Chapter 2 The Abric Romanı ´ Site and the Capellades Region Josep Vallverdu ´ -Poch, Bruno Go ´ mez de Soler, Manuel Vaquero and James L. Bischoff Abstract The main goal of this chapter is to provide a general presentation of the Abric Romaní site, paying special attention to archeological level J. First, we will present the basic information concerning the geological and geomorphological characteristics of the Capellades region, which are fundamental to understand site formation. We will summarize the history of the archeological excavations carried out at the Abric Romaní, since the discovery of the site in 1909 to the current works. This history shows the different theoretical and methodological paradigms that dominated European Prehistory in the course of the twentieth century. Within this context, the excavation of level J will be exposed in detail. Finally, we will present the stratigraphy of the site and the chronological framework, which is largely based on U/Th dating of tufas. Keywords Abric Romaní Á Geology Á Capellades Á Research history Á Stratigraphy Á Chronology In this chapter, we will provide a general presentation of the Abric Romaní site in general and archeological level J in particular. First, we describe the main geological and geo- graphical characteristics of the Capellades area, in which the Abric Romaní is located. Second, we summarize the long history of archeological research at the site through the various different excavations carried out at the rockshelter since its discovery in 1909. We then describe the the history of the excavation of level J in detail. Finally, we present chronostratigraphical data related to the site, again with special attention to level J. The Geology and Geography of the Capellades Region (NE Iberian Peninsula) The Abric Romaní is a wide rockshelter (Abric) in a trav- ertine cliff called Cinglera del Capelló, located in a karstic landscape near Capellades (Barcelona, Spain) on the west bank of the Anoia River, 50 km west of Barcelona. The Abric Romaní has an elevation of 265 m above sea level. The cliff escarpment is orientated NW–SE with the entrance on the NE side of the wall, facing the Capellades Gorge. Its coordinates are 1841 0 30 00 longitude E and 41°32 0 latitude N. At this point, the Anoia valley forms a narrow gorge, which in historic and prehistoric times was one of the main natural passages between the inner regions of Catalonia and the coastal areas. This cliff harbors several rockshelters with evidence of prehistoric occupation. The Capellades area in which the Abric Romaní lies opens towards the Conca d’Òdena (Ódena basin), an erosional marginal basin in the Eastern Ebro Basin created by the Anoia River in its course towards the Mediterranean Sea as a tributary of the Llobregat River. The Anoia shaped the Capellades Gorge that connects the Penedès Depression and the Ebro Basin (Fig. 2.1). The Vallès-Penedès normal fault marks the subsidence of the Penedès Depression and the uplift of the Prelitoral Range and Ebro Basin. This morphostruc- tural frame allowed for a new hydrological network that was incised capturing the Ebro Basin, thereby reversing the direction of pre-existing Pleistocene drainage (Gallart 1981). There are three structural units in the Capellades region (Fig. 2.1): J. Vallverdú-Poch (&) Á B. Gómez de Soler Á M. Vaquero Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES), Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), C/Escorxador s/n, 43003 Tarragona, Spain e-mail: josep@prehistoria.urv.cat B. Gómez de Soler e-mail: bruno@prehistoria.urv.cat M. Vaquero e-mail: manuel.vaquero@urv.cat J. L. Bischoff US Geological Survey, ms/470, 345 Middlefield Rd, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA e-mail: jbischoff@usgs.gov E. Carbonell i Roura (ed.), High Resolution Archaeology and Neanderthal Behavior: Time and Space in Level J of Abric Romaní (Capellades, Spain), Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology, DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-3922-2_2, Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012 19