Human groups at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum

The debate about the dynamics of the human groups that lived in the last millennia of the last glaciation in southern Europe, goes in two directions. One is the emergence of a so-called badegoulian culture, which seems to have originated in south-west France, without being able to establish its geographical limits. On the other hand, the particularities of the technologies associated with these groups open the debate on their origins, and also on their chronological limits.  Bone technology has made it possible to investigate this question and establish certain trends. There are territories, such as the southwest of France, for which we have a great deal of information in this regard, and trends have been observed that would link the episode with the later episode, the Lower Magdalenian. In the Iberian Mediterranean region, recent work has made it possible to determine the presence of a technical background that is maintained in the badegoulian-magdalenian episodes, although technical innovations or techniques that disappear, depending on the episode, have been detected. However, we have no data from lithic technology that can inform us about any of these circumstances. In this communication we will present the data on the lithic industries of a site located in the centre of the Iberian Mediterranean region, such as Hort de Cortés- Volcán del Faro. The information available reveals the presence of technologies comparable to those present in the French badegoulian assemblages. This is why this site is a key place for approaching the large-scale processes that took place between 20.5-18 cal BP in Europe.