La Cueva del Búho (Ibdes, Zaragoza). Un nuevo hábitat en cueva durante la Edad del Bronce en el Sistema Ibérico

This paper reports the main results of the first archaeological excavation campaign in the Cueva del Búho (Ibdes, Zaragoza). It is a well-oriented cave with good habitability conditions, despite its difficult access due to its hanged position in a 50 mts. high calcareous escarpment. From this height, the cave dominates the gorges of the lower Mesa River, which are nowadays flooded by the Tranquera reservoir. This inaccessibility could have contribute to the a good preservation of its archaeological remains. Surface remains and digging results have given an interesting artefact collection that reveals this cave as an intense dwellingsite, during the Bronze Age. In this respect, the position of the cave in the basin of the Jalon River places this archaeological site in the centre of an area where different cultural influences were operating in that time. Bronze Age cultures from the Castilian Meseta are present in some archaeological sites in the western Iberian Ranges, while Bronze Age cultures from the eastern ones reached the central Ebro Basin. In addition to this, the presence of archaeological remains from different chronologies gives evidence of the use of this cave during the Late Roman Empire, and the Middle Ages up to recent times, although the shortage of modern remains suggests a less intense use of this cave than in the Bronze Age.KEYWORDS: Bronze Age; Roman; Middle Ages; Iberian Ranges; Cave.