Contribution of Landscape Analysis to the Characterisation of Palaeolithic
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Quaternary International 412 (2016) 82e98 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Quaternary International journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/quaint Contribution of landscape analysis to the characterisation of Palaeolithic sites: A case study from El Horno Cave (northern Spain) * Miguel Angel Fano a, , Alejandro García-Moreno b, c, Adriana Chauvin d, Ignacio Clemente-Conte e, Sandrine Costamagno f, Irantzu Elorrieta-Baigorri g, Nuria Esther Pascual a, Antonio Tarrino~ h a Universidad de La Rioja, Departamento de Ciencias Humanas, Edificio Vives C/ Luis de Ulloa, 2, E-26004 Logrono,~ La Rioja, Spain b MONREPOS Archaeological Research Center and Museum for Human Behavioural Evolution, RGZM Schloss Neuwied, Neuwied, 56567, Germany c IIIPC e Universidad de Cantabria, E-39005 Santander, Spain d Museo de Prehistoria y Arqueología de Cantabria (MUPAC), C/ Ruiz de Alda, 19, E-39009 Santander, Cantabria, Spain e CSIC-Institucion Mila y Fontanals (IMF), Departamento de Arqueología y Antropología, Grup AGREST, C/ Egípciaques, 15, E-08001 Barcelona, Spain f UMR 5608 du CNRS, TRACES, Universite Toulouse Jean Jaures, Maison de la Recherche, 5 allees Antonio Machado, 31058 Toulouse cedex 9, France g Departamento de Geografía, Prehistoria y Arqueología, Universidad del País Vasco / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV/EHU), C/ Tomas y Valiente, s/n, E-01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain h Centro Nacional de la Investigacion sobre la Evolucion Humana (CENIEH), Paseo Sierra Atapuerca, 3, E-09002 Burgos, Spain article info abstract Article history: The role played by the Magdalenian site of El Horno in the context of the Ason river basin (northern Available online 30 November 2015 Spain) is considered in relation to its location and the physical characteristics of the surrounding area. This information has been integrated with data from the archaeological study. Special attention has been Keywords: paid to the lithic tools and mammal remains recovered in the excavation as these played a particularly Magdalenian significant role at the site. The results suggest that the cave was occupied on a relatively stable basis Northern Spain although the situation changed in the course of the sequence. Level 1 reflects an occupation linked to the Macro-spatial analysis acquisition of meat and animal skins, worked mainly in a fresh state. The use of the site represented by Lithics Mammal fauna Level 2 may have been more stable and complex, as this level displays greater functional diversity. Tasks involving hard animal material have been documented, as well as dry hide or leather processing. In addition, lithic reduction seems to have been more intense in Level 2. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Sautuola (1880) the discoverer of Altamira Cave, related the charac- teristics of the caves with the activities carried out in them. Research on Palaeolithic hunteregatherer societies has mainly With the processual approach, population patterns became a studied the archaeological deposits produced by the everydayactivity significant object of research, with special attention given to of those groups (Bon et al., 2011; Straus, 2015, for example). In “economic territories” (Ordono,~ 2008). Based on the model estab- contrast, the location and physical characteristics of the surroundings lished by Vita-Finzi and Higgs (1970), “catchment areas” began to of the sites, rock-shelters and caves in the north of Spain have scarcely be considered (Bernaldo de Quiros, 1980; Bailey, 1983; Davidson been the object of systematic study through the application of a and Bailey, 1984). The first attempts at a macro-spatial study of precise methodology. This is despite an interest in such aspects in the the Cantabrian coast were made (Freeman, 1994), while M. Conkey region since the times of the pioneers. For example, M. Sanz de (1980) and P. Utrilla (1977, 1994) discussed the functionality of the sites by assessing the archaeological evidence and the living con- ditions and locations of the sites. L.G. Straus (1983) also stressed the * Corresponding author. functionality of the sites, although use-wear analysis was not E-mail addresses: [email protected] (M.A. Fano), [email protected] available then. The first studies of this kind were published in the (A. García-Moreno), [email protected] (A. Chauvin), [email protected] late 1980s (Ibanez-Est~ evez and Gonzalez-Urquijo, 1996). (I. Clemente-Conte), [email protected] (S. Costamagno), i_elobai@hotmail. Functionalist research established links between the informa- com (I. Elorrieta-Baigorri), [email protected] (N.E. Pascual), [email protected] (A. Tarrino).~ tion about catchment areas and the archaeological information http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2015.10.105 1040-6182/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved. M.A. Fano et al. / Quaternary International 412 (2016) 82e98 83 (Clark, 1983); e.g. potential resources versus resources identified in Magdalenian occupation in El Horno Cave (Cantabria, northern the archaeological deposits. In contrast, the locations and physical Spain) (Fig. 1). It has three objectives: 1) at a theoretical level, to characteristics of the sites containing the deposits received little show the value of this approach, which is practically untested until attention in the models. When this type of information was now; 2) to characterise with greater precision the role that El Horno considered, by relating the habitability conditions of the sites with may have played; and 3) to contribute information about the local their possible function (Straus, 1987), the conclusions reached were context of the site since, as seen below, the information provided by not the result of a systematic analysis. a site also makes it possible to propose hypotheses about its In recent years, research in this field has started by defining a context. series of indicators that describe the location of the site and its surroundings objectively and quantitatively (García-Moreno and 2. Study area Fano, 2011; Ordono,~ 2012; García-Moreno, 2013a; Corchon et al., 2014). In our opinion, the places containing the deposits are also The Ason river basin (Cantabria) is in Atlantic Spain (Fig. 1). This part of the archaeological record, as they were chosen through a region is defined by the Cantabrian Mountains, a coastal range over decision-making process by the hunteregatherer societies. This 400 km long, from Galicia to the Pyrenees, in the north of the choice should not be ignored, whether as a dwelling, a place to Iberian Peninsula. Geologically, it is an alpine range flanked by the process the prey or to make tools, a refuse-tip or a “shrine”, etc. as it Douro and Ebro basins. It is divided into three geomorphologic is a potential source of information (Fano, 2001; García-Moreno zones: the Vasco-Cantabrian in the east, with thick Mesozoic series et al., 2013; García-Moreno and Fano, 2014). with a predominance of sandstone, conglomerate, limestone and This information is particularly important within a regional Flysch-type materials (from west to east) and summits at a mod- approach to the study of Palaeolithic societies (Terradas, 2001; erate altitude (<1500 m); the Asturian Massif in the centre, where Straus et al., 2002; Fano and Rivero, 2012; Menendez, 2012; the Palaeozoic basement reaches the surface owing to the erosion Alvarez-Alonso et al., 2014). If an understanding of a Palaeolithic of the thin Mesozoic cover, and the summits are much higher; and site requires a good knowledge of its local and regional context, as the western sector, between Asturias and Galicia, with lower the mobility of these groups implies (Lee and DeVore, 1968; Kelly, mountains and Tertiary basins bounded by faults (Alonso et al., 1995; Burke, 2011), it is obviously necessary to include a precise 2007). understanding of the places where the sites are located. A recip- Although the main landforms are due to alpine tectonics, fluvial rocal relationship probably existed between the site characteristics erosion has altered the high relief. On the northern side of the and the activities carried out in and from them. In this way, our mountain range, the proximity of base level and the continual hypotheses about the role played by the different sites within their regional uplifting favoured headward erosion, which made the social context will be more robust. watershed move southwards, at the same time as deep gorges were This is not only of interest from a materialist perspective, as the cut. During the Pleistocene, glacial erosion and sedimentation also choice of a certain site may be determined by more subtle factors, affected the landscape (Frochoso-Sanchez and Castan~on- Alvarez, such as the significance or symbolism of certain elements in the 1998), although to a lesser extent in the eastern part of the landscape or of the sites themselves (Tilley, 1994; Arias, 2009; mountains (Ugarte, 1992). The climate also influenced the internal Langley, 2013). In this way, the sites become landmarks and there- diversity in the regions as the ocean reduces the diurnal and sea- fore take part in their social construction (García-Moreno, 2013b). sonal temperature ranges, especially on the coastal strip. These Consequently, the potential information provided by the sites dis- favourable conditions become harsher inland and with altitude. playing Palaeolithic graphic activity is evident (Corchon et al., 2014) Therefore, the environmental units that are differentiated in the and therefore