This article aims to delve into the reality of glacial refuges of forests and tree species (including conifers, mesothermophilous angiosperms and xerothermic scrub) during the cold dry phases of the Iberian Pleistocene in which there is evidence of occupation of Middle Palaeolithic people. The research framework focuses on the eastern sector of the Iberian Peninsula due to the physiographic, palaeobotanical and archaeological peculiarities, substantiated by recent studies. We contend that some Neanderthal occupations developed in the context of high geobiological complexity, high biological diversity and highly structured forest ecosystems. We highlight the importance of glacial refuges as local anomalies that, however, would be contingent on vegetational development, and on the survival of Palaeolithic groups in areas with a broad diversity of natural resources.

The forest ecosystems of large Mediterranean islands are critical hubs of evolutionary diversity with unique floristic composition and distinctive vegetation patterns reflecting long-term population dynamics and ecological legacies. Mediterranean islands provide invaluable natural archives, preserving crucial insights into the resilience of past forest ecosystems and their responses to climate variability. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive overview of the Holocene vegetation history of major western Mediterranean islands, with the twofold aim of examining the timing, extent, and rates of vegetation changes over the last few thousand years, and evaluating the influence of Rapid Climate Changes (RCCs) on forest ecosystems. The rate of change analysis allowed the identification of a distinct pattern of rapid shifts in forest composition, corresponding to periods of climate instability. These shifts align with the periodicity of Bond events, suggesting synchronicity between changes in forest ecosystems and centennial-scale climatic oscillations at a supra-regional scale. A REDFIT spectral analysis applied to palynological proxies of forest cover changes identified prominent periodicities suggesting a direct influence of solar activity and/or a relation with complex ocean–atmosphere circulation mechanisms triggered by global climate forcings.