Did stones speak about people? Flint catchment and Neanderthal behavior from Area 3 (Cañaveral, Madrid-Spain)

Middle Paleolithic catchment patterns have been exhaustively studied in the past. However, it is essential to clearly define Neanderthal technical and strategic abilities in relation to raw materials self-provide, from a temporal perspective. Here we present a study of quarrying activities in open a...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Ortiz Nieto-Marquez, Irene, Baena Preysler, Javier
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2017
País:España
Institución:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repositorio:Docta Complutense
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/109762
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/109762
Access Level:acceso embargado
Palabra clave:553.5
903"632.3"
572
39+572
902
56
Quarrying
Mousterian
Operative chain
Refits
Intra-site analysis
Musteriense
Análisis in situ
Cadena operativa
Canteras
Reformas
Arqueología
Prehistoria
Antropología (Sociología)
Paleontología
Enseñanza de las Ciencias Sociales
5504.05 Prehistoria
5505.01 Arqueología
2416 Paleontología
51 Antropología
Descripción
Sumario:Middle Paleolithic catchment patterns have been exhaustively studied in the past. However, it is essential to clearly define Neanderthal technical and strategic abilities in relation to raw materials self-provide, from a temporal perspective. Here we present a study of quarrying activities in open air sites occupied during Mousterian period in Madrid (Spain), with different patterns of lithic catchment. At the El Cañaveral archaeological complex, several sites have been identified, in relation with natural flint outcrops. From these we have gained information about flint supplying patterns, both in primary and secondary deposits. In addition, different “operative chains” and diverse systems of ramification and recycling were employed depending on the final objectives. We were able to appreciate additional actions by analyzing the diacritic superposition of knapping series in blanks, cores and supports of different qualities. Changes in categories, dimensions and raw material qualities, allow a first identification of lithic actions throughout time as a proxy of standardized or random human behavior when catchment actions took place.