Quaternary International 435 (2017) 115e128

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Quaternary International

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San Quirce (Palencia, ). A open air campsite with short term-occupation patterns

* Marcos Terradillos-Bernal a, , J. Carlos Díez Fernandez-Lomana b, Jesús-Francisco Jorda Pardo c, Alfonso Benito-Calvo d, Ignacio Clemente e, F. Javier Marcos-Saiz b a Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Internacional Isabel I de Castilla (UI1), C/Fernan Gonzalez, n 76, 09003 Burgos, Spain b Area de Prehistoria, Universidad de Burgos (UBU), Spain c Departamento de Prehistoria y Arqueología, Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia (UNED), Spain d Centro Nacional de Investigacion sobre la Evolucion Humana (CENIEH), Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca 3, 09002, Burgos, Spain e CSIC-Institucio Mila i Fontanals (IMF), Departamento de Arqueología y Antropología þ Grupo AGREST, Spain article info abstract

Article history: San Quirce is an MIS 4 open-air site with a Neanderthal occupation in primary position. Expeditious Available online 15 January 2016 technology was used here, aimed at producing very simple tools. Meat consumption has been detected along with, more notably, work on hides, wood and plant fibres which could be processed for string. Keywords: Only a small part of the San Quirce campsite has been dug to date. Nevertheless, it is a Open air campsite reference site in the search for evidence of Neanderthal patterns, cultural exchanges (learning, shared Neanderthals space) and resource administration (food, deferred consumption, differential object deposition, etc). San Expeditious lithic technology Quirce is defined as a site with a high degree of variability in the context of the Middle Palaeolithic Refitting Diversified activities cultural record. This assemblage provides valuable information for the reinterpretation of Neanderthal technological, economic, cultural and social capacities in an open air campsite. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction team resumed excavation in 2009e2011 as part of a new survey and research project in the Pisuerga River valley. This paper presents an analysis of technology and use wear at San Quirce is the only Middle Palaeolithic site in the Douro River San Quirce, a newly excavated Neanderthal open air campsite. The basin that has been preserved in primary position. In the analysed site is in the Alar del Rey municipality (Palencia, Spain, Fig. 1), in the assemblage, we identified brief occupations and a wide range of middle reach of the Pisuerga River valley, close to the mouth of the activities from the early Upper . Although bone remains Horadada canyon, one of the main routes between the Cantabrian have not been preserved due to the acidic soil and the slow burial Range and the northern Iberian Plateau. process (Carlos Rad, in prep.), the evidence provides valuable in- Surveys were conducted in the 1980s and 1990s to identify formation about the technological and economic behaviour of the prehistoric occupations in the middle reaches of the Pisuerga River Neanderthals, the functions of their open air sites and their man- between Alar del Rey and Astudillo (Palencia), which resulted in the agement of a variety of resources (minerals, meat and plants). recovery of many series. The site was discovered during Technologically, the tool repertoire at San Quirce varies signifi- aggregate quarrying which cut through a river terrace to expose cantly from the major Middle Palaeolithic sites. The lithic assem- three main profiles measuring 34.5 m (east), 40 m (north) and blage lacks complexity, is highly specialized in light denticulates 38.5 m (south), with several archaeological levels attributed to the characterized by fast production and poor cutting ability. Middle Pleistocene (Arnaiz Alonso, 1990). The current research This assemblage contributes to the current interpretation of Neanderthal cultural and economic behaviour at open air campsites with short term-occupation patterns. Until recently, Neanderthals were considered to be basically erratic hominids with minimal * Corresponding author. long-term planning, a carnivore diet and essentially producers of E-mail addresses: [email protected] (M. Terradillos-Bernal), clomana@ lithic technology. However, new proof is emerging of a broader ubu.es (J.C. Díez Fernandez-Lomana). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2015.09.082 1040-6182/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved. 116 M. Terradillos-Bernal et al. / Quaternary International 435 (2017) 115e128

Fig. 1. San Quirce site location. Geomorphological map legend: 1, Hillshaded bedrock; 2, Fluvial terraces (þ23, relative heigth above the river); 3, Glacis deposits; 4, Floodplain; 5, Valley beds; 6, Cones. range of technological, dietary, mobility and symbolism-related The San Quirce site is located on fluvial terrace T9, þ22e23 m activities amongst others, which is revolutionising their interpre- above the Pisuerga River. The sequences observed in other valleys tation. San Quirce can make a major contribution to this debate. of the Douro basin (Santonja and Perez Gonzalez, 1997; Moreno This paper seeks to contribute to the current body of knowledge et al., 2012; Benito-Calvo and Perez-Gonz alez, 2014; Benito-Calvo about Neanderthals with an analysis of lithic chaine operatoire:raw et al., in press), suggest that the fluvial terrace was formed at the materials, reduction and configuration sequences, refittings and end of the Middle Pleistocene. It is composed of alluvial gravel traceology. deposits with a clay matrix. It is partially fossilized by a glacis consisting of sediments generated by the erosion of the Neogene 2. Geology and chronology bedrock (Middle Miocene shales and sands) and the upper terraces. The terraces and this glacis were incised by lateral streams, which The San Quirce archaeological site, in the north of the Douro gave rise to alluvial fans in the lower gradient areas. River basin (UTM: X ¼ 392.828, Y ¼ 4.720.122, Z ¼ 861 m), is related The south profile exposed by the quarry contains four main to Quaternary sediments deposits on a fluvial terrace of the units, in descending order (Fig. 2): Pisuerga River, preserved on the left bank of the valley. The site was Level I: surface level, approximately 40 cm, on a colluvial excavated between 2009 and 2011. Although the boundaries of the deposit which culminates the sequence. This colluvium, campsite are still unknown, it is estimated to have a minimum area composed of sands and clays that have been intensely disturbed of 7 ha, of which 77 m2 have been dug. by ploughing, contains a large amount of organic matter. The In this area, the Pisuerga valley has a complex river terrace quartz, quartzite and schist cobbles are rounded (quantile 7 cm, sequence consisting of eleven levels, defined as T1 (þ130e133 m), mean 1 cm). Clasts float in the matrix, composed of fine and T2 (þ85e90 m), T3 (þ76e81 m), T4 (þ76e72 m), T5 (þ56e58 m), medium, angular to sub-angular quartz sands, along with silt and T6 (þ47e52 m) T7 (38e42 m) T8 (þ29e32 m) T9 (þ22e23 m) and clay. The sands are quartz, while the lutite fraction contains T10 (þ13e15 m), T11 (þ9e12 m) T12 (þ6 m), besides the current quartz, sodium and potassium feldspars, muscovite/illite and floodplain. kaolinite. This unit contains lithic industry in a secondary M. Terradillos-Bernal et al. / Quaternary International 435 (2017) 115e128 117

Fig. 2. Stratigraphy of the San Quirce site (south profile). position with morpho-technical features that initially seem more yielded lithic items from the upper terraces, similar to those primitive than the industry on Level III (Mode 2 material, not identified on Level I. discussed in this paper). Level III: distal facies from the alluvial fan, corresponding to a Level II: colluvium, approx. 20e30 cm deep. Its contact at the floodplain. This roughly 60 cm deep deposit consists of interspersed base is clearly erosive and it has a tabular geometry. The pebbles layers of clay and massive silt in gradual contact with underlying and gravels are quartzite, quartz, shale and sandstone (4 cm level. It contains quartz and quartzite cobbles (2 cm quantile, 1 cm quantile, 0.5 cm mean). The sands are quartz and feldspar, while mean). The quartz sands are accompanied by muscovite/illite, the lutite fraction contains quartz, sodium and potassium feld- kaolinite and montmorillonite, while the silt fraction is predomi- spars, muscovite/illite and kaolinite. Internally, these materials are nantly quartz, potassium and sodium feldspar, with phyllosilicates totally disordered, with a massive aspect. This colluvium has (muscovite/illite) and minerals from the clay group (kaolinite and 118 M. Terradillos-Bernal et al. / Quaternary International 435 (2017) 115e128 montmorillonite) in the clay fraction. The archaeological level sits on and morpho-potential characteristics (length, angle and shape of a15e25 cm deep yellowish silty layer on a SE slope. edges, and weight ratio, Airvaux, 1987; Terradillos-Bernal and Level IV: a 3e4 m deep terrace deposits composed of cobbles Rodríguez-Alvarez, 2012) on the basis of their position in the chaîne with a sparse matrix deposited by several interconnected channels. operatoire. At the top of these channelled deposits, there are interspersed Refitting was analysed on the basis of four degrees of identification deposits from the channel edge containing small-sized gravels and of the various lithological types. The systematic search for refitting fine lutite floodplain deposits. Neogene silt has been identified at (reduction and configuration sequences, fragmented artefacts and the base of the sequence. secondary modification of artefacts) permitted the assessment of the integrity of the site and the degree of temporal resolution. 2.1. Chronology 3.2. Functional analysis Samples from the site were dated by luminescence at the Uni- versity of Cologne to ascertain the geochronological context of the For the functional analysis (Semenov, 1957; Clemente Conte deposits. The sediments represented by two samples are either et al., 2014a,b) we used a Leica MZ16 A stereo microscope and very old or very poorly bleached during transportation and sedi- two metallographic microscopes: a Leica DM 2500M and an mentation. The luminescence signals of both samples are in or near Olympus BH2 UMA. The latter was equipped with Nomarski prisms saturation. This holds true for the potassium-rich feldspar fraction, for the quartz crystal surface analysis. For the photographic record which generally shows a substantially higher saturation level than we used the Leica multifocus system and the Helicon Focus pro- quartz. Several tests were conducted, but no reliable equivalent gramme for the Olympus. dose was obtained for either of the two samples. The items were defined as Sample SQ1 (C-L 3066 Institute of Geography/University of Co- logne) poses similar problems. Most measurements yielded satu- Unable to be analyzed microscopically (NAM): heavy taxonomic rated signals, and only a very small percentage of sub-samples alterations due to the sedimentary conditions, mainly affecting yielded signals below the saturation level permitting a palaeodose flint items estimate (Table 1). This database is not nearly solid enough to Tentative identification (PO): unable to determine either the define a meaningful depositional age. These sub-samples may be hardness of the worked material nor the work done with the returning the palaeodose of grains that intruded the sediment body tool because the traces are either not well defined or altered at a later date from above, through cracks and fissures. The median Probable identification (PR): items permitting a good identifi- (73e74 ka) should not be over-interpreted as it is still a rough cation of the activity done or the nature of the worked material estimate. Certain identification (SG): traces of micro-wear are clearer and/

Table 1

Equivalent dose (De) estimate, level III sample SQ 1 (C-L 3066 Institute of Geography / University of Cologne).

Equivalent dose (Gy) OSL-age (ka) Age model RSD (%) OD (%) n Aliquot size

69 ±14 32 ±7De/age min 42 39 9 (17) 1 mm 317 ±32 149 ±16 De/age max 157 ±34 74 ±16 Median

85 ±16 41 ±8De/age min 35 31 8 (500) SG 227 ±54 108 ±26 De/age max 152 ±21 73 ±10 CAM

Note that the error for De includes the 5% systematic error induced by the uncertainty of the beta-source calibration and random error. “n” is the number of sub-samples (aliquots or grains in case of single grain (SG) measurements) used to determine De, with the number of all measured sub-samples shown in brackets. All values are shown with their 1 sigma-error. RSD ¼ relative standard deviation, OD ¼ overdispersal.

3. Methodology or better preserved, permitting the definition of the activity and the worked material. Several analysis methodologies were applied to the lithic in- dustry on San Quirce Level III, based on the lithic technology (raw Quartzite items from this record were the primary subject of material, strategies, methods, techniques and refitting) and analysis (Clemente Conte et al., 2014a). Quartzite is a heteroge- functional aspects (edge/weight ratio, morpho-potential and use neous rock, mainly composed of quartz crystals (micro and/or wear). mega) cemented in a matrix of several minerals. The crystals and the matrix react differently to usage, hence the comparative anal- 3.1. Technological analysis ysis of matrices with flint and crystals with hyaline quartz (Alonso and Mansur, 1990; Clemente, 1995, 1997; Leipus, 2006; Leipus and The technological analysis covered each stage of the chaîne Mansur, 2007). operatoire. The raw materials were studied on the basis of their origin, abundance, size and characteristics of the fracture proper- ties (Terradillos-Bernal and Rodríguez-Alvarez, 2014). Fracture 4. Results properties were assessed using an experimental knapping pro- gramme with 40 individual tests (Terradillos Bernal, 2010). 4.1. Lithic technology Each recovered lithic item was assigned to the corresponding stage of the anthropization sequence (structural categories as per On Level III of the San Quirce site, we identified 651 tool re- Carbonell i Roura et al., 1982). We analysed their morpho-technical mains, distributed with a density of approximately 8.5 items per (e.g. size, weight, obliqueness, faciality, removal characteristics) m2 excavated. M. Terradillos-Bernal et al. / Quaternary International 435 (2017) 115e128 119

4.1.1. Raw material 66.3 on flake). Only 27% of the tools had an angle of less than 60 The most notable feature of the raw material management was and 17% more than 80. the use of resources obtained in the vicinity of the site: quartzite (86.2%) and quartz (11.7%), as well as 2.1% of allochthonous flint (Table 2) brought from more than 15 km away. The main features of 4.1.4. Refits the quartzite response to knapping are its homogeneity, fine grain, In a preliminary refit study of the lithic assemblage, we identi- high fracture resistance, and the presence of small fissures, fied 21 refits, all of them on quartzite, with two items involved. imperceptible from the cortex. These fissures are the cause of the Only 8% (n ¼ 52) of the 651 tool remains was classified as pre- large percentage of fractures. San Quirce hominids selected frac- liminary refits. The maximum distance between two items that tured and/or cracked medium and small-sized pebbles with thick were part of the same group was 535 cm (Fig. 5). These 21 refits (16 formats, which facilitated orthogonal knapping. refits and 5 conjoins) consisted of:

Table 2 Structural categories of the San Quirce lithic assemblage.

Categories & raw materials Quartzite Quartz Chert Total

Fragments 57 34 7 98 Hammerstones/manuports no stigmas or fractures 12 ee12 69 with stigmas 15 ee15 with fractures 18 1 e 19 with stigmas & fractures 23 ee23 Cores pebble core 33 1 e 34 45 flake core 11 ee11 Tools pebble tool 16 ee16 58 flake tool 37 5 e 42 Flakes 339 35 7 381 Total 561 76 14 651

4.1.2. Structural categories Two sets of two hammerstone fragments (mesial fractures) The different structural categories include hammerstones and Two sets with a fractured hammerstone flake and a backed flake manuports (12.5% excluding fragments) and flakes (68.9%). 82.6% of (unintentional coreeflake connections) the former bear marks that may be related to active or passive Two sets of two fractured flakes (one of them a siret) in a activities (stoneknapping, bone fracture and/or plant fibre pro- massive unipolar unifacial process (dorsaleventral cessing) (Figs. 3 and 4). The items from the reduction sequences connections) included only a small proportion of cores (8.1%), a quarter of them Two sets of two flakes with a siret fracture in a unipolar unifacial on flake. These cores were medium/small-sized (mean length process (dorsaleventral connections) 61 mm, mean weight 147.5 g). A wide variety of reduction methods Two sets of two short, massive flake fragments (lateral/diagonal were identified, characterized by little complexity and a lack of fractures) predetermination. Notable unifacial and unipolar cores. Neither A fractured flake with a flake fragment in a massive unipolar Levallois nor Quina methods were identified, and the discoidal unifacial process (dorsaleventral connection) method was only recognized from a debordant flake. Two fragments of a massive flake and core edge (coreeflake We documented 58 tools, 72% of them on flake. The tools were connection) small (mean 57 mm), with only three exceeding 10 cm. They lacked Two fragments of a massive flake in an orthogonal reduction technical complexity and were highly specialized, with a predom- process (dorsaleventral connection) inance of denticulates in both pebble tools (43.7%) and flake tools A core edge flake and a flake fractured in a centripetal process (70.1%), as well as their presence in retouched cores (15% of cores) (coreeflake connection) (Figs. 3 and 4). Small trihedrals were also identified (17.2%, the Two fragments of a flake (lateral/diagonal flexure fracture) majority combined with denticulates), along with knapped cobbles A flake with a natural back and siret fracture and a flake edge on with convex faces (3.3%), sidescrapers (12%), notches (6.9%) and core (coreeflake connection) points (3.3%). The lack of hand axe and cleaver morphotypes was A centripetal bifacial flake core which was previously a fractured also notable. hammerstone with stigmas, with a massive backed flake (cor- eeflake connection) 4.1.3. Edge production One core on a rectangular cobble with orthogonal bifacial A total of 38,125 g of raw material was analysed (37,545 g reduction, tending to polyhedral, and a fractured flake (coree- quartzite, 566 g quartz and 14 g flint). 19,288 g were classified as flake connection) hammerstones and manuports. This material yielded 20,032 mm A thick, round unifacial, centripetal core and a massive short with a cutting edge, generating 525 mm of potentially usable edge flake (coreeflake connection) per kg (1063 discarding the weight of the hammerstones and A small denticulate, polyhedral core with unifacial, unipolar manuports). Edge production was primarily focused on flakes transversal reduction and a massive backed flake (dorsaleven- (70.7%), mainly yielding acute and rough products. Edges on shaped tral connection) tools only comprised 19.5% of the total. A denticulate tool on a broken plate with a fractured flake We distinguished 92 active edges (1.6 per tool), of which 78 (dorsaleventral connection) were dihedral (84.8%), 13 trihedral (14.1%) and 1 pyramidal (1.1%). The shape of these edges was varied: convex (32.7%), concave These connections represent the different sta