El yacimiento achelense de As Gándaras de Budiño: la industria en facies fluviales

As Gándaras de Budiño is one of the most knows acheulian site in the Iberian Peninsula, although there aren’t any recent publications about its industry, stratigraphy context or chronology. In this article we will study the unpublished lithic material found in fluvial deposits excavated by Julio Vidal Encinas at the beginning of the 80s. This assemblage shows all characteristic of the acheulian industry of the peninsular Middle Pleistocene. The sediments which contain the industry have been formed in medium energy environments. The few disturbances of the materials suggest that these are repose in a similar position at the original

Blank predetermination in the Iberian Acheulean. Insight from the cleaver on flake assemblage of Casal do Azemel site (Leiria, Portugal) by a Geometric Morphometric approach

Over the last decades, the increase of data available for the study of the archaeological topic in the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Pleistocene has favoured the understanding of the technological trends of the Iberian Acheulean assemblages. These have features of a Large Flake Acheulean (LFA), displaying, among other traits, a significant presence of cleavers on flake, a specific tool type that is of great cultural and technological value. Particularly, these artefacts are privileged to discuss the importance of blank predetermination in the Acheulean techno-complex. Following this reason, in the present work we aimed to explore this topic through the 2D Geometric Morphometric Analysis of the cleaver on flake assemblage from Casal do Azemel (Leiria, Portugal), an example of a paradigmatic Iberian Acheulean site that has one of the largest collections of this type of tools in Western Europe. The results obtained revealed that no significant morphological differences were found according to the technological solutions applied to the acquisition of the blank and its secondary transformation. Considering that in most of the cases these tools display a low degree of secondary transformation, these data suggest that underlying the production of Casal do Azemel’s cleaver on flake assemblage was not only a technological and cognitive flexibility (given its typological composition), but also a conceptual, structural, and morphological standardisation. These observations allowed us to discuss the significance of blank predetermination in the Acheulean, implying the existence of greatly structured technical and cognitive prerequisites

An unusual artefact in the late prehistoric of the iberian northwest: the rock milling equipment

Los equipos de molienda rupestres (EMR) son un tipo de artefactos que en ocasiones ha sido identificado como un motivo más dentro del Arte Rupestre Atlántico (ARA), que apenas ha recibido atención en la investigación. A diferencia de los molinos de vaivén tradicionales éstos tienen la particularidad de estar realizados sobre superficies rocosas, lo que les confiere un carácter eminentemente fijo, compartiendo - en ocasiones - soporte con arte rupestre. Los datos actuales disponibles definen un ámbito de distribución geográfica muy específica y localizada en el entorno sur de las Rías Baixas gallegas. El objetivo de este este trabajo es hacer una síntesis actualizada del conocimiento y una primera sistematización de estos artefactos, así como una búsqueda de paralelos arqueológicos y/o etnográficos. Los datos publicados en la actualidad indican la escasez de artefactos de molienda y/o triturado de materiales sobre soportes rocosos fijos en el continente europeo, probablemente por falta de investigación. Ahora bien, existen diversos paralelos en otras regiones del globo, que evidencian la complejidad funcional y cultural de este tipo de elementos.Rock milling equipment (EMR) is an artifact that has sometimes been identified as a motif of Atlantic Rock Art (ARA), but has received few attentions by researchers. Unlike traditional mills, these have the particularity of being made on outcropping surfaces, which gives them an eminently fixed feature, and share – sometimes - support with rock art. The current available data define a specific and localised geographical range in the south of the Galician Rías Baixas. This work is aimed at performing an updated synthesis of knowledge and a first systematization of these artifacts, as well as a find for archaeological and/or ethnographic parallels. Currently published data displays a shortage of milling and/or grinding artifacts on fixed rock supports on the European continent, probably due to low research intensity. However, there are several parallels in other regions of the globe, which highlight the functional and cultural complexity of these artefacts.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad | Ref. HAR2012-34029Xunta de Galicia | Ref. ED481B-2018/06

La industria lítica del yacimiento Achelense de Arbo (Pontevedra). Variables del Paleolítico Inferior de Galicia en el contexto peninsular

El yacimiento de Arbo (Pontevedra, Galicia), con una cronología de finales del Pleistoceno Medio, es uno de los pocos enclaves achelenses excavados en extensión en Galicia. Este yacimiento tiene un amplio conjunto de industria lítica en posición estratigráfica, aunque ahora analizamos el numeroso conjunto de materiales líticos recuperados en superficie. Obtenidos en una reducida superficie, pueden ponerse en relación con la secuencia estratigráfica del yacimiento. Los materiales líticos se han caracterizado mediante la reconstrucción de las chaînes operatoires y el reconocimiento de las características tecnomorfológicas y tecnoeconómicas. Su análisis ha permitido obtener información inédita sobre las industrias achelenses del no peninsular, sobre las que existe escasa información publicada. Estos materiales tienen las características del Achelense de grandes lascas –lfa–, donde destaca un abundante conjunto de grandes configurados –lcts–, especialmente bifaces y hendedores, caracterizados por un alto grado de configuración y el uso extensivo de percutores elásticos. La serie estudiada muestra las mismas características tecnotipológicas y tecnoeconómicas que existen en los conjuntos achelenses de la segunda mitad del Pleistoceno Medio de las grandes cuencas atlánticas ibéricas

The coexistence of Acheulean and Ancient Middle Palaeolithic technocomplexes in the Middle Pleistocene of the Iberian Peninsula

Two clearly differentiated techno-complexes can be recognised in the Iberian Peninsula during the second half of the Middle Pleistocene: the Acheulean and the Middle Palaeolithic. In this paper we present the current state of research on both technological entities, and propose that they represent two different industrial traditions. The Acheulean, a techno-complex that originated and developed in Africa, is considered to have reached Western Europe via Gibraltar, and developed only to a limited extent. In contrast, relict populations with a different technological tradition would have been present on the European continent since the late Early Pleistocene and developed a technological traditionwas based on the development of chaînes operatoire of débitage. From MIS 10 on these industries had reached a high degree of complexity and diversity

Spatial analysis of an early middle palaeolithic kill/butchering site: the case of the cuesta de la bajada (Teruel, Spain)

Kill/butchering sites are some of the most important places for understanding the subsistence strategies of hunter-gatherer groups. However, these sites are not common in the archaeological record, and they have not been sufficiently analysed in order to know all their possible variability for ancient periods of the human evolution. In the present study, we have carried out the spatial analysis of the Early Middle Palaeolithic (MIS 9-8) site of Cuesta de la Bajada site (Teruel, Spain), which has been previously identified as a kill/butchering site through the taphonomic analysis of the faunal remains. Our results show that the spatial properties of the faunal and lithic tools distribution in levels CB2 and CB3 are well-preserved although the site is an open-air location. Both levels show a similar segregated (i.e. regular) spatial point pattern (SPP) which is different from the SPP identified at other sites with similar nature from the ethnographic and the archaeological records. However, although the archaeological materials have a regular distribution pattern, the lithic and faunal remains are positively associated, which is indicating that most parts of both types of materials were accumulated during the same occupation episodes, which were probably sporadic and focused on getting only few animal carcasses at a time.Post-Doc Xunta de Galicia Grant (ED481D-2022/023); ERC Consolidator grant (CoG—101045506).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

O Paleolítico de Melgaço: Vestígios arqueológicos dos primeiros habitantes do Concelho

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio