University of Louisville ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository Electronic Theses and Dissertations 5-2017 Late Magdalenian lithic technological organization at Lapa do Picareiro, central Portugal. Melissa Jean Holst University of Louisville Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.library.louisville.edu/etd Part of the Archaeological Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Holst, Melissa Jean, "Late Magdalenian lithic technological organization at Lapa do Picareiro, central Portugal." (2017). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 2720. https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/2720 This Master's Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has retained all other copyrights. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LATE MAGDALENIAN LITHIC TECHNOLOGICAL ORGANIZATION AT LAPA DO PICAREIRO, CENTRAL PORTUGAL By Melissa Jean Holst B.A., University of Louisville, 2013 A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Louisville in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Anthropology Department of Anthropology University of Louisville Louisville, Kentucky May 2017 LATE MAGDALENIAN LITHIC TECHNOLOGICAL ORGANIZATION AT LAPA DO PICAREIRO, CENTRAL PORTUGAL BY Melissa Jean Holst B.A., University of Louisville, 2013 A Thesis Approved on March 31, 2017 By the following Thesis Committee: _______________________________________ Dr. Jonathan A. Haws, Thesis Director _______________________________________ Dr. Telmo J. R. Pereira _______________________________________ Dr. Amanuel Y. Beyin ii For Lana and Henry iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There were many people involved in the development, execution, and production of this Master’s thesis. I would first like to extend personal thanks to the four individuals whom I have relied on so heavily throughout my time working on this thesis: Dr. Jonathan Haws (University of Louisville) has been my primary mentor and advisor since I was an Undergraduate at the University of Louisville. It was at his invitation that I was provided the opportunity to participate in the ongoing excavations at Lapa do Picareiro in central Portugal. His leadership, advice, guidance, and encouragement have been instrumental in my academic and developing professional success. It is hard to really express the extent to which I owe all that I have learned and experienced in archaeology to him. There is then Dr. Telmo Pereira (University of Algarve). I have had the pleasure of working in the laboratory at the University of Algarve and in the field at Lapa do Picareiro with him. While being one of my mentors he is also a dear friend who has provided me with an innumerable amount of advice, encouragement, brutally honest criticism, and support throughout the past couple years. If it wasn’t for his patience, willingness to teach me, and objective eye for editing, I couldn’t have completed this thesis so successfully. I look forward to many more years of friendship and hopefully future collaboration with him. iv Over the past year, I have had the opportunity to work Dr. Amanuel Beyin (University of Louisville) in the archaeology laboratory, at the University of Louisville, and in the classroom both as student and assistant. He has provided me with countless hours of guidance, constructive criticism, encouragement, and honest advice. I look forward to growing our professional relationship in the coming months and hopefully years. And last but not least, there is Philip DiBlasi (University of Louisville). He has provided me with hours and hours of advice, stories, laughter, consolation, and encouragement over the past year. He has been such an amazing mentor and friend to me. I honestly cannot imagine what I would have done without him. I cannot express enough how much I owe to these four. Anyone who gets to work with any of them (let alone all of them) should consider themselves extremely fortunate. I know I do. Next I would like to thank all the groups that have help fund my research for this thesis over the years. The funding for this project was generously granted by the University of Louisville Anthropology Department, the University of Louisville Portuguese Studies Program, the University of Louisville Graduate Student Council, and the University of Louisville Graduate Network of the Arts and Sciences. Special thanks to the University of Algarve and ICArEHB for providing me access to and a place to work with the assemblage. Without the support provided by these groups, this thesis could not have been done. Thank you so very much v I also want to thank my friends and colleagues who have helped me during this journey. Forrest Melvin, Mallory Cox, Cassandra Penley, and Krysta Wilham, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You four have been there for me on this journey like no others. The network of support, commiseration, accountability, celebration, and friendship that I have found in you ladies is something I will always hold dear. I really couldn’t have done this without you all. Thank you. Next, I would like to thank all of my family. Thank you all for all the love, support, and encouragement you have given me on this journey. It is because of you all that this dream became a reality for me. Words really do not do justice to how thankful I am for all that all of you have done for me and continue to do. Last, but certainly not least, I want to thank my amazing husband, Kyle Holst, for his unconditional love, unwavering support, and for never letting me give up on myself or this thesis project. Thank you for enduring all the months of me being away for field work and analysis, never letting the distance or the duration of my absence and focus affect the amazing life we have together, and for always celebrating date night with me, even when I am an ocean away. More than anyone else, this thesis project was possible because of you. Thank you, I love you so much. vi ABSTRACT LATE MAGDALENIAN LITHIC TECHNOLOGICAL ORGANIZATION AT LAPA DO PICAREIRO, CENTRAL PORTUGAL Melissa J. Holst March 31, 2017 Lapa do Picareiro, a cave located in Portuguese Estremadura, contains continuous deposits dated to the Late Pleistocene. As one of the highest elevation Upper Paleolithic sites currently known in Portugal, questions are raised about the function of the site during this time. This thesis presents a comprehensive analysis of the lithic assemblage recovered from the Late Magdalenian layer of F/G (13,442 to 14,011 cal BP). The data generated from this study, when looked at in conjunction with the previously analyzed faunal assemblage, helps to provide a broader understanding of the site’s function during the Late Magdalenian. The analysis focuses on raw material preference and use, representation of reduction phases, and typologies present in the assemblage. These data are then compared with other contemporaneous sites in the region to see what, if any, inferences can be drawn about location and site function. This is important because this work ultimately contextualizes the observed patterns found in the lithic assemblage in the broader context of the Late Magdalenian in southern Iberia. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iv ABSTRACT vii LIST OF TABLES xi LIST OF FIGURES xiii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER II: BACKGROUND AND HISTORY OF INVESTIGATION 4 Upper Paleolithic in Portugal 5 Portuguese Estremadura and the Magdalenian Period 6 The Magdalenian Lithic Assemblages of Estremadura 7 History and Chronology of the Site 9 CHAPTER III: CLIMATE, PALEO-ENVIRONMENT, SUBSISTENCE, AND MOBILITY DURING THE LATE PLEISTOCENE IN PORTUGAL 15 Climatic Events and their Impact on the Paleo-Environment 16 Late Pleistocene Mobility and Subsistence 19 Technological Adaptation and Raw Material Availability 23 Raw Material Availability 25 CHAPTER IV: PREVIOUS ANALYSIS OF LITHIC MATERIALS FROM LAPA DO PICAREIRO 28 viii Work by Nuno Bicho 28 Work by Telmo Pereira 30 Work by Carolina Mendonça 32 CHAPTER V: METHODOLOGY 33 General Analysis 34 Technological Definitions 34 Typological Definitions 38 CHAPTER VI: NEW DATA ON LITHIC TECHNOLOGICAL ORGANIZATION AT LAPA DO PICAREIRO 41 Layer F/G: Archaeological Context 42 Layer F/G: Artifact Density 44 Layer F/G: Cores 46 Layer F/G: Blanks 51 Layer F/G: Burin Spalls 55 Layer F/G: Retouched Tools 57 CHAPTER VII: DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS, AND FUTURE RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES 70 Analysis Interpretation 70 Discerning Site Function from the Assemblage Analysis 74 Regional Site Comparisons 78 Conclusion and Future Research Opportunities 84 REFERENCES 87 APPENDIX I: SITE CHRONOLOGY 96 ix APPENDIX II: QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS 98 APPENDIX III: ASSEMBLAGE ANALYSIS 100 APPENDIX IV: IMAGERY APPENDIX 104 CURRICULUM VITAE 107 x LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: Layer F/G NIS from faunal data 23 Table 6.1: Layer F/G Assemblage Inventory 43 Table 6.2: Inventory of Cores by Raw Material 46 Table 6.3: Inventory of Cores Types in Chert 47 Table 6.4: Inventory of Core Types in Quartz 48 Table 6.5: Inventory of Core Types in Quartzite 48 Table 6.6: Inventory of Burin Spalls by Raw Material 56 Table 6.7: Retouched Tool Inventory 58 Table 6.8: Inventory of Backed Bladelets 58 Table 6.9: Inventory of Backed Bladelet Typologies 59 Table 6.10: Inventory