THE ROUTES OF RUPESTRE ART IN THE SOUTHEAST OF THE IBERIAN PENINSULA (II): THE PREHISTORIC SETTLEMENT IN THE ALTO SEGURA REGION AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CULTURE OF THE PARIETAL PAINTERS

Abstract

In this second part of a work on certain aspects of Levantine rock art, we begin by making an approach to the paleo-landscape that may have existed in the Sierra de Segura since the last glacial maximum, showing it against the current biocenosis. Next, we analyze the existing knowledge to date about the Upper Paleolithic settlement and rock art in the Sierra de Segura and its surrounding regions. We synthesize the cultural and settlement frameworks of the Epipaleolithic, to then relate on cartography the distribution of both records, settlements and rock art, although mainly fixed in the naturalist, in search of answers to the unknowns about the origin of the settlement in the areas that host the highest concentrations of Levantine Style in this part of the Mediterranean Arc. We address the problem of rock art from both periods, and focus our proposals on a territory that became more habitable after the end of the last ice age, the highest lands of the Sierra de Segura, dealing with the possible origin of Levantine rock art, as well as its subsequent territorial distribution and areas of influence.