Gibraltar: Figure 1. The Rock of Gibraltar from the Strait of Gibraltar (southeast) with the Gorham’s-Vanguard Cave complex at sea level and the staircased morphotectonic units from there to the highest peak (426 m).

Active research continues in the Gibraltar caves, with work in Ibex, Gorham’s, and Vanguard Caves on the eastern side of the Rock, ongoing since 1994. At Gorham’s Cave recent work has revealed a late Neanderthal persistence as recent as 31 ka. The faunal and charcoal richness of the deposits at Gorham’s and Vanguard, spanning the sequence OIS 5-1, is permitting a greater understanding of the relationship between Neanderthals and their ecology in one of their last refuges. Evidence from the higher part of the sequence at Gorham’s Cave indicates a late arrival of modern humans to southern Iberia, probably after the Neanderthal extinction. The peak of Upper Paleolithic occupation occurs during the Solutrean, coinciding with the Last Glacial Maximum. In Gorham’s Cave this is represented by parietal art depicting horse, ibex, aurochs, and red deer. The relationship between humans and the limestone of Gibraltar continued well after the Paleolithic. Of particular interest are the top levels at Gorham’s Cave that have revealed a major Phoenician and Carthaginian shrine that was used from the 8th to the 3rd centuries BC. The Rock then became the northern Pillar of Herakles. From the 18th to the 20th centuries British engineers tunnelled over 60 km of roads inside the Rock, largely for military installations.