humans and neanderthals for food, and tool making They were valuable because they were slow moving, required minimal tools to capture, and provided nutrition.

During the pleisotcene, the Iberian penisula functioned as a biological sanctuary. Providing refugium during glacial maxima

From the wetlands of its river valleys, and scrublands of the south east. Testudines have endured a preserving survivor of our planets most challenging climatic epochs. Check it out with some more neolithic arch today.

Bibliography: Cheylan, Marc. (1981). Biologie et écologie de la Tortue d’Hermann Testudo hermanni (Gmelin, 1789). Contribution de l’espèce à la connaissance des climats quaternaires de la France

Blain, Hugues-Alexandre & López-García, Juan & Cuenca-Bescós, Gloria. (2011). A very diverse amphibian and reptile assemblage from the late MiddlePleistocene of the Sierra de Atapuerca (Sima del Elefante,Burgos, Northwestern Spain). Geobios. 44. 157-172. 10.1016/j.geobios.2010.08.003.

Mariana Nabais, João Zilhão, The consumption of tortoise among Last Interglacial Iberian Neanderthals, Quaternary Science Reviews, Volume 217, 2019, Pages 225-246, ISSN 0277-3791, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.03.024. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118310217)

Pleguezuelos, J. M., et al. (2002). Atlas y Libro Rojo de los Anfibios y Reptiles de España.

Carbonell, E., et al. – Atapuerca research project publications