Nuria CastañedaAutonomous University of Madrid | UAM · Departamento de Prehistoria y Arqueología
Nuria Castañeda
PhD Prehistory, Archaeology and Heritage
Research on lithic technology, knapping learning in Prehistory and mining. Special interest on post-palaeolithic times.
About
68
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Introduction
Nuria Castañeda currently works at the Departamento de Prehistoria y Arqueología , Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Nuria does research in Lithic Technology
Additional affiliations
December 2006 - August 2013
Education
September 2011 - June 2014
Publications
Publications (68)
Casa Montero was a production center of blade blanks for delayed use. Almost all the Chaîne Opèratoire was developed at the mine, except the final configuration of tool and its use. The final product of reduction was a short, thick blade of 5x2x0, 6 cm. The need for a standardized production for their use as sickle elements resulted in the predeter...
Casa Montero flint mine (5337-5218 cal. BCE) was a production centre of blades that were probably distributed in a broad regional framework. Recent research on its lithic record has provided a method for the calculus of productivity for the blade cores based on the striking platform potential area. Taking into account several factors involved when...
Lithic cores are like a photograph of only the last reduction gesture or method. But reduction sequences are very often nonlinear and complex. Knapping accidents, unexpected qualities of raw material, production requirements, long time between removals or different knappers may force to a change in the reduction strategy. These changes may delete a...
Casa Montero is a mining complex located outside Madrid (Spain), dated from the Early Neolithic (c. 5400–5000 cal bc). An area of some 4 ha has been investigated and some 4000 shafts recorded, of which 324 have been excavated. The characterization of its raw flint materials and the establishment of its diagnostic features are indispensable in the r...
Las calizas lacustres-palustres del Mioceno de la Sierra de Araico (Condado de Treviño, Burgos - Berantevilla, Álava) se ubican en el sinclinal surpirenaico de Miranda-Treviño (Cuenca Vasco-Cantábrica). En estos relieves carbonatados afloran varias decenas de horizontes silicificados que aparecen con morfologías estratiformes (silcretas de origen p...
Article available here : https://exarc.net/issue-2024-2/ea/experimental-approach-flint-shaft-mining
Since prehistory, human populations have developed specific knowledge related to the excavating and exploitation of underground resources. These abilities are reflected in the tools used to extract and process raw materials and the use of specific...
La arqueología Experimental ha tenido una amplia difusión tanto en el ámbito investigador como en el divulgativo en las últimas décadas. No obstante, su empleo en la generación de modelos arqueológicos simulados ofrece un recurso de enorme potencialidad para poder profundizar en el campo de la interpretación del registro arqueológico. En este traba...
You can download the paper here:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10816-023-09601-0
This paper presents the current state of research on the Early Neolithic flint quarry of Pozarrate (Treviño, Burgos) in the north of Spain. This site is part of the Prehistoric Flint Mining Complex of Treviño. The geological features of the territory made it a suitable place for the exploitation of the Treviño flint since Paleolithic times, especia...
In this work, we present the preliminary data we have obtained in the Neolithic flint quarry of Pozarrate, currently under archaeological works. We want to put forward an update about the sedimentary fillings of one of the crescent-shaped dump quarries (6000–5600 BP). It is located at the Sierra de Araico-Cucho (Treviño, northern Spain). In this re...
This work explains the evolution of the different techniques of graphic illustration and recording of the archaeological heritage, together with the creation of Archaeology as a science.
Obviously, the content uploaded is not the full text. It is only the index and the first pages uploaded by the editorial.
Dibujantes de Arqueologíatook part in 2016 and 2017 Juvenalia editions, carrying out several archaeological workshops.Juvenalia is an emblematic fair of children’sand youth entertainment. The design of pedagogic activities must be adapted to the advantages and disadvantages that thiskind of massive events have. In this work, we analyse some of thes...
The purpose of this work is to analyze in which way the technical system of the Early Neolithic flint mine of Casa Montero (5350–5220 cal. BC) was organized to manage different flint-based reduction sequences. The particular features and genesis of Casa Montero’s flint limited the efficiency of one of the main goals of the mine: blade production. A...
Research on the lithic industry from the Totanés cromlech for general public.
Abstract publicado de la contribución al X Congreso Geológico de España, 5-7 julio 2021, Vitoria-Gasteiz, "La cantera de sílex neolítica de Pozarrate (Treviño, Burgos), al sur de la Cuenca Vasco-Cantábrica"
Until recently, few studies have been made of lithic tools from Chalcolithic sites although they comprise a very abundant record in many productive and funerary contexts. However, it is now possible to go deeper into more aspects than merely typological ones. Use-wear analysis provides the possibility of inferring the functionality of certain lithi...
This work presents the results of a controlled experience on porcelain nodules manufacture using two types of porcelain clay and different colours. The experience has two main objectives in order to carry out future experimental programs. The first goal is to compare and choose which type of clay offers better results on knapping with different ham...
Casa Montero has provided key information to understand the earliest Neolithic technical system of lithic production at the flint mine. This is a result of a complex network of seven different operational sequences. They were all successfully harmonized in order to allow the performance of other sequences. This organizational knowledge was a substa...
The Casa Montero flint mine, to date the oldest in the western Mediterranean, has provided an exceptional set of information
to understand the Early Neolithic technical system of lithic production in central Iberia. The system consists of a complex
network of seven harmoniously combined operating sequences. This technological knowledge was a fund...
This research demonstrates that activities related to teaching stone knapping took place in the Early Neolithic flint mine at Casa Montero (Spain). Raw material sources are shown to be the ideal places for research and analysis of the transmission of technical knowledge. This study is based on the analysis of abandoned cores at the site. The method...
The aim of this work is to compare of the learning processes between two different lithic productions: Ancient Neolithic blade production at Casa Montero (Spain) and axe production at the Middle and Late Neolithic flint mines of Jablines and Flins-sur-Seine (France). Although both productions took place in the context of flint extraction, they repr...
We present a comprehensive and interpretative overview
of the evidence recovered at the mining field of Casa Montero
(Madrid, Spain). We describe the technical and social aspects
of flint mining in the specific historical context of central Iberia’s
Early Neolithic societies. Combination of all the evidence
allows us to suggest that mining at the s...
This work highlights the technological changes that took place in knapping industries from the Chalcolithic to the Late Bronze Age, taking the upper Tagus basin as a case study. As a preliminary reflection, it focuses on the reasons for the end of lithic production. Lithic studies in this geographical area are scarce and diverse in character and co...
From the 28th to 29th of November 2015, Dibujantes de Arqueología held the third edition of the “Introduction to classification and description of knapped lithic materials” in Madrid, Spain. It was an intensive course of 18 hours. Dibujantes de Arqueología is a well-known Spanish business entity of professional archaeologists and specialised drawer...
In spite of a homogeneous appearance the lithic technology of Casa Montero has proved to be more complex than it was expected. There are six different chaînes opèratoires: procurement and use of percussion tools, mining, core blank production, blade production, retouched tool manufacture by means of recycling discarded by-products and retouched too...
La méthodologie présentée ici illustre les relations temporelles entre les négatifs de taille d’un nucléus ou
d’un remontage dans un diagramme. Le diagramme de séquences de réduction (DSR) fournit également
des informations spatiales, puisque chaque surface de taille est présenté individuellement pour observer,
d’un coup d’oeil, la complexité du nu...
During the last years, thanks to the collaboration between the Department of Prehistory and Archaeology, Argea S.L company and the Direccción General de Patrimonio of the Community of Madrid, a mixed model of practical learning and research has been developed in the Paleolithic site of Los Ahijones (Vicávaro-Madrid). In that site, the students of t...
SILEX es una Infraestructura de Datos Espaciales desarrollada para la gestión y distribución de la información arqueológica primaria de la mina de sílex neolítica de Casa Montero, situada en la periferia de la ciudad de Madrid. Ha sido diseñada según un enfoque abierto, basado en el uso de estándares y software de código abierto y en el acceso libr...
http://www.idee.es/resources/presentaciones/GTIDEE_Murcia_2009/ARTICULOS_JIDEE2009/Articulo-58.pdf
This paper advances some results of the analysis of the lithic production recovered during the first field season in the flint mine of Casa Montero (c. 5400-5000 cal BC). The study of some refits suggested the existence of a preference towards the exploitation of a specific raw material, the one with best knapping qualities. In order to confirm thi...
This paper describes the excavation and survey strategy designed for the study of the flint mine of Casa Montero, based on the application of a systematic aligned sampling method. This strategy has allowed us to define with certain accuracy the total extension of the prehistoric exploitation –small when compared to other European flint mines -, and...
Este trabajo presenta resultados preliminares de la excavación de la mina del Neolítico Antiguo de Casa Montero (Madrid). Se tratan aspectos descriptivos de las estructuras mineras, el encuadre geológico y los primeros resultados sobre la clasificación petrológica de las muestras de sílex.
Se presentan las características de los pozos mineros de la explotación de sílex del Neolítico Antiguo de Casa Montero, una descripción preliminar de las evidencias de herramientas mineras y de las cadenas operativas analizadas en el año 2005.
http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/diazdelrio307/
El reciente descubrimiento y excavación de la mina de sílex de Casa Montero (Madrid) ha confirmado la importancia que este recurso mineral ha tenido desde el Pleistoceno hasta nuestros días en la región. Peer reviewed
The research during the construction of the M-50 highway has allowed the documentation and conservation of the first Neolithic flint mine in the Iberian Peninsula. This work presents the preliminary results of the first phase of archaeological excavations. Thus far, the site plan documented shows a group of more than 2.500 extraction pits. Presente...
The research during the construction of the M-50 highway has allowed the documentation and conservation of the first Neolithic flint mine in the Iberian Peninsula. This work presents the preliminary results of the first phase of archaeological excavations. Thus far, the site plan documented shows a group of more than 2.500 extraction pits. Presente...
ISSN: 1139-9201 (http://www.ucm.es/info/ arqueoweb/).
Se propone una clasificación de los sistemas de explotación de las BN1G de producción a partir de las relaciones entre los distintos atributos que caracterizan a los núcleos. Esta clasificación se estructura en tres niveles. El primero discrimina los sistemas de explotación según su número de superficies de talla. En el segundo nivel, la caracterís...
RESEÑA 1 de : Cabré Herreros, Encarnación. Investigaciones en las cuevas de Los Casares y La Hoz (1934-1941). Sigüenza (Guadalajada) : Ediciones de Librería Rayuela, Colección Memoria Arqueológica, 1998.RESEÑA 2 de : González Echegaray, Joaquín; Freeman, Leslie G. Le Paléolithique inférieur et moyen en Espagne. Grenoble : Ediciones Jeronne i Vlilio...
