Lithic territories during the Late Middle Palaeolithic in the central and western Pyrenees: New data from the Noisetier (Hautes-Pyrénées, France), Gatzarria (Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France) and Abauntz (Navarre, Spain) caves

Whether ethnoarcheological models of hunter-gatherer mobility, landscape use, and structuration of the inhabited space are relevant to the archeology of Neandertals and the Middle Paleolithic remains controversial. The thin lenses of hearth-associated stone tools and faunal remains excavated in sub-complex AS5 of Cueva Antón (Murcia, Spain) significantly advance these debates. Dated to 77.8–85.1 ka, these living floors are interstratified in river-accumulated sands and were buried shortly after abandonment by low-energy inundation events, with minimal disturbance and negligible palimpsest formation. Stone tools were made and ergonomically modified to fit tasks; their spatial distributions and use-wear reveal hearth-focused activities and a division of the inhabited space into resting and working areas. Site function varied with season of the year: units III-i/j1 and III-i/j2-3 record winter visits focused on filleting and hide processing, while woodworking predominated in unit III-b/d, which subsumes visits to the site over the course of at least one winter, one spring, and one summer. These snapshots of Neandertal behavior match expectations derived from the ethnographic and Upper Paleolithic records for the lifeways of hunter-gatherers inhabiting temperate regions with a markedly seasonal climate.

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Organization of residential space, site function variability, and seasonality of activities among MIS 5 Iberian Neandertals

Deschamps

Lerma

Linares‐Matás

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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Lost in the Quest for Flint: A Gravettian Hunting Camp (Usategi, Basque Country)

Calvo

Arrizabalaga

2021

Oxford J Archaeology

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Five decades ago, Usategi Cave (Basque Country) yielded a small Gravettian series that included an Isturitz-type bone point. This paper presents the first 14 C dates for the assemblage and new data obtained by the study of the lithic raw materials, a high proportion of which came from north of the Pyrenees. The discussion of this new information leads to the hypothesis that the occupants of the cave were a group that travelled from the continental Basque Country across the Pyrenean mountain passes and the Ebro basin to procure flint from the nearest outcrop at Urbasa.

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La grotte de Laà 2 à Arudy (64)

Dumontier¹,

Courtaud²,

Ferrier³

et al. 2022

galliap

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Lithic territories during the Late Middle Palaeolithic in the central and western Pyrenees: New data from the Noisetier (Hautes-Pyrénées, France), Gatzarria (Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France) and Abauntz (Navarre, Spain) caves

Cited by 4 publications

References 79 publications

Organization of residential space, site function variability, and seasonality of activities among MIS 5 Iberian Neandertals

Organization of residential space, site function variability, and seasonality of activities among MIS 5 Iberian Neandertals

Lost in the Quest for Flint: A Gravettian Hunting Camp (Usategi, Basque Country)

La grotte de Laà 2 à Arudy (64)

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