The Benzú rockshelter: a Middle Palaeolithic site on the North African coast

Ramos, José Sánchez; Bernal, D.; Domínguez‐Bella, Salvador; Calado, David; Ruiz, Blanca; Gil, María José; Clemente, Ignacio; Durán, Juan José; Vijande, Eduardo; Chamorro, Simón

doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2008.08.030

Cited by 59 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…c Agustí (1988 At DA, levels presenting palaeontological remains comprise very compact, hard calcareous breccias that are cemented at the doline base. According to the methodological proposals made by Ramos et al (2008) for sites of this type, excavation should involve the removal of sediment in different blocks. Using hammers and chisels, each recovered block was taken to the archaeological laboratory of the Grup de Recerca del Quaternari at the Seminari d'Estudis i Recerques Prehistòriques (la Guixera) operated by the Castelldefels Town Council, treated, and excavated with a pneumatic microhammer.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Karst Evolution of the Garraf Massif (Barcelona, Spain): Doline Formation, Chronology and Archaeo-palaeontological Archives

Daura¹,

Sanz²,

Fornós³

et al. 2014

JCKS

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Karst landscape evolution has been widely studied in recent years on karst plateaus, but the use of dating methods has not usually been possible owing to a lack of data. The intensely karstified Garraf Massif, however, presents large solution dolines and several shafts that contain archaeological and palaentological remains that can be used for determining the chronological framework of the karstification processes. These sites have been dated using various techniques, and the resulting data combined with evidence from previous geomorphological studies. The results allow us to define the pattern and timing of the evolution of karst morphologies in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula. We propose a simple five-stage geomorphological model of the evolution of the Garraf dolines located on the plateau, between the Middle to Upper Miocene and the Holocene. The study also provides important information for analyzing landscape history in high plateaus of karst regions.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Karst Evolution of the Garraf Massif (Barcelona, Spain): Doline Formation, Chronology and Archaeo-palaeontological Archives

Daura¹,

Sanz²,

Fornós³

et al. 2014

JCKS

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“…The earliest known NAMSA emerges at ∼300ka at Jebel Irhoud in Morocco and ∼250ka at Benzu rockshelter in Ceuta (Ramos et al, ; Richter et al, ). At both sites, the lithic assemblages are characterized by side and end scrapers, retouched points, denticulates, and Levallois technology.…”

Section: Stone Toolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The North African Middle Stone Age and its place in recent human evolution

Scerri

2017

Evolutionary Anthropology

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The North African Middle Stone Age (NAMSA, ∼300-24 thousand years ago, or ka) features what may be the oldest fossils of our species as well as extremely early examples of technological regionalization and 'symbolic' material culture (d'Errico, Vanhaeren, Barton, Bouzouggar, Mienis, Richter, Hublin, McPherron, Louzouet, & Klein, ; Scerri, ; Richter, Grün, Joannes-Boyau, Steele, Amani, Rué, Fernandes, Raynal, Geraads, Ben-Ncer Hublin, McPherron, ). The geographic situation of North Africa and an increased understanding of the wet-dry climatic pulses of the Sahara Desert also show that North Africa played a strategic role in continental-scale evolutionary processes by modulating human dispersal and demographic structure (Drake, Blench, Armitage, Bristow, & White, ; Blome, Cohen, Tryon, Brooks, & Russell, ). However, current understanding of the NAMSA remains patchy and subject to a bewildering array of industrial nomenclatures that mask underlying variability. These issues are compounded by a geographic research bias skewed toward non-desert regions. As a result, it has been difficult to test long-established narratives of behavioral and evolutionary change in North Africa and to resolve debates on their wider significance. In order to evaluate existing data and identify future research directions, this paper provides a critical overview of the component elements of the NAMSA and shows that the timing of many key behaviors has close parallels with others in sub-Saharan Africa and Southwest Asia.

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“…Ils sont situés parmi les terrasses du Quaternaire et du piémont situées entre Calamocarro et Benzú, ainsi que sur les pentes et les escarpements de l'intérieur montagneux de Ceuta. Ces sites, de même que ceux qui ont été identifiés dans l'espace immédiat de Belliunes et dans les environs de Tétouane, fournissent des informations quant à la fréquentation et à la mobilité des habitants de l'abri de Benzú par rapport aux espaces environnants (Ramos et al, 2008a(Ramos et al, , 2011b.…”

Section: Cadre Régional Et Contexte Historiqueunclassified

“…Notre intérêt s'est tout particulièrement porté sur l'étude de liens et contacts possibles, pour les sociétés préhistoriques du Pléistocène et de l'Holocène, entre les deux rives de cet espace (Bernal, 2002 ;Dominguez-Bella et Maate (Éds. ), 2009 ;Ramos, 2002Ramos, , 2011Ramos, , 2012Ramos, , 2013Ramos et al, 2008aRamos et al, ,b, 2011aRamos et al (Éds. ), 2008Ramos et al (Éds.…”

Section: Introductionunclassified