Caves in Context The Cultural Signifi cance of Caves and Rockshelters in Europe Edited by Knut Andreas Bergsvik and Robin Skeates Oxbow Books Oxford and Oakville Published by Oxbow Books, Oxford, UK © Oxbow Books and the authors, 2012 ISBN 978-1-84217-474-6 A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library This book is available direct from: Oxbow Books, Oxford, UK (Phone: 01865-241249; Fax: 01865-794449) and The David Brown Book Company PO Box 511, Oakville, CT 06779, USA (Phone: 860-945-9329; Fax: 860-945-9468) or from our website www.oxbowbooks.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Caves in context : the cultural signifi cance of caves and rockshelters in Europe / edited by Knut Andreas Bergsvik and Robin Skeates. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-1-84217-474-6 1. Caves--Europe--History. I. Bergsvik, Knut Andreas. II. Skeates, Robin. GB608.42.C34 2012 551.44’7094--dc23 2012008862 Front cover: Kirkehelleren at Træna, Norway. Photo:Knut Andreas Bergsvik Back cover: inside the cave La Garma at Cantabria, Spain. Photo: Pablo Arias Printed in Great Britain by Short Run Press Exeter Contents List of contributors ............................................................................................................................................................. v Preface ................................................................................................................................................................................ vii Chapter 1: Caves in context: an introduction ..............................................................................................................1 Knut Andreas Bergsvik and Robin Skeates The British Isles and Scandinavia Chapter 2: From Assynt to Oban: some observations on prehistoric cave use in western Scotland ................10 Clive Bonsall, Catriona Pickard and Graham A. Ritchie Chapter 3: Mesolithic caves and rockshelters in Western Norway ........................................................................22 Knut Andreas Bergsvik and Ingebjørg Storvik Chapter 4: Rockshelters in central Norway: long-term changes in use, social organization and production ...........................................................................................................................................39 Anne Haug Chapter 5: On the outer fringe of the human world: phenomenological perspectives on anthropomorphic cave paintings in Norway ....................................................................................48 Hein Bjartmann Bjerck Iberia and France Chapter 6: On the (l)edge: the case of Vale Boi rockshelter (Algarve, Southern Portugal) .................................65 Nuno Bicho, João Cascalheira and João Marreiros Chapter 7: The use of caves and rockshelters by the last Neandertal and fi rst Modern Human societies in Cantabrian Iberia: similarities, diff erences, and territorial implications .......................82 Javier Ordoño Chapter 8: La Garma (Spain): long-term human activity in a karst system ........................................................101 Pablo Arias and Roberto Ontañón Chapter 9: Shedding light on dark places: Deposition of the dead in caves and cave-like features in Neolithic and Copper Age Iberia ......................................................................................118 Estella Weiss-Krejci Chapter 10: The Bronze Age use of caves in France: reinterpreting their functions and the spatial logic of their deposits through the chaîne opératoire concept .................................138 Sébastien Manem The Central Mediterranean Chapter 11: Caves in Context: the late medieval Maltese scenario .........................................................................153 Keith Buhagiar Chapter 12: Caves in need of context: prehistoric Sardinia ....................................................................................166 Robin Skeates iv Contents Chapter 13: Discovery and exploratory research of prehistoric sites in caves and rockshelters in the Barbagia di Seulo, South-Central Sardinia ................................................................................188 Giusi Gradoli and Terence Meaden Chapter 14: Notes from the underground: caves and people in the Mesolithic and Neolithic Karst ..............199 Dimitrij Mlekuž Central and Eastern Europe Chapter 15: Cave Burials in Prehistoric Central Europe .........................................................................................212 Jörg Orschiedt Chapter 16: Late Caucasian Neanderthals of Barakaevskaya cave: chronology, palaeoecology and palaeoeconomy .......................................................................................................225 Galina Levkovskaya, Vasiliy Lyubin and Elena Belyaeva Chapter 17: Interstratifi cation in layers of unit III at Skalisty rockshelter and the origin of the Crimean fi nal Palaeolithic .................................................................................254 Valery A. Manko Contributors Pablo Arias João Cascalheira Instituto Internacional de Investigaciones Prehistóricas de FCHS – University of Algarve Cantabria Campus de Gambelas (Unidad Asociada al CSIC) 8005-139 Faro Edifi cio Interfacultativo de la Universidad de Cantabria Portugal Av. de Los Castros s/n [email protected] 39005 Santander Javier Ordoño Daubagna Spain Department of Geography, Prehistory and Archaeology [email protected] University of País Vasco – Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea Elena Belyaeva c/o Tomás y Valiente s/n Russian Academy of Sciences 01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz (Álava) Institute of History of Material Culture Spain Dvortsovaya nab., 18 [email protected] St.-Petersburg M. Giuseppina Gradioli 191186 Russia COMET Valorizzazione Risorse Territoriali and ISSEP [email protected] Sardinia Knut Andreas Bergsvik Via Pitzolo 20 University of Bergen 09126 Cagliari Department of Archaeology, history, Cultural Studies Sardinia and Religion Italy P.O. Box 7805 [email protected] 5020 Bergen Anne Haug Norway Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) [email protected] Museum of Natural History and Archaeology Nuno Bicho NO-7491 Trondheim FCHS – University of Algarve Norway Campus de Gambelas [email protected] 8005-139 Faro Galina M. Levkovskaya Portugal Russian Academy of Sciences [email protected] Institute of History of Material Culture Hein Bjartmann Bjerck Dvortsovaya nab., 18 Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) St.-Petersburg Museum of Natural History and Archaeology 191186 Russia NO-7491 Trondheim [email protected] Norway Vasiliy Lyubin [email protected] Russian Academy of Sciences Clive Bonsall Institute of History of Material Culture University of Edinburgh Dvortsovaya nab., 18 School of History, Classics, and Archaeology St.-Petersburg Old High School 191186 Russia Infi rmary Street [email protected] Edinburgh EH1 1LT Sébastien Manem United Kingdom Institute of Archaeology [email protected] University College London Keith Buhagiar 31-34 Gordon Square University of Malta, London WC1H 0PY Department of Classics and Archaeology United Kingdom Msida MSD 2080 [email protected] Malta [email protected] vi Contributors Valery Manko Catriona Pickard Institute of Archaeology University of Edinburgh National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine School of History, Classics, and Archaeology 12 Geroiw Stalingradu ul. Old High School Kyiv Infi rmary Street Ukraine Edinburgh, EH1 1LT [email protected] United Kingdom [email protected] João Marreiros FCHS – University of Algarve Graham A. Ritchie Campus de Gambelas University of Edinburgh 8005-139 Faro School of History, Classics, and Archaeology Portugal Doorway 4, Teviot Place [email protected] Edinburgh, EH8 9AG United Kingdom G. Terence Meaden Oxford University Robin Skeates Archaeology Section Durham University Department of Continuing Education Dept of Archaeology Rewley House South Road 1 Wellington Square Durham, DH1 3LE Oxford, Oxfordshire United Kingdom OX1 2JA [email protected] United Kingdom Ingebjørg Storvik [email protected] University of Bergen Dimitrij Mlekuž Department of Archaeology, history, Cultural Studies, and Ghent University Religion Faculty of Arts and Philosophy P.O. Box 7805 Department of Archaeology and ancient history of Europe 5020 Bergen Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 35 UFO Norway 9000 Gent [email protected] Belgium Estella Weiss-Krejci [email protected] University of Vienna Roberto Ontañón Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology Instituto Internacional de Investigaciones Prehistóricas de Universitätsstraße 7 Cantabria A–1010 Wien (Unidad Asociada al CSIC) Austria Edifi cio Interfacultativo de la Universidad de Cantabria [email protected] Av. de Los Castros s/n 39005 Santander Spain [email protected] Jörg Orschiedt University Hamburg Archaeological Institute Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1, Fluegel West 20146 Hamburg [email protected] Preface Caves and rockshelters are found all over Europe, and of caves used as residential or burial places compare have frequently been occupied by human groups, from to that of houses or megalithic monuments? Are caves prehistory right up to the present day. Some appear connected to other culturally signifi cant places in the to have only traces of short occupations, while others landscape through the movement of people and things contain deep cultural deposits, indicating longer and as part of rites of passage? When do caves become multiple occupations. Above