Making humans really humans. a critical view of optimum foraging theories approaches to hunter-gatherers societies

Algunos de los modelos más ampliamente utilizados, especialmente en el mundo anglosajón, como teorías explicativas de los comportamientos de las sociedades depredadoras en la Arqueología actual son aquellos derivados de la Teoría del Forrajeo Óptimo, un supuesto teórico procedente de la Ecología que asume que el objetivo de las actividades cinegéticas de las comunidades humana es la máxima rentabilización de la energía obtenida, en forma de alimento, en relación a la invertida en dichas actividades. Sin embargo, estos modelos adolecen de una serie de limitaciones tanto epistemológicas como metodológicas que hacen que, en nuestra opinión, no sean aplicables a las sociedades de cazadores y recolectores

To see or to be seen... is that the question? An evaluation of palaeolithic sites' visual presence and their role in social organization

Visibility is one of the most common features considered when analyzing site location; visual control of a territory is usually considered to be a desirable characteristic for a prehistoric settlement. However, the role that visibility could have played in the perception of sites, as a significant element of palaeolithic landscapes, has been rarely evaluated. Sites can act not only as settlements but as places for population aggregations, social interactions and symbolic activities; in this context, the relevance presence of a site within the landscape could have been an influencing factor in site location preferences. This paper focuses on the visual presence of a set of sites from Late palaeolithic Cantabria (Northern Iberian Peninsula), and evaluates how the way they were perceived could have been related to their role in the social organization of foraging communities.This work is part of a research project funded by the University of Cantabria thanks to a Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, and was supported by the Cantabria International Institute for Prehistoric Research (University of Cantabria) and the Creación de un GIS integral para la Prehistoria de la Cuenca del Asón y la Costa Oriental de Cantabria. (HUM2006-13729) research project

GIS-based methodology for Palaeolithic site location preferences analysis. A case study from Late Palaeolithic Cantabria (Northern Iberian Peninsula)

Factors involved in the selection of a settlement location are key issues in the understanding of hunteregatherer subsistence strategies and social organization. Site location preferences are the result of a complex decision-making process, in which both economic and cultural needs are involved. This paper presents a specific methodology for site location analysis, based on the definition and calculation of a series of variables. This methodology, applied to Late Palaeolithic sites from the Cantabrian coast, enables an objective comparison between archaeological sites, and consequently the analysis of settlement patterns of Palaeolithic societies.This research was part of a Doctoral dissertation funded by a pre-doctoral fellowship from the Programa de Personal Investigador en Formación of the University of Cantabria, and supported by the International Institute for Prehistoric Research of Cantabria (IIIPC) and by the Creación de un GIS integral para la Prehistoria de la Cuenca del Asón y la Costa Oriental de Cantabria. (HUM2006-13729) research project, directed by M.R. González Morales (IIIPC) and funded by the Marcelino Botín Foundation and the Spanish Ministerio de Cultura

Predictive Models and the Evolution of Tree Vegetation during the Final Pleistocene-Holocene Transition. A Case Study from the Asón River Valley (Cantabria, Spain)

Abstract: This paper proposes two predictive models, created with GIS technology and developed to evaluate the evolution and spatial distribution of arboreal vegetation during the Final Pleistocene – Early Holocene transition. Weighted values and logistic regression methods have been used, based on the ecological preferences of the tree species identiied in certain pollen diagrams from the Cantabrian region. Using GIS, zones in the study area that it with these ecological preferences and to thereby model the areas where speciic vegetation types would have been more likely to develop were marked out for both the Younger Dryas and the Early Holocene periods

On the existence of a parent theory for General Relativity and Unimodular Gravity

General Relativity (GR) and Unimodular Gravity (UG) provide two equivalent descriptions of gravity that differ in the nature of the cosmological constant. While GR is based on the group of diffeomorphisms that permits the cosmological constant in the action, UG is based on the subgroup of volume-preserving diffeomorphisms together with Weyl transformations which forbid the presence of the cosmological constant. However, the cosmological constant reappears in UG as an integration constant so it arises as a global degree of freedom. Since gauge symmetries are simply redundancies in our description of physical systems, a natural question is whether there exists a "parent theory" with the full diffeomorphisms and Weyl transformations as gauge symmetries so that it reduces to GR and UG respectively by performing suitable (partial) gauge fixings. We will explore this question by introducing Stueckelberg fields both in GR and UG to complete the gauge symmetries in each theory to that of the would-be parent theory. Despite the dynamical equivalence of the two theories, we find that precisely the additional global degree of freedom provided by the cosmological constant in UG obstructs the construction of the parent theory.Comment: 29 pages, no figures, no table

Información arqueológica y etnográfica sobre el uso de yunques de huesos en el caso de Mallorca (Islas Baleares, España)

After most researchers have agreed to interpret the bone anvils as artefacts used by blacksmiths to cut teeth on metal sickles, present lines of enquiry are focused on drawing the geographic and chronological scope of these tools. Following this path, this paper presents the results of archaeological and ethnographic surveys carried out in Mallorca (Balearic Islands, Spain). The new data recorded not only has enabled us to document the presence and temporal scope of the bone anvils on the island, but also, for the first time, the involvement of women in their use.Una vez establecido que los yunques de hueso fueron objetos utilizados por los herreros para crear el dentado de las hoces de metal, la investigación actual se ha centrado en trazar el alcance geográfico y cronológico de estas herramientas. Siguiendo este camino, se presentan aquí los resultados arqueológicos y etnográficos de la investigación llevada a cabo en Mallorca (Islas Baleares, España). Los nuevos datos obtenidos no sólo nos permiten documentar la presencia y alcance temporal de los yunques de hueso en la isla, sino también, por primera vez, el papel desempeñado por las mujeres en su uso

Haciendo humanos a los humanos. Una reflexión crítica sobre la aplicación de las Teorías del Forrajeo Óptimo a las sociedades de cazadores-recolectores.

Algunos de los modelos más ampliamente utilizados, especialmente en el mundo anglosajón, como teorías explicativas de los comportamientos de las sociedades depredadoras en la Arqueología actual son aquellos derivados de la Teoría del Forrajeo Óptimo, un supuesto teórico procedente de la Ecología que asume que el objetivo de las actividades cinegéticas de las comunidades humanas es la máxima rentabilización de la energía obtenida, en forma de alimento, en relación a la invertida en dichas actividades. Sin embargo, estos modelos adolecen de una serie de limitaciones tanto epistemológicas como metodológicas que hacen que, en nuestra opinión, no sean aplicables a las sociedades de cazadores y recolectores

Historia del muy noble y valeroso caballero el Cid Ruy Díez de Vibar en romances, en lenguaje antiguo. Recopilados por Juan de Escobar

Review of Historia del muy noble y valeroso caballero el Cid Ruy Díez de Vibar en romances, en lenguaje antiguo. Recopilados por Juan de Escobar.Reseña de Historia del muy noble y valeroso caballero el Cid Ruy Díez de Vibar en romances, en lenguaje antiguo. Recopilados por Juan de Escoba

Caverns, sanctuaries and pioneers. Approaches to habitability conditions in the beginning of Cantabrian Palaeolithic research

RESUMEN: Las condiciones de habitabilidad de los yacimientos arqueológicos, es decir, de las cuevas donde éstos se encuentran, ha sido un tema recurrente en la investigación del Paleolítico cantábrico. En este artículo se evalúan las diferentes aproximaciones a las condiciones de habitabilidad de los yacimientos paleolíticos cantábricos efectuadas por los principales investigadores de finales del siglo XIX y comienzos del siglo XX. Estas aproximaciones son analizadas teniendo en cuenta los paradigmas teóricos imperantes en la época. Esta revisión bibliográfica permite constatar un cierto interés por las condiciones de habitabilidad entre los primeros investigadores, aunque en la mayoría de los casos se tratará de un interés puntual y anecdótico.ABSTRACT:The habitability condition of archaeological sites, i.e. the caves where archaeological sites are located, has been a common issue in Cantabrian Palaeolithic research. In this paper I analyse the different approaches to Cantabrian Palaeolithic site habitability conditions made by some of the main prehistorians at the end of the 19th Century and early 20th Century. These approaches are analysed considering the theoretical paradigms at that moment. This bibliographical review is able to confirm certain interest in habitability conditions among the early authors, but this interest is most of the time unusual and anecdotic

José J. Labrador Herraiz (coord.), Segunda parte de la Silua de varios romances

Review of José J. Labrador Herraiz (coord.), Segunda parte de la Silua de varios romances.Reseña de José J. Labrador Herraiz (coord.), Segunda parte de la Silua de varios romances