Zafarraya

The Cueva del Boquete de Zafarraya is a cave at 1,100 metres altitude in the Sierra Tejeda mountains of Malaga province, Spain, where a Neanderthal mandible was discovered in 1983 by Cecilio Barroso and Paqui Medina. Securely dated to approximately 33,000 years ago with possible occupation as late as 27,000 years ago, it represents one of the last known Neanderthal populations in Europe. The lithic assemblage is distinctly Mousterian with Levallois technique, and about 90% of faunal remains are Iberian ibex. The site's late Mousterian persistence supports the Ebro Frontier model, which proposes the Ebro River acted as a barrier allowing isolated Neanderthal survival on the Iberian Peninsula.