3
ebro valley, pyrenees and pre-pyrenees
North-western Atlantic basins.
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Site
Map numbering
Abauntz
25
Arrillor
26
Atxoste
27
Cova del Parco
28
Roca dels Bous
29
Cova Gran de Santa Linya
30
Cova de l’Estret de Tragó
31
Fuente del Trucho
32
Fuentes de San Cristóbal
33
Gabasa
34
Kanpanoste Goikoa
35
Forcas
36
Nerets y Cova de les Llenes
37
Martinarri
38
Mendandia
39
Conjunto del valle del Montsant
40
Pleistocene and Holocene hunter-gatherers in Iberia and the Gibraltar Strait: the current archaeological record
204
and interest in its comprehensive exploitation. The settlement dynamics coincide with a pattern found in the neighbouring Aragon, part of a late glacial process common to other parts of Europe, characterized by settlements in new territories from a base in traditional refuge zones. The upper levels reveal a techno-industrial line which has only been identified relatively recently in this area: microblade assemblages with a Sauveterre inspiration (Fig. 2). The appearance of micro triangles and subsequently segments, along with changes in the styles and dimensions of backed tools, justify this identification. By this stage, it was no longer unusual to find double backed tools, worked bases, items which
Alfonso Alday*
Mendandia (Sáseta, Treviño)
The roof of this east-facing rock shelter covers roughly 52 m2. Alongside there is a 385 m2 platform on a steep slope overlooking the Ayuda River 40/50m below, at a distance of roughly 100m. Its strategic position provides commanding views along the river gorge and also immediate access to the mid-altitude pastures, with a range of local landscapes from valleys, gorges, plateaus and grasslands to forests and abundant wildlife resources. Excavated between 1992-1995 and in 1997 by A. Alday in a 13 m2 area, the site yielded a vast range of material which was classified into five sedimentological divisions and six industrial sections. Stratigraphic sequence This is a continuous sequence –with no erosive or infertile phases– of eminently human origin and gradual changes in the texture, tone and composition of the sediment. It spans several Mesolithic and Neolithic periods between 8500 and 6400 BP *
include fine apical retouches opposite the backs or even arched designs. A tendency towards microliths, more so amongst tips than blades, is another striking evolution between the Magdalenian level and those higher up. Martinarri is not an isolated case, since similar changes have been described at the Atxoste and Socuevas sites, which coexisted with other assemblages such as Mendandia and Las Orcillas with industries which seem to follow similar trends. Parco Cave, at the other extreme of the Ebro River basin, a long series of north Pyrenean sites and Cantabrian assemblages such as Ekain must all be taken into account in assessments and interpretations of this collection from Martinarri.
(Fig. 1 and 2). Level V: Surveyed in a 70cm cut, which only showed prehistoric interest at the top. The malleable clayey soil has an orange colour, gradually lightening. Small coarse fraction. The record includes 920 fauna fragments and 196 lithic items, including 6 retouched endscrapers, 1 awl, 2 denticulates, 1 abrupt retouch and 1 sidescraper. One perforated Nassa reticulata was also found. This level is ascribed culturally to the laminar Mesolithic technology. Level IV: More than 40cm deep in some areas, with a slight dip from west to east. Dark brown with blackish tones, compact silty structure with little large fraction, a wet and greasy aspect, small isolated puddles and breccia. Colonies of helix and frequent presence of charcoal and fire are noteworthy aspects. 47,579 bone fragments were inventoried. The lithic industry includes 11,284 items, with 94 cores and 354 retouched objects (35 endscrapers, 58 awls, 9 burins, 8 abrupt flakes, 2 composite items, 3 backed bladelets, 23 short notches, 139 short
Área de Prehistoria Universidad del País Vasco (EHU/UPV). Tomás y Valiente s/n 01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz.
[email protected].
ebro valley, pyrenees and pre-pyrenees
Figure 1. Mendandia stratigraphic section.
denticulates, 4 notches on blades, 1 denticulate on irregular flake, 4 serrated items, 6 abrupt retouches, 4 geometric items, 1 microburin and 57 miscellaneous items). The bone record contains few items, which includes two nasarids. This assemblage is culturally ascribed to the Mesolithic notch and denticulate industry. Level III: A continuous 25cm deep horizon containing 2 cultural entities: dry, silty structure, fine grained, greyish colour. Colonies of terrestrial molluscs are common, and there is clear evidence of fire. 15,562 bone fragments were found in the lower part of this level (III-inf). The lithic industry consists of 3,869 items, with 50 cores and 237 retouched objects (20 endscrapers, 15 awls, 3 abrupt flakes, 11 backed bladelets, 11 short notches, 56 short denticulates, 9 notches on flake, 3 denticulates on flake, 2 abrupt retouches, 33 geometrics, 20 microburins and 54 miscellaneous items). Adornments include atrophied deer canines, Nasa, Natica catena and Cypraea. Culturally ascribed to the geometric Mesolithic. The upper part of level III (III-sup) contained
12,518 bone fragments. The lithic industry included 1,282 items with 106 retouched objects (13 endscrapers, 6 awls, 1 abrupt on flake, 22 backed bladelets, 4 short notches, 11 short denticulates, 2 notches on flake, 1 denticulate on blade flake, 2 serrated edges with abrupt retouch, 4 abrupt retouches on blade, 18 geometrics, 6 microburins and 16 miscellaneous items). 343 ceramic fragments were counted, with lines and incisions used in decoration. Culturally ascribed to the Early Neolithic. Level II: A 20 cm deep homogeneous level with a brown colour, silty and plastic structure, some clasts, and 4,766 bone fragments. The lithic industry includes 953 items, including 75 retouched objects (5 endscrapers, 3 awls, 10 backed bladelets, 1 notch on flake 1 denticulate on flake, 3 notches on blade, 1 denticulate on blade, 1 serrated edge, 3 abrupt retouches, 21 geometrics, 6 microburins and 19 sidescrapers). There were 794 ceramic sherds, several of them decorated with impressions below the lip, finger-drawn lines and ungulations. This level is culturally ascribed to the Early Neolithic. Level I is the current floor, from 10 to 20cm
205
206
Pleistocene and Holocene hunter-gatherers in Iberia and the Gibraltar Strait: the current archaeological record
deep. Brown-grey matrix, malleable, silty composition, initially dry and dusty, then compacted, moist and more granulous when excavated. Abundant small clasts, few cobbles and 1,044 bone fragments. The lithic industry consists of 182 items with only 8 retouched objects (two endscrapers, one awl, one denticulate on flake, 2 denticulate on blade, 1 abrupt flake and 1 segment). 33 undecorated ceramic shards were found. This level is culturally ascribed to the Early Neolithic. Las dataciones radiocarbónicas Level
Code
BP Date
I
GrN-22740
6440±40
II
GrN-22741
6540±70
GrN-22742
7180±45
GrN-19658
7210±80
Ua-34366
7265±60
GrN-22743
7620±50
GrN-22745
7780±40
GrN-22744
7810±50
GrA-6874
8500±60
III-sup
III-inf IV V
Table 1. Radiochronological references for the Mendandia site.
Lithic and ceramic industry The density of the lithic industry and its coordination with the stratigraphic sequence have played an important role in resolving the evolution of the population at this site. The typological groups have a relatively balanced composition at each level: only level IV shows a rupture between denticulates and scrapers, and between these two elements, miscellaneous and scrapers, and the other categories (Fig. 2). The upper horizons (I to III-inf), characterized by the geometric basis of their industries, show a sequential evolution: double bevelled segments characterize the three most recent episodes –Neolithic–, while triangles and abrupt trapezoids represent the oldest –Mesolithic– period. It is interesting to note the presence of occlusal forms, which individualize the geometrism of the upper Ebro River basin in comparison to other areas of the same basin and the Cantabrian coast, as an
example of a personal stylistic development. Level IV has yielded an extraordinary amount of lithic industry, with a proliferation of notches, denticulates and awls on flake and fragments, flake retouch used in the manufacturing process. Although this industry seems to be quite rough, in fact it was well thought out and organized to shape tools with predetermined faces, suitable for woodworking, as proven in traceological analyses. Its techno-typological and chronological concordance with other Iberian sites lends considerable content to the Mesolithic notch and denticulate industry, for which the Mendandia phase is major point of reference. The small amount of material on level V consists of endscrapers and backed blades, indicating its affiliation to the laminar Mesolithic industry. The inhabitants of Mendandia collected flint from outcrops in Loza and Treviño, some 15 km away, Urbasa (35 km away), Flysch (80 km) and the Ebro Evaporite (100 km). Most of the ceramic material is from indeterminate parts of recipients (92.5%) including edges (n = 83), a few handles and lids. Originally they were simple forms such as bols, a few in a closed “S” shape. The decoration shows evidence of technical evolution: the motifs are on edges or lips, with incision used in the earliest periods and imprints in the most recent. The three C14 dates for the upper level III show the surprising antiquity of this record. Perhaps for this reason the assemblage is difficult to identify stylistically, while the ceramic material from higher levels concords well with early Neolithic imprinted ceramics (Table 1). Lifestyles Hunting was one of the most privileged activities in Mendandia. The strategic location of the shelter facilitated the groups’ capture of a wide variety of species, 90% of which were roe deer, deer and aurochs, followed by wild boar, goat, horse and chamois, and an anecdotal presence of fox, wolf, marten, badger, bobcat, rabbit and hare. The estimated age of the prey shows that hunting was mainly practiced in late spring and early summer. The proportion of each anatomical part, supplemented with anthracological data, suggests that certain items were smoked for their (presumed) transfer to another campsite. A genetic study has suggested that some of the old Neolithic bovids may have been domestica-
ebro valley, pyrenees and pre-pyrenees
Figure 2. Selection of prehistoric materials in Mendandia.
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Pleistocene and Holocene hunter-gatherers in Iberia and the Gibraltar Strait: the current archaeological record
208
ted. Altuna and Mariezkurrena also suggest that the age and sex spectrum of the faunal assemblage in this herd may evidence quasi-domestication. Palynological data contained the excavation report show that the Neolithic landscape was compatible with agriculture, which would
Pilar García-Argüelles* Jordi Nadal* Josep Mª Fullola*
Traceology has revealed a wide range of activities performed in this shelter, from butchering, leather and woodwork –linked to the numerous fires–, and flint knapping to the use of materials for colouring.
The Montsant Valley (Priorato, Tarragona), A Key Nucleus Of Prehistory In The Ne Of Iberian Peninsula
In recent years, research work has been carried out as part of programme SGR2014-108 of the Generalitat de Cataluña and programme HAR2011-26193 of the MINECO 1. Presentation The middle course valley of the Montsant River, an affluent of the Siurana, the final tributary of the Ebro before its connection to the sea, contains a concentration of prehistoric sites, specifically from the Late Upper Palaeolithic and Epipalaeolithic, that makes it a benchmark area in the Iberian Peninsula when researching these two phases of prehistory. This area is located in the district of Priorato, in the province of Tarragona (Catalonia, Spain), in the NE of the Iberian Peninsula (fig. 1). The presence of material evidence of the prehistoric population has been known since the 1930s, when Salvador Vilaseca prospected the area and discovered different many flint artefacts from the El Filador and Els Colls shelters. His work in this area, practically all of which was in the municipality of Margalef de Montsant, continued through to the end of the 1960s, with special emphasis on the aforementioned shelter, El Filador, where he carried out different excavation campaigns until 1968. His numerous publications (Vilaseca 1936; 1949; 1953; 1960; 1968; 1973) demonstrated the vital importance of the sector studied for *
concur with the identification of flint blades used to cut grain.
Epipalaeolithic times. The work by Javier Fortea in the early 1970s, re-examining the materials from El Filador for his PhD, elevated the site to a preeminent position within the cultural and material evolution of the Epipalaeolithic in the Iberian Peninsula (Fortea, 1973). Starting in 1978, the University of Barcelona began an excavation programme in the middle course of the Montsant. The programme began with the reexcavation of El Filador (1979-1997), and the systematic prospecting in the area soon produced results. Excavation was done at three other sites, the Els Colls shelter (1982-1991), the Boix cave (1983-1984) and the L’Hort de la Boquera shelter (since 1998); other surface settlements were located, such as L’Hort d’en Marquet or El Planot (the latter with Mousterian materials, located in the highest terrace of the river), and other settlements already mentioned by Vilaseca, and with very positive potential for the future, were surveyed, such as the cova de la Jaia or Tormos d’en Celoni, among many others. In addition to this, in 1981, the only known example of cave art with an engraved Palaeolithic figure in the NE of the peninsula was discovered; this was a figure of a deer, found in the inner galleries of the cova de la Taverna (Fullola & Viñas, 1985; fig 4.2), and while initially this appeared out of place, it is much more coherent in light of the Late Palaeolithic chronological context of the sites in the Montsant Valley that we present in this paper. In regard to a different matter, the construction of a dam required an urgent excavation in the L’Auferí shel-
Adscripción de los tres autores: SERP (Seminari d’Estudis i Recerques Prehistòriques) de la Universidad de Barcelona, área de Prehistoria, Departamento de Prehistoria, Historia Antigua y Arqueología, Facultad de Geografía e Historia, Universidad de Barcelona; calle Montalegre, 6, E-08001, Barcelona. Correspondent author:
[email protected]
