
Blanca OchoaComplutense University of Madrid | UCM · Department of Prehistory
Blanca Ochoa
PhD in Quaternary. Spec. in Palaeolithic cave art
About
41
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Introduction
PhD in Quaternary (University of the Basque Country, 2016), specialized in Cave Art.
Juan de la Cierva incorporación Research Fellow @ Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
Honorary Fellow at the Archaeology Dept. of Durham University (UK).
Publications
Publications (41)
Cave art is a cultural phenomenon that encompasses more than 40,000 years of continuous activity in the Paleolithic caves of southwestern Europe. However, research has not fully addressed the mechanisms by which such continuity was achieved and sustained for thousands of years. In order to explore these issues, it is necessary to understand how new...
En este trabajo se estudia y analiza un conjunto lítico y un canto compresor-percutor localizado en el embalse de Urrúnaga (Álava). El compresor, un canto calizo, presenta, en una de sus caras, el gabado de una línea cérvico-dorsal. El canto fue recuperado en superficie junto con un nutrido número de artefactos líticos tallados sobre sílex cuyo est...
La caracterización del final del ciclo gráfico paleolítico en el norte peninsular presenta importantes deficiencias debido a la ausencia de evidencias debidamente contextualizadas. Así, el análisis de piezas mobiliares procedentes de contextos estratigráficos sólidos constituye una valiosa herramienta para llenar este vacío. En este sentido, este t...
Symbolic cognition—the ability to produce and use symbols, including (but not limited to) linguistic symbols—has often been considered a hallmark of human achievement. Given its importance, symbolic cognition has been a major topic of interest in many academic disciplines including anthropology, archeology, and the cognitive sciences.1–6 Paleolithi...
Los adornos-colgantes son uno de los ornamentos más utilizados por los cazadores recolectores durante el Magdaleniense. En este artículo presentamos uno nuevo recuperado de la cueva de Aizkoltxo (Mendaro, Gipuzkoa) grabado cuidadosamente con representaciones tanto figurativas –una cierva y dos zoomorfos marinos– como no figurativas –aspas y trazos...
AMS radiocarbon dating has been widely applied in Palaeolithic art research and its value has been proven over the past three decades. Yet it still suffers from issues that need to be discussed and analysed to improve future sampling strategies and strengthen the interpretation of the results. This study presents new AMS dates for the parietal art...
Palaeolithic representations can be approached from different perspectives. Studying the creative processes, we can glimpse the decisions that the Palaeolithic artists made and the actions they carried out to materialize an idea. Additionally, the combined study of both graphic and functional actions performed on an object provides a comprehensive...
Numerical chronology is one of the main sources of information by which one may contextualize prehistoric human activity more precisely. It is able to discriminate between different times of visits to caves and determine the period with which each form of evidence should be associated and the relationships between them. The application of conventio...
Our knowledge about Paleolithic art has been changing substantially and new discoveries and dates are modifying some traditionally accepted considerations. In this context, the geographic spread and the end of this graphic-artistic cycle are two of the main topics of the current scientific debate. The discovery and study of rock art in Cova Eirós,...
Rock art dating has been one of the major challenges since its discovery and recognition. The methods have evolved through the last century, beginning with the study of superpositions and style until to the application of numeric methods since the 1990s. The aim of this paper is to evaluate and publish an up-to-date database of all of the numerical...
La cavidad de Aizkoltxo se encuentra junto a la orilla del río Deba, próxima a otras cavidades con ocupaciones del Magdaleniense Superior-Final (Agarre, Ermittia, Praileaitz I y Urtiaga). A consecuencia de la actividad de furtivos se decidió realizar un sondeo para evaluar la estratigrafía del yacimiento y contextualizar los restos recuperados. En...
Filling the void: a new Palaeolithic cave art site at Danbolinzulo in the Basque Country - Blanca Ochoa, Marcos García-Diez, Irene Vigiola-Toña
Ekain cave (Deba, Gipuzkoa) has been researched for the last five decades and has been kept closed to the general public. This fact has allowed an exceptional preservation of the depictions. The re-study of rock art sites discovered during the 20th century and the improvement of the survey and recording methodologies are allowing significant advanc...
The timing and nature of the emergence of art in human evolution has been one of the more debated subjects in palaeoanthropology in the last few years, and one of the areas where archaeology has made impressive advances. Here, we discuss the first evidence of figurative art on portable materials in the north of Spain. After analysis of the stratigr...
In the post-Brexit horizon, it is important to reinforce the links between British and Iberian Archaeology to secure the future vitality of an already fruitful joint trajectory. This workshop on archaeological research in the Iberian Peninsula intends to bring together researchers working in the UK involved in this region. The main goals for the ev...
Technological advances are enabling the discovery of new caves with rock art and of new graphic units in already known and studied caves. In this framework, a discovery was made in an unexplored gallery in Ekain (Deba, Gipuzkoa), a small passage named La Fontana. Figurative representations (horses) and non-figurative marks (simple strokes) were tra...
From totems to myths: theorising about rock art - Volume 92 Issue 363 - Blanca Ochoa
The objective of the paper is to determine convergences or divergences in the placement of cave art through the combined study of parietal art and the specific space in which it was executed.
The proposed methodology is based on the definition of the concepts of graphic space, visibility, access and capacity. Through these, a series of variables ha...
The general objective of the present thesis is to de ne if there are convergences or divergences in the positioning of cave art through the combined study of the parietal art and the speci c space where it was executed.
The methodology proposed takes point on the de nition of concepts such as graphic space, visibility, access and capacity. Through...
The Alto de la Huesera dolmen was excavated in 1948. In 2010 a new archaeological fieldwork started with the objective of determining the condition of the monument, subsequently restoring it. In these works the team located a sandstone stela in the burial mound and beside the corridor, datable to the Chalcolithic age. The engravings are five deep p...
L’étude des convergences et des divergences graphiques dans l’art Paléolithique est utilisée pour comprendre la culture, les territoires et les systèmes d’interaction des groupes humains. L’ensemble rupestre de la grotte de La Covaciella contient quinze représentations d’animaux et d’autres motifs linéaires, géométriques et des points. La présence...
El objetivo general del trabajo es definir si existen convergencias o divergencias en el posicionamiento del arte parietal a través del estudio combinado del arte paleolítico y el espacio concreto en el que fue ejecutado. La metodología propuesta parte de la definición de conceptos como espacio gráfico, visibilidad, acceso y aforo. A través de ésto...
In the course of the last decades, new cave art discoveries such as La Garma, Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc, Le Reseau Clastres in the Niaux Cave, Cosquer and Cussac have allowed researchers to advance in context and spatial studies related to the art. This has been possible because the decorated chambers were intact at the moment of the discovery and, soon a...
It has traditionally been thought that movement of human groups across the Pyrenees would have been difficult in the Palaeolithic, although there are data contradicting this view. It may even be proposed that a Pyrenean region existed in the Palaeolithic with specific cultural traits and a series of sites, especially in the Magdalenian. The existen...
Portable objects with figurave decoraon found at sites in the Iberian Peninsula (Hornosde la Peña, Salitre, El Casllo, Covalejos, Morín, Lumentxa, Antoliñako Koba, Les Mallaetesand El Parpalló) are presented and discussed. The stragraphic posion of each object isassessed, characterizing and, in some cases, discussing the nature of the decoraon...
The study of graphic convergences and divergences in Palaeolithic art is used to understand the culture, territories and interaction systems of human groups. The concept of graphic territory should be understood from a wide perspective. It represents a part of the symbolic territory and, at the same time, of the social territory. Therefore, graphic...
The last two decades have witnessed considerable advances in chronometric approaches to cave art, specifically with the application of new dating techniques (AMS 14C, U-series, Thermoluminescence). In this paper we assess all the currently available chronological information (numerical dates, stylistic comparisons between portable and cave art, the...
This paper presents a study of a pecked pebble from the Middle Paleolithic recovered more than 30 years ago in Axlor rockshelter in the Spanish Basque Country. At the time of the discovery, the piece was described as being deliberately modifi ed, but since then it has been either ignored or described only as problematic evidence of Neanderthal symb...