THE WESTERN ROUTE FROM/TO IBERIA

Celiberti, Vincenzo, Cauche, Dominique, Notter, Olivier,Rossoni-Notter, Elena, Grégoire, Sophie

ROSSONI-NOTTER E., NOTTER O., SIMONP. et SIMONE S. « Comportements techniques des acheuléens de la grotte d’Aldène (Cesseras, Hérault, France) », Session B10-The interglacialHolsteinian eldorado and the onset of the Middle Palaeolithic (400-300 ka), UISPP, Union Internationale des Sciences Préhistoriques et Protohistoriques, International Union of the Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences, Unión Internacional de CiencasPrehistoricas y Protohistoricas, 1er au 7 septembre 2014,Burgos (Espagne)

Celiberti, Vincenzo, Barroso Ruíz, Cecilio,Grégoire, Jiménez-Cobos, Francisca Cauche, Dominique, Notter, Olivier Rossoni-Notter, Elena García Solano, José Antonio Moigne, Anne-Marie

Journal of Lithic Studies, 2016

Studies on lithic resource management -mainly flint-by prehistoric groups south of the western Pyrenees have significantly increased during the past decades. These studies usually focus on identifying outcrops and characterising the different varieties found at archaeological sites. However, the understanding of mobility and territorial management patterns based on raw materials is still very limited and has only been tackled in terms of lineal distance. This paper proposes a methodological approach for the territorial analysis of flint distribution with the three following aims: 1) to determine the expansion ranges of each variety of flint from its outcrop; 2) to spatially relate these outcrops with archaeological sites; and 3) to improve our knowledge on the catchment strategies of Upper Palaeolithic groups.

Tradicionalmente, viene considerándose que el paso de los grupos humanos por los Pirineos resulta dificultoso durante el Paleolítico y exis-ten, efectivamente, datos que contradicen este planteamiento. Incluso podemos valorar como verosímil la existencia de una región paleolítica pirenaica, con rasgos culturales específicos y una serie de yacimientos implicados, especialmente durante el Magdaleniense. La existencia de rutas de tránsito a través de los tramos centrales de los Pirineos no es incompatible, sin embargo, con una mayor preferencia por los pasos occidental y oriental entre la Península Ibérica y el resto del continente europeo. Partiendo de esta hipótesis, nos proponemos explorar la ruta occidental del poblamiento peninsular, la que cruza el País Vasco, a partir de diferentes tipos de registro: la propia dispersión de los yaci-mientos arqueológicos, la distribución de materias primas líticas, los tecnocomplejos y las similitudes o diferencias en los comportamientos culturales y económicos de los grupos humanos. Para ello, partimos de la reflexión teórica efectuada en el Coloquio de Tarascon (2004), para comprobar la validez de aquella propuesta, desde la perspectiva de doce años. LABURPENA Sarritan aipatu da Pirinioetako pasatzea zaila izan dela gizakientzako, Paleolitoan zehar, eta ba dira datuak hipotesi hau ezeztatzeko. Batzuk aipatu dute Pirinioetako eremu kultural bat, adierazle kultural oso espezifikoekin, bereziki Magdalen aldian. Pirinioak zeharkatzen dituzten zenbait pasabideen izatea, aldi berean, bateragarria da beste planteamenduarekin, hain zuzen ere, gizataldeek nahiago izaten dituztela Pirinioetako mendebaldeko eta ekialdeko ertzak Iberiar Penintsula eta kontinentearen arteko pasabideak bezala, erosoagoak dire-lako. Hipotesi hau abiapuntutzat hartuta, mendebaldeko pasabidea (Euskal Herria zeharkatzen duena) zenbait erregistro materialen arabera aztertuko dugu: aztarnategi arkeologikoen sakabanaketa, harrizko lehengaien hornidura eta gizataldeen portaera kultural eta ekonomikoen arteko aldeak eta desberdintasunak. Aspaldian, 2004ko Tarascon-sur-Ariègen izandako kongresuan egin genuen hausnarketa teoretikoa izan da gure oinarria, hamabi urte beranduago hipotesi horren baliokidetza aztertzeko. ABSTRACT It has traditionally been thought that movement of human groups across the Pyrenees would have been difficult in the Palaeolithic, although there are data contradicting this view. It may even be proposed that a Pyrenean region existed in the Palaeolithic with specific cultural traits and a series of sites, especially in the Magdalenian. The existence of routes across the central parts of the Pyrenees is not incompatible, however, with a preference for the western and eastern routes between the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of Europe. With this hypothesis, we propose to explore the western route for the movement of populations, the one that crosses the Basque Country, through different kinds of record: the location of the archaeological sites themselves, the distribution of lithic raw materials, the technocomplexes, and the similarities and differences in the cultural and subsistence behaviour of the human groups. We will retake the theoretical approach proposed at the International Meeting on Prehistorical Pyrenees (Tarascon, 2004), to check its validity, twelve years later.

Bronze Age studies carried out in the Cantabrian Region have traditionally focused on prestige goods and funerary contexts. As a result of this, the lack of information about daily activities, subsistence strategies, and human settlement on a regional scale was evident in the state of art. However, current research has achieved new discoveries in recent years, allowing a reconstruction of some aspects of the economic structure, settlements, material culture and the palaeoenvironment during the Bronze Age. Indeed, besides the funerary practices discovered in 1983 in San Adrian (Parztuergo Nagusia, Gipuzkoa), research has now revealed the presence of Upper Palaeolithic and Early Bronze Age occupations. This paper presents a first characterization of the retrieved evidence and a preliminary evaluation of the archaeological site and its environment. San Adrian is a tunnel-shaped cave located at 1,000 meters a.s.l. in the Aizkorri mountain range, opening a passage beneath the Atlantic-Mediterranean watershed in northern Iberia. The strategic character of this mountain site is demonstrated by the presence of Upper Palaeolithic and Bronze Age occupations, and by the construction of a road passing through it and the fortification of both its entrances in the Middle Ages. The aim of the archaeological survey started in 2008 was to identify, describe and evaluate the heritage potential of the cave, because previous fieldwork had only managed to make surface finds in the side galleries, including a medieval hoard and Bronze Age human remains. The work carried out by the research group at San Adrian includes a series of test pits and the excavation of an area nine square metres in size following stratigraphic criteria. In the current state, we identified at least two contexts corresponding to Late Upper Palaeolithic and Bronze Age occupations in the cave. Fieldwork included the sieving and flotation of sediment and the collection of samples for different types of analysis: palynology, carpology, sedimentology, and radiocarbon dating. The evidence is being studied by a multidisciplinary team according to expertise requirements for each topic: palaeobotany and environment, archaeozoology, sedimentology, geology, physical anthropology, prehistoric industries (lithics, pottery and bone) and archaeological and historical documentation. Because of its recent discovery, Upper Palaeolithic evidence remains still under study, but first results on Bronze Age layers can be presented. The ongoing archaeobotanical and archaeozoological studies reveal the exploitation of domestic plants and fauna complemented by hunting and foraging of wild species. At the same time, the archaeological artefacts and their production sequences show the exploitation of nearby resources on both sides of the mountain range, while prestige goods are absent. This evidence is also used to estimate the regularity of cave occupations and to propose a model of seasonal exploitation of the mountain environment. The results obtained reveal the exploitation of resources from both the Mediterranean and Atlantic basins, and contribute towards an understanding of the daily activities of Bronze Age societies. In addition, the evidence shows the exchange and circulation of quotidian products between the Cantabrian region and inland Iberia in other networks than those of prestige goods.

Ethnographic documentation tells us that very often hunters poison their weapons with toxic substances.The ease with which poisons can be obtained from plants and animals, and the benefits arising from their application on throwing weapons (a safe distance from the hunter’s prey, killing large size prey relatively quickly) suggests that this practice could be widespread among prehistoric hunters.In particular, the poisonous substances can incapacitate the animal, irrespective of whether the weapon causing a mortal wound: this is crucial for the recovery of meat and furs in good conditions. In this paper we present the development of a method for the detection of toxic substances on European Upper Paleolithic stone and bone points. This research is part of a wider project on the analysis of residues on the prehistoric projectile points in collaboration with the Dept. of Chemical and Forensic Sciences of the Northumbria University, Newcastle. The investigation makes use of mass spectrometric analysis to establish the presence/absence of potentially toxic substances even after thousands of years. The plants of the Ranunculaceae family, particularly monkshood, as well as other common toxic plants such as hemlock or andstrychnos toxiferia (curare) are those on which we have more historical information and form the basis of this work. Using a completely non-invasive method, samples were taken from the ethnographic materials preserved in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology of Cambridge (UK), and samplings are scheduled at the Pitt Rivers Museum of Oxford (UK) and Museo Etnografico Pigorini of Roma (Italy). The method preview the research of the toxic molecules starting from the present plants and working backwards through the study of the historical and ethnographic weapons.

The Italian Peninsula seems to be playing an important role in the debate on the cultural occurrences connected to Neanderthals. Its particular geographical position, as a peripheral appendix of the European continent, gives origin to a territory constrained in a long and narrow strip of land which, differently from the vast plains of Northern Europe, acts as a cul de sac in the population dynamics of humans and animals. At the same time, the highly variable and fragmented landscapes, sprouting from a great geomorphological variety (Apennine Chain - coastal areas), create the conditions for a wide range of resources and for a mosaic-like peopling of the Peninsula. From a chronological standpoint too, a narrowing of the time range of Neanderthal record is observable, particularly in Southern Italy. This is defined, in comparison to the wider European context, by a late appearance of Levallois in lithic industries (OIS 5) and by an early arrival of the first cultures connected to Homo sapiens (Uluzzian, about 45-44 kyrs BP). For this reason, the study of Neanderthal communities who occupied Southern Italy during that time span provides a very interesting viewpoint for the understanding of their actual variability and complexity. Over the last decade, Middle Palaeolithic research in Italy has experienced an important methodological renewal thanks not only to the diffusion of technological approach in lithic studies, but also to the broader attention paid to behavioural expressions of these human groups: exploitation strategies of the territory and of the mineral and food resources, spatial organization, mobility within territories, stone tool production, fire technology, symbolic expressions, etc. Investigations carried out by Research Unit in “Prehistory and Anthropology” of the University of Siena fit within this framework of methodological renewal and focus the on key sites located in different regions of Central- Southern Italy. This work wants to present and compare the results obtained over the last few years from the sites of Cala dei Santi (Southern Tuscany), Castelcivita, Molare and Grotta Grande (Campania), Oscurusciuto and Santa Croce (Apulia), with the aim of shedding light on Neanderthals’ behavioural variability.

In this work we tested the application of 3D microscopy to technological analysis of artistic engravings on Palaeolithic mobiliary art objects. The aim of this research is to understand the technical and artistic procedures followed by prehistoric artists. Here we analysed an unpublished right mandible of Bos primigenius (auroch), coming from the portable art assemblage of Paglicci Cave (Foggia, Southern Italy). This site shows an artistic production of exceptional importance that offers an essential record about Paleolithic mobiliary art in Italy (from Gravettian to Final Epigravettian). The studied mandible, coming from Evolved Epigravettian layers, displays an engraved motif of difficult interpretation. Before studying the archaeological piece we produced an experimental programme in order to compare archaeological data with those obtained through replication under controlled parameters. We produced a set of experimental engravings on bone using burins and not retouched blanks. The experimental and archaeological engravings were analysed by means of a Hirox 3D Digital Microscope KH-7700.Cross sections from the median part of each groove have been observed and metrical parameters have been collected (depth, breadth at the floor and breadth at the top of the groove). In order to describe the shape of each cross section the ratio between the breadth at the top and the breadth at the floor, as well as the ratio between the breath at the top and the depth of cut marks have been calculated. Results of the analysis revealed that the overall contours of the figure was engraved first, while engraved lines inside were added afterwards. The experimental data pointed out that the morphometric analysis reveal no discriminating characters between the engravings produced by burins and those produced by not retouched blanks; on the other hand the micromorphological analysis showed a clearer context, where we can characterize the engravings produced by the two kinds of tool. The analysis of archaeological piece revealed a high homogeneity of the micromorphological and micromorphometrical data, feature which suggests the use of a single tool in the realization of the figure, probably a burin. In addition to it the morphometric data collected on the mobilary art object were compared with those collected on a sample of cut marks from the same site. Significant differences were found between the two samples: in particular the cut marks cross-sections are V-shaped, whilst the art object is characterised by U-shaped engravings. As regards the micro-morphological data, this research seems to give good indications for the detection of parameters that allow us to recognize the kinds of tool used for engraving. The application of 3D microscopy reveals new perspectives for the identification of techniques and gesture of prehistoric artists. Finally, the differences found between the art object and the cut marks are of great interest for developing protocols able to separate between butchering marks and engravings of dubious origin.