Depto. de Prehistoria, Historia Antigua y ArqueologíaFac. de Geografía e HistoriaTRUEpu

Andrés-Herrero, María de

Garcí­a Sánchez, Eduardo

Jordá Pardo, Jesús Francisco

Kehl, Martin

Menéndez Fernández, Mario

Quesada López, José Manuel

Rojo, Julio

Schmidt, Isabel

Weniger, Gerd-Christian

Álvarez-Alonso, David

English

Docta Complutense

PLEISTOCENE AND HOLOCENE HUNTER-GATHERERS IN IBERIA AND THE GIBRALTAR STRAIT:THE CURRENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD60edge about the lifestyles of the human groups at this exciting time.6. ConclusionsThe El Castillo cave site is one of the most important records of the Middle and Upper Pal-aeolithic on the Iberian Peninsula and indeed in Europe. The presence of a stratigraphy represent-ing all stages of human presence dating back more than 300,000 years enables a wide range of work-ing hypotheses to be tested, both historically and in other disciplines (palaeontology, climatology, etc.). Our studies have focused on the transition period from the Middle to the Upper Palaeolithic. They have contributed several aspects that chal-lenge –and indeed will continue to challenge– cur-rent views. This confirms the importance of the site and the opportunities it presents.La Cueva de la Güelga. Cangas de Onís. AsturiasMario Menéndez*, Gerd-Christian Weniger **-***, David Álvarez-Alonso1, María de Andrés-Herrero ***,Eduardo García *, Jesús F. Jordá *, Martin Kehl ****, Julio Rojo *, José M.Quesada *, Isabell Schmidh **IntroductionLa Cueva de la Güelga, whose name in the lo-cal language refers to wet and shady sites, opens to the heart of a limestone mountain valley, form-ing a cul-de-sac. A stream flows from the current cave aperture and has configurated a karst system with corresponding terrace drain caverns that were successively occupied during the Middle and Upper Paleolithic. This group of rock shelters and caves has been divided into different sectors for investigation, which has developed from 1989 to the present. A-B and C areas are located on the lower terrace, occupied during the Magdalenian and Solutrean. At the top is D sector, with occu-pations attributed to Châtelperronian, Aurigna-cian and Mousterian. This valley, closed in itself, has provided numerous lithic remains in surfaces, mostly attributable to Mode 3, surely exponents of intense and prolonged occupations. It is located 200 m above sea level, and along with Buxu and Azules caves, is a core site in the middle reaches of the Sella River, territorially linked with other coast sites, 15 km away, around the Ribadesella Bay (Menéndez, 2003).Areas A, B and C (Upper Paleolithic): Locat-ed around the current cave entrance, they show remains of an intense Solutrean occupation swept by the river into the karst. The only evidence from the upper Solutrean, industry also present in neighboring Buxu Cave, are gap vestiges at-tached to the wall of the shelter and in situ layer (Area C), with notch points and concave bases. Also, A and C were excavated and assigned to Cantabrian Lower Magdalenian or Magdalenian III occupation, from the so-called Juyofacies. The lithic and especially the bone industry, display the existence of a group of hunters specialized in deer (55%), chamois (24%) and goats (20%), probably during the middle months of the year (spring / summer), which left at layer 3 an excel-lent collection of art mobilier. The hyoid hanging of deer must be highlighted, decorated assegai * Departamento de Prehistoria y Arqueología, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia. Ciudad Universitaria, Paseo Senda del Rey 7, E-28040 Madrid, Spain; mmenendez@geo.uned.es; dalvarez@gijon.uned.es; egarciasmail@gmail.com; jjorda@geo.uned.es; juliorojo@juliorojo.jazztel.es; jmquesada@geo.uned.es; ** Neanderthal Museum. Talstr. 300, 40822 Mettmann, Germany; schmidt@neanderthal.de; weniger@neanderthal.de*** University of Cologne, Institute of Prehistoric Archaeology. Albertus-Magnus-Platz, 50923 Cologne, Germany mdeandres@nean-derthal.de, **** University of Cologne, Institute of Geography. Albertus-Magnus-Platz, 50923 Cologne, Germany; kehlm@uni-koeln.deCANTABRIAN MOUNTAINS AND COASTLINE. 61and bones emphasizing an adult deer tibia frag-ment, three heads of the same animal synchro-nously recorded, all done with fresh bone, but with very different styles and conventions. This occupation of the late Magdalenian is well dated, around to 14 key BP (Fig.1).Area D (Transition MP / UP): In the middle terrace, around11 m above the current stream bed, appears a cave entrance excavated since 2000, which was filled in by debris from a collapsed cor-nice that fell and formed a slope. Overall, nine ar-chaeological layers were excavated inside the shel-ter, which we have called D interior. The result was a Châtelperronian – Aurignacian – Mousterian se-quence, separated by periods of collapse and aban-donment of the cavern (Quesada and Menéndez 2009). As stratigraphic variations in certain areas were observed and the Aurignacian interlayer was the utmost interest to the transition paradigm MP / UP, in 2005 a new excavation zone was deter-mined to be opened on the outdoor terrace under the large blocks of the old collapsed shelter. This area, which has been called D exterior, provided intense Mousterian occupation. In 2012, in collab-oration with the Neanderthal Museum in Mett-mann and the University of Cologne (Germany), led by G-Ch.Weniger, micromorphological analy-sis of D zone was done on interior and exterior levels, to contrast them with the sedimentological results (Jordá et al., 2013; Menéndez et al., 2014). We will summarize the current geoarchaeological results and hypotheses in future work.The geoarcheological D sector sequence from La Güelga comprises a series of levels generated by both anthropogenic and natural processes. These natural processes detected by the sedimentologi-cal analysis, highlight the gravitational collapse of large blocks, gelifraction and diffuse gullies of very low energy (Jordá Pardo et al., 2013). The micro-morphologic analysis of D interior area identifies features that indicate the nature in situ of both the Mousterian (L9) and Aurignacian (L5-L6) levels, whereas in the Châtelperronian levels (L1 and L2) the traits indicated were emplaced by processes of creep after a roof block fall and aren’t significantly compacted by trampling. Chronological invertion seems to confirm this hypothesis.D Interior: The sequence excavated so far con-sists of nine archaeological layers deposited in slope (Fig. 2), into the cave, under a strong surface layer (S1 and S2) (Quesada and Menéndez, 2009; Jordá et al., 2013).Châtelperronian (L1 and L2): Layers 1 and 2 form a sedimentological unit in slope into the cave interior. It was only useful for excavation 3.7 m2. A flint laminar industry was found, having noted the presence of two Châtelperron points, and another assemblage of quartzite flakes, such as scrapers and denticulates. The presence of lithic manufactured the absence of bone artifacts and 14C studies (Table 1) encouraged us to define this set as Châtelper-ronian, considering the possible underlying Aurig-nacian as an interstrafication. Recent dating of the lower level (L5) and sedimentological and micro-stratigraphic analysis carried out by the University of Cologne does not ensure that this level is in situ.Under level 2 a fringe of stone blocks detached from the shelter and a layer of clay and silt appear from the outside. Levels 3 and 4 are almost sterile.Aurignacian (L5 and L6): Under a line of stone blocks (L5) appears a clay layer (L6); shown in situ by the sedimentological and microstrati-graphic analyses. This unit has provided a few an-thropic remains, although very typical. The lithic assemblage, mostly laminar, is made on flint and quartzite. There are nosed scrapers, one Aurigna-cian blade and retouched flakes. Regarding bone industry, several flattened oval section awls were found, a moothed mesial fragment of assegai and one deer phalanx whistle. The chronology (pend-Figure 1. Engraved Magdalenian tibia.PLEISTOCENE AND HOLOCENE HUNTER-GATHERERS IN IBERIA AND THE GIBRALTAR STRAIT:THE CURRENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD62ing new dates) places it into 38ky calBP. De-spite the reduced sample, the homogeneity and conventional characters of the assemblage, the absence of contradictory elements, preliminary dating and stratigraphic position indicate an un-doubted Aurignacian presence. Below this layer, a long period of cave abandonment (L7 and L8) is documented. Mousterian: It is represented in D interior by level 9, showing intense human presence evident in combustion remains, wealth lithic industry (Mode 3), with Levallois pieces and animals bones with fleshing traces; as well as the possibility of setting spatial occupation patterns. This inside occupation matches on open air the terrace level with the 4B layer from D exteri-or. Both have provided a typically Mousterian lithic accumulation, consisting of local quartz-ite flakes retouched, denticulate and scrapers, as well as Levallois points. All phases of the operational chain are present, mostly discoid and also Levallois. Scarce flints remain, Piloña type show relationships with other sites, such as Sidrón cave in the same river basin. Premo-lar (15) and several human dental fragments, with Neanderthal morphology, were found. The14C dating with pretreatment by ultra filtra-tion (OxA) places this occupation in the period 55/44 ky in OIS 3c, between H6 and H4 events (Menéndez et al., 2009; Quesada and Menén-dez, 2009; Jordá et al., 2013). The fauna recov-ered, around 70,000 remains, show deer (66%) and chamois (31%) predominance, along with uncommon species and diverse ecosystems, such as mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius), pan-ther (P. pardus), megaloceros, rhino, wolf, boar, etc. suggesting a recurrent and prolonged use of the site by the Neanderthal populations of the River Sella basin.Conclusions1. The assignment Châtelperronian sediments (L1 and L2) are displaced. Their sedimento-Figure 2. Overall stratigraphy of la Cueva de la Güelga.CANTABRIAN MOUNTAINS AND COASTLINE. 63Table 1. Datations of Cueva de la GüelgaZone Level Culture Material Procedure Code BP Date Deviation95% probability calibrate Date CalPal 2007 HuluINTCAL 13Indoor D 2 ¿Châtelperronian?Bone with marksAMS + untrafiltrationCOL2014 37429 30242780 –41460 calBP42320 –41400 calBPIndoor D 2 ¿Châtelperronian?Bone with marksAMS + untrafiltrationOxA-27958 40300 120045910 –42070 calBP45890 –42090 calBPIndoor D 5 AurignacianBone with marksAMS + untrafiltrationBeta-37723333610 22041730 –35570 calBP38720 –37200 calBPIndoor D 9 MousterianBone with marksAMS + untrafiltrationOxA-19244 43700 80049020 –44540 calBP48740 –45300 calBPIndoor D 9 MousterianBone with marksAMS + untrafiltrationOxA-19245 44300 120050660 –44380 calBPOut range calibrationOutdoor D4b MousterianBone with marksAMS + untrafiltrationOxA-20122 47400 2700Out range calibrationOut range calibrationOutdoor D4b MousterianBone with marksAMS + untrafiltrationOxA-20123 >43200Outdoor D4b MousterianBone with marksAMS + untrafiltrationOxA-20124 48500 3500Out range calibrationOut range calibrationOutdoor D4b MousterianBone with marksAMS + untrafiltrationOxA-20125 >43600logical quality is not enough to defend such a significant hypothesis as interlayer Aurigna-cian. Future work should pursue an explana-tion for their stratigraphic position and timing (42/45 ky calBP).2. There is an Aurignacian presence, with little information, but with a timeline around 38 ky calBP, before an intense Mousterian occupation (45/48 ky calBP).3. There is a long period of abandonment between Aurignacian and Mousterian occupations (7/10 ky).4. The lower Magdalenian occupation provided an excellent collection of portable art. ROBERT SALA RAMOS (EDITOR)EUDALD CARBONELL  |  JOSÉ MARÍA BERMÚDEZ CASTRO | JUAN LUIS ARSUAGA(COORDINATORS)PLEISTOCENE AND HOLOCENE HUNTER-GATHERERS IN IBERIA  AND THE GIBRALTAR STRAIT:THE CURRENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD

La Cueva de la Güelga: (Cangas de Oní­s, Asturias)

https://eprints.ucm.es/61872/1/Guelga%20%20ingl%C3%A9s%20Art%C3%ADculo%20libro%20Pre.Congreso.pdf

La Cueva de la Güelga: (Cangas de Onís, Asturias)

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La Cueva de la Güelga: (Cangas de Oní­s, Asturias)

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La Cueva de la Güelga: (Cangas de Onís, Asturias)