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Revisiting Hornos de la Peña 100 years after
Abstract
The cave of Hornos de la Peña contained one of the most relevant stratigraphic sequences for the study of the Middle and Upper Paleolithic in the Cantabrian Region, northern Iberia, as well as an important group of Paleolithic rock art. The site was discovered in 1903 and excavated during 1909–1910. Those excavations did not take place in the main hall of the cave because it was already emptied for modern phosphate extraction. At that time, in the preserved deposits, the archeological excavations revealed an interesting sequence with Mousterian, Early Upper Paleolithic, Solutrean and Magdalenian cultural remains. Since then, the site has received little attention owing to the difficulties of interpreting the sequence and the biased nature of the preserved collections. In 2016 and 2017 a limited area of the preserved section was excavated to document its archeological sequence, obtain samples for dating and achieve some insights about the cultural attribution of the identified units and their correlation with Obermaier’s sequence. The results show that there is a coarse correlation between both sequences. More interestingly, this work has revealed the good preservation and interest of the Mousterian occupation, the presence of Early Upper Paleolithic, the indefinite nature of the Solutrean and the existence of a Middle Magdalenian occupation. These results provide new insights about the human presence at the site and allow to incorporate it into the new debates about the Middle and Upper Paleolithic in the Cantabrian Region.
... The papers by Á lvarez-Fernández et al. (2020b) and Ríos-Garaizar et al. (2020) are good examples of the reappraisal of sites in the region that were excavated in the past. The study of archaeological remains from more or less old excavations and some new fieldwork can provide more detailed knowledge of the sites. ...
... This supports the results obtained at Mesolithic sites on the other side of the watershed (Herrero-Alonso et al., 2020). Ríos-Garaizar et al. (2020) reappraise the cave of Hornos de la Peña (Cantabria). This site was discovered in 1903 and its parietal art was soon made known, mainly through the publication of Les Cavernes de la Région Cantabrique (Espagne) (Alcalde del Río et al., 1911). ...
North Iberia is a key region for studying prehistoric hunter-gatherer societies in Europe. The Special Issue brings together studies on the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic in this northern fringe of the Iberian Peninsula, but also contributions referring to adjacent or surrounding areas. Research in North Iberia began in the last quarter of the nineteenth century and has been especially marked by historical-cultural archaeology, while feeling the influence of the processual approach since the 1960s. The last synthesis on the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic in the region was published 15 years ago; since then a large volume of information has been generated and new avenues of research have been opened up. The 12 contributions to this issue reflect the recent outlook of research in the region, with specific studies on geoarchaeology, lithic industry, fauna, mortuary sites and cave art. This Special Issue also includes interdisciplinary studies of sites that have been the subject of fieldwork since the 1980s or 90s, and the reappraisal, through new fieldwork, of archaeological sequences excavated before that time.
... The papers by Á lvarez-Fernández et al. (2020b) and Ríos-Garaizar et al. (2020) are good examples of the reappraisal of sites in the region that were excavated in the past. The study of archaeological remains from more or less old excavations and some new fieldwork can provide more detailed knowledge of the sites. ...
... This supports the results obtained at Mesolithic sites on the other side of the watershed (Herrero-Alonso et al., 2020). Ríos-Garaizar et al. (2020) reappraise the cave of Hornos de la Peña (Cantabria). This site was discovered in 1903 and its parietal art was soon made known, mainly through the publication of Les Cavernes de la Région Cantabrique (Espagne) (Alcalde del Río et al., 1911). ...
North Iberia is a key region for studying prehistoric hunter-gatherer societies in Europe. The Special Issue brings together studies on the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic in this northern fringe of the Iberian Peninsula, but also contributions referring to adjacent or surrounding areas. Research in North Iberia began in the last quarter of the nineteenth century and has been especially marked by historical-cultural archaeology, while feeling the influence of the processual approach since the 1960s. The last synthesis on the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic in the region was published 15 years ago; since then a large volume of information has been generated and new avenues of research have been opened up. The 12 contributions to this issue reflect the recent outlook of research in the region, with specific studies on geoarchaeology, lithic industry, fauna, mortuary sites and cave art. This Special Issue also includes interdisciplinary studies of sites that have been the subject of fieldwork since the 1980s or 90s, and the reappraisal, through new fieldwork, of archaeological sequences excavated before that time.
... Para ampliar los conocimientos en la Región Cantábrica se hace necesario extender el análisis de la cuarcita hacia el Valle del Sella y sus yacimientos (Herrero-Alonso et al., 2020a), determinando tipos y variedades concretas que tracen geografías específicas, también en otras zonas donde la cuarcita es un recurso relevante (ver Figura 1b) como el centro y occidente asturiano (Corchón et al., 2013;Santamaría et al., 2010), las cuencas costeras asturianas (Straus et al., 1986) o el entorno de la Bahía de Santander y el valle del Pas (Bernaldo de Quirós y Cabrera, 1996;Castanedo, 2001;Ríos-Garaizar et al., 2020). Finalmente, la creación de un equipo o grupo de trabajo transnacional que se agrupe en torno a la cuarcita (entendida en cada zona) marcaría una estrategia clara y agruparía investigadoras de diferentes partes del mundo en torno a esta materia prima. ...
CAST: La cuarcita es la segunda materia prima lítica en importancia cuantitativa en la Región Cantábrica a lo largo del Paleolítico. A pesar de ello, su estudio desde perspectivas geoarqueológicas no ha sido habitual en los últimos 30 años de investigaciones prehistóricas. Por el contrario, en estas tres décadas, el análisis del sílex en la Península Ibérica y el resto de Europa ha crecido enormemente en términos metodológicos e interpretativos, apoyado por un amplio volumen de datos adquiridos en torno a esta materia prima en yacimientos arqueológicos y potenciales fuentes de esta roca. El trabajo que presentamos tiene por objetivo la reivindicación de la investigación de la segunda materia prima lítica en importancia cuantitativa y cualitativa en la Región Cantábrica: la cuarcita. Para ello, (1) reflexionaremos acerca de la aplicación al objeto de estudio de un discurso basado en la otredad o alteridad, (2) mostraremos una metodología transdisciplinar y multifocal al análisis de la cuarcita, (3) sintetizaremos los trabajos publicados en los últimos años en diversos foros científicos internacionales, primando las conclusiones que en términos metodológicos y también humanos se derivan del análisis de la cuarcita, y, (4) plantearemos nuevos horizontes para avanzar en el conocimiento de esta roca y materia prima y cómo las humanas prehistóricas la adquirían, movilizaban y gestionaban. Para la realización de esta síntesis, plasmaremos las metodologías utilizadas y los resultados obtenidos de los valles del Deva y Cares, en particular en los yacimientos de El Habario, El Arteu y el El Esquilleu (Nivel-XXII).
... Hornos de La Peña cave (Cantabria, Spain), excavated during 1909-1910, is a relevant site as contains an interesting stratigraphic cultural sequence. Ongoing excavation works, developed within of a research project lead by O. Rivero, are double aimed: first, to review previous Obermaier's excavations, done at the beginning of the XX century, and second: to excavate new areas that are revealing a considerable amount of lithic and faunal remains (Ríos-Garaizar et al., 2020). ...
Flint was the most widely used lithic raw material in Europe in
Prehistory and, more specifically, was a fundamental resource in
the economic and social networks of hunter-gatherer groups in the Cantabrian Spain during the Upper Palaeolithic. The undeniable preference for it compared with other resources was due to a series of factors, such as its easy availability because of its abundance and wide distribution of outcrops, and its excellent qualities for knapping. This summary of the available information about flint and other raw materials used by hunter-gatherers is framed in the context of Upper Palaeolithic occupations in Cantabrian Spain.
First, it presents the studies focusing on the provenance of the
different types of flint that are found in those occupations; their
quantitative representation at each of the sites; their preference, if that is the case, over other raw materials; and the model of their
diffusion across the territory. Then other resources are considered, such as quartzite, ochre and different metamorphic, sedimentary and igneous rocks, as well as some materials of biological origin, such as amber, jet/lignite and fossils of animal origin. However, the information available about the use of the latter raw materials in Cantabrian Spain during the Upper Palaeolithic is quite limited and studies of their characterisation are very recent.
This chapter presents the first collective synthesis of Late Middle Palaeolithic lithic technology (MIS 4–3, ≈ 70-40 ka) from the Altai mountains to the Atlantic coast of Western Europe and the Mediterranean regions of Europe and the Levant. As early as the first half of the twentieth century, archaeological debates focused on characterising and interpreting Mousterian techno-typological variability. In recent decades, new data concerning several specific aspects of this question have modified our understanding of Neanderthal technology in terms of lithic economy. This chapter presents the main characteristics of Late Middle Palaeolithic lithic technologies, raw material management, tool forms and artefact transport patterns. This extensive overview reveals that it is still largely unclear whether spatio-temporal trends in the mosaic of reduction strategies exist, at least during MIS 4–3. Furthermore, disparities in available data from the different geographical areas currently precludes exhaustive inter-regional comparisons and introduces biases for identifying which variables reflect local adaptations or potentially more general trends. Currently, the degree to which lithic assemblage variability, including retouched stone tools, results from adaptations to different factors remains difficult to reliably assess. These factors include environmental constraints and the influence of local contexts, including the characteristics and accessibility of raw materials and the duration of site occupation. Stone tools assemblages may equally reflect specific traditions of certain Neanderthal populations or groups and communities-of-practice. Differences in assemblage composition and tool types most likely result from the combined influences of these aspects in association with subsistence strategies and other ecological factors, as well as social structure and other cognitive and behavioural features. Finally, the possibility that the specific dynamics between different Neanderthal populations and between Neanderthals and other human groups affecting aspects of technology cannot be ruled out.
The characterization of the first portable artistic depictions in Cantabrian Spain is crucial for comprehension of the symbolic development of Neandertals and Homo sapiens in the context of the passage from the Middle to the Upper Paleolithic. However, despite the importance of these first graphic representations, their study has tended to lack the application of suitable methodologies to be able to discriminate between graphic activity and other kind of alterations (use-wear, taphonomic, or post-depositional). The present study has examined a significant sample of Middle and Upper Paleolithic lithic and osseous objects from Cantabrian Spain that have been cited as evidence of graphic activity in the literature. The contexts in which the objects were found have been considered, and the objects have been analyzed through the microscopic observation of the marks to distinguish between incisions, pecking, and engraving made for a non-functional purpose (graphic activity) and those generated by diverse functional actions or taphonomic processes (cutmarks, trampling, root marks, percussion scars, and use-wear). The results show that some regional Middle Paleolithic osseous objects display incisions that are neither functional nor taphonomic and whose characteristics are similar to graphic evidence attributed to Neandertals in Europe and the Near East. In turn, the first portable art produced by Homo sapiens in the Cantabrian Spain seems to be limited mostly to linear signs, and no figurative representation can be recognized until the Gravettian. This appears to indicate a particular idiosyncrasy of the region in the Early Upper Paleolithic, which, in comparison with other regions such as south-west France and the Swabian Jura, shows a later and less abundant production of portable art.
The majority of archaeological remains found at El Castillo in northern Iberia were excavated between 1910 and 1914 by Hugo Obermaier. Since the 1980s El Castillo has been studied through a detailed analysis of Obermaier's original excavation notes, the cleaning and study of the extant section, and the excavation of material in the shelter entrance. Radiocarbon dating of charcoal from the modern (1980s onwards) excavation suggested that unit 18, corresponding to Aurignacian Delta of the 1910s excavation, was significantly earlier than other Aurignacian assemblages in western Europe. Combined with a reanalysis of the lithic and osseous industry, these dates led to the suggestion that material in unit 18 and Aurignacian Delta was a transitional industry, showing a gradual transformation of the Mousterian into the Upper Palaeolithic. The conclusion has profound implications for understanding the appearance of the Upper Palaeolithic in western Europe. However, the theory has been heavily debated, with criticism focusing on the analysis of the lithic and bone assemblage as well as the chronology. We focus on the latter, and assess whether the original dates were accurate, whether they were well associated with the archaeology, and whether there was vertical and lateral variation in the age of the assemblages within unit 18 and Aurignacian Delta. New radiocarbon dates on humanly modified bone suggest that in the new area of excavation, unit 18 is found to be earlier than 42 cal kBP, with no evidence of material of a younger age. In contrast, in the old excavation area, Aurignacian Delta does include material of a younger age. This suggests that discussion of the Transitional Aurignacian can only include material from unit 18, in the new area of excavation.
Quartzite was the second most-often used lithic raw material in Europe in the Palaeolithic. However, this rock has not been characterized fully from the geo-archaeological point of view. This study characterizes, defines and determines types of quartzite in northern Spain through a methodology that integrates petrography, digital image processing and X-ray fluorescence. As a methodological foundation for the characterization of the material, it aims to open the possibility of discovering mechanisms of mobility, selection and management of quartzite by prehistoric societies. The types determined, based on the petrogenesis of the material, enable a better understanding of the archaeological sites of El Arteu and El Habario in the context of northern Spain in the Middle Palaeolithic.
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I present a critical review of the evidence on bone tools from Lower and Middle Paleolithic in Europe, and also on the so-called “less elaborated” tools from Upper Paleolithic and recent Prehistory. Such review and its results produce a number of relevant considerations to explain the appearance of the “bone industry” in Europe, in the beginnings of Upper Paleolithic. It also permits to suggest some hypotheses about the possible reasons behind this occurrence.
The long sequence of El Castillo cave contains Units 12 and 14, attributed to the Gravettian. This paper presents a revision of the lithic industry and the fauna recovered during H. Obermaier's 1910–1914 excavations of the site, as well as a number of new datings that enable us to chronologically place the above Gravettian occupations as one of the oldest in Europe. Unit 14 is dated between 34 and 33 ka cal BP and Unit 12 between 30 and 28 ka cal BP.
The cave's oldest Gravettian level, Unit 14, presents techno-typological features typical of the first phases of the Gravettian in the Cantabro-Pyrenean region, such as Noailles burins, although it also shows some common elements with the Evolved Aurignacian. The youngest Gravettian unit, Unit 12, is characterised by laminar production from bipolar prismatic cores and a greater, albeit still discreet, presence of dorsal pieces. In terms of the fauna, Unit 14 is represented by red deer, chamois and horse, whereas Unit 12 is represented by red deer and horse, a hint as to what would later become the characteristic composition of Late Upper Palaeolithic faunal assemblages. The lithic and chronological characteristics of the Gravettian at El Castillo and the Cantabro-Pyrenean region lead us to believe in a mosaic formation of this techno-complex.
La excavación de Axlor está proporcionando nuevas evidencias sobre las formas de vida de los últimos neandertales. Las que se presentan aquí, centradas en el aprovechamiento del utillaje tallado en piedra, muestran en primer lugar la variabilidad de las técnicas de fabricación y de las estrategias de gestión del utillaje a lo largo del tiempo. Esta observación sugiere que las sociedades neandertales son también sociedades históricas, con desarrollos culturales y adaptaciones particulares. En este sentido, resulta difícil aceptar generalizaciones para los cambios entre el paleolítico medio y el superior que comparen a los neandertales y a los sapiens como dos conjuntos homogéneos a cada uno de los lados de los términos de comparación. Una segunda idea que se desprende del análisis de los niveles de Axlor es la complejidad y planificación de las estrategias tecnológicas practicadas. Estas estrategias incluyen la obtención de materias primas a larga distancia, la combinación de materiales de cualidades diferentes tratados con técnicas distintas para ampliar el repertorio de soportes o sistemas de reavivado intensivo, sobre todo de las raederas. Estas evidencias coinciden con las obtenidas en otros yacimientos y en el análisis de otros aspectos de las sociedades del paleolítico medio en que ponen en cuestión muchas de las incapacidades supuestas para los neandertales.
Neandertals are the best-studied of all extinct hominins, with a rich fossil record sampling hundreds of individuals, roughly dating from between 350,000 and 40,000 years ago. Their distinct fossil remains have been retrieved from Portugal in the west to the Altai area in central Asia in the east and from below the waters of the North Sea in the north to a series of caves in Israel in the south. Having thrived in Eurasia for more than 300,000 years, Neandertals vanished from the record around 40,000 years ago, when modern humans entered Europe. Modern humans are usually seen as superior in a wide range of domains, including weaponry and subsistence strategies, which would have led to the demise of Neandertals. This systematic review of the archaeological records of Neandertals and their modern human contemporaries finds no support for such interpretations, as the Neandertal archaeological record is not different enough to explain the demise in terms of inferiority in archaeologically visible domains. Instead, current genetic data suggest that complex processes of interbreeding and assimilation may have been responsible for the disappearance of the specific Neandertal morphology from the fossil record.
En este trabajo se propone el uso de un enfoque materialista para abordar el estudio de la organización económica y social de los neandertales. Para ello se plantea el estudio integral de la industria lítica del yacimiento de Amalda, incluyendo el análisis de las materias primas, de los sistemas de fabricación, de conformación y mantenimiento del utillaje así como el análisis funcional de la industria lítica. Los resultados muestran una organización tecnológica compleja que enriquece la imagen de variabilidad de comportamientos de las sociedades neandertales.
During the last decades, the Cantabrian region has become one of the zones of greater interest in the study of the final Mousterian on the European scale. The particular ecological and physiographic conditions of this region provide an especially attractive picture for analyzing the advanced moments of this period. Almost all the Mousterian levels of Cantabrian sites are dated to the later part of “Würm II”, as occurs in some other European regions. Close to 35 ka BP, the Esquilleu sequence expresses a process of change in archaeological record, and probably in the subsistence strategies. This late occupation extends through the H4 cold event and the interglacial to “Würm III”, between level VIf (34.3 ka BP approx. AMS) and level IV (22.8 ka BP approx. AMS).
Cette petite cavité a souffert la destruction de sa partie antérieure et une importante altération du registre de la salle terminale. Stratégiquement située a l'entrée de la vallée de Buelna, elle fút occupée au moins durant le Magdalénien Supérieur-Final, comme le témoignent les industries retrouvées en surface. Les gravures rupestres conservées, de style IV plutot récent, correspondent aussi a cette méme époque. Esta pequeña cavidad ha sufrido la destrucción de su parte anterior y una importante alteración del registro de la sala terminal. Situada estratégicamente a la entrada del valle de Buelna, fue ocupada al menos durante el Magdaleniense Superior-Final, según atestiguan las industrias recogidas en superficie. A esa misma época corresponden los grabados rupestres conservados, de estilo IV más bien reciente.
En los últimos años, merced a nuevos proyectos de investigación, la región cantábrica ha empezado a contar con nuevas y revisadas secuencias estratigráficas para el Paleolítico Medio. Los datos ofrecidos por yacimientos como los de Covalejos, El Castillo, Axlor o la Cueva del Esquilleu, entre otros, ha permitido tener un registro más detallado de los procesos de cambio y continuidad sufridos a nivel ecológico y cultural. La Cueva del Esquilleu, situada en el occidente de Cantabria dentro de un contexto montañoso, es sin duda una de las más densas y mejor conservadas dentro de esta nueva etapa de investigación. En este trabajo presentamos algunas reflexiones sobre los modelos de cambio tecnológico que esta secuencia ha proporcionado, y cuyas características son reconocidas en otros conjuntos de la región.
El Cuco level X has yielded the most striking evidence of shellfish consumption by Neandertals on the Atlantic seaboard. Dated to the end of the regional Middle Paleolithic, this level has also yielded a small lithic assemblage abandoned by Neandertals in a small number of occupations at the site. This assemblage is characterized by its microlithic nature. The microlithic blanks and tools were obtained from Levallois, Discoid and blade productions using a combination of local, distant and very distant flints. How the technology was managed at El Cuco indicates that it served to supply tools to a Neandertal group with high residential mobility that exploited a broad spectrum of resources, including shellfish. We interpret this as further evidence of Neandertal population decrease in the region after 50,000 BP, probably driven by a shortage of resources, that ultimately led to the untangling of social networks and to their temporary disappearance from the Cantabrian Region.
The following list consists of dates for archaeologic and geologic samples mostly measured over the period from January 1980 to June 1981. The dates were obtained by liquid scintillation counting of benzene using the laboratory procedures outlined in previous lists (see, eg, BM VIII, R, 1976, v 18, p 16).
Dates issued by the British Museum radiocarbon laboratory between 1980 and 1984 are known to have been in error. This paper outlines the cause of the problem and the procedures adopted to revise the results affected. Where revision has been possible, on average this has given dates older by 200 to 300 radiocarbon years. The individual revised results are tabulated. -Authors
We have developed techniques for measuring 234U and 230Th on Faraday cups with precisions of 1–3 epsilon units (1 ε-unit=1 part in 104) using multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS). Using a Thermo-Scientific Neptune with desolvation nebulization, we obtained ionization/transmission efficiencies of 1–2% for both U and Th. We set up protocols to correct for tailing, prepared U and Th gravimetric standards, tested a Th mass fractionation correction procedure based on U isotopes, and identified natural calcite samples likely to be in U–Th isotopic secular equilibrium. The measured atomic ratios, 234U/238U=54.970 (±0.019)×10−6 and 230Th/238U=16.916 (±0.018)×10−6, for these calcite samples were identical within errors (quoted 2σ uncertainties calculated combining all sources of error). Half-life values calculated from these ratios are consistent with previous values, but have much smaller errors: 245,620±260 a for 234U and 75,584±110 a for 230Th (quoted 2σ uncertainties calculated using all sources of error). In calculating a 230Th age, some of the systematic errors included in estimating the full error in the half-lives effectively cancel. Removing these uncertainties (uncertainty in the 238U half-life value, uncertainty in our gravimetric uranium and thorium standards, and uncertainty in the absolute isotopic composition of the uranium standard), yields effective uncertainties for the purposes of 230Th dating of ±70 a for the 234U half-life value and ±30 a for the 230Th half-life value. Under ideal circumstances, with our methods, the 2σ uncertainty in age, including uncertainty in half-life values is ±10 a at 10 ka, ±100 a at 130 ka, ±300 a at 200 ka, ±1 ka at 300 ka, ±2 ka at 400 ka, ±6 ka at 500 ka, and ±12 ka at 600 ka. The isotopic composition of a sample with an age <800 ka can clearly be resolved from the isotopic composition of a sample in secular equilibrium, assuming closed system behavior. Using these techniques, we analyzed a Sanbao Cave (Hubei, China) stalagmite that formed between 510 and 640 ka ago. As the half-life values were determined independent of the Sanbao Cave ages, the observed co-variation between stalagmite δ18O and Northern Hemisphere summer insolation is consistent with accurate ages and half-life values.
Under certain environmental conditions, post-depositional diagenetic loss of bone collagen can severely reduce the number of bones from a particular archaeological site that are suitable for stable isotopic analysis or radiocarbon dating. This study examined nearly 300 bones from 12 archaeological sites across southern England known to yield poor or variable preservation to try to identify one, or more, pre-screening technique(s) that would indicate suitable collagen preservation for radiocarbon dating. The most reliable method was shown to be the percent nitrogen (%N) of whole bone powder, which has an 84% chance of successfully predicting whether or not a bone will yield sufficient (i.e. >1% weight) collagen for dating.
Bone is one of the most widely used materials for dating archaeological activity. It is also relatively difficult to pretreat effectively and new methods are an area of active research. The purpose of the chemical pretreatment of bone is to remove contaminants present from burial and to do so in a way which does not add any additional laboratory contaminant. To some extent, these two aims must be balanced since, on the whole, the more complex the procedure and the more steps included, the greater the chance for contamination. At the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit {(ORAU)}, the method used is a continuous-flow or manual acid/base/acid {(ABA)} treatment followed by gelatinization and ultrafiltration (based on Brown et al. [1988]; documented in Bronk Ramsey et al. [2000]). We find this overall method is very effective at removing more recent contamination in old bones. However, two aspects of the method have recently been improved and are reported here: the redesign of {ORAU's} continuous flow pretreatment and a new protocol in our pretreatment ultrafiltration stage.
New determinations of the half-lives of 235U and 238U have been made. Improved techniques have allowed the half-life values to be measured with greater accuracy than has been heretofore achieved. Samples were prepared by molecular plating and counted in a intermediate-geometry α-proportional counter with an extremely flat pulse-height plateau. The small amount of residual nonplated uranium was counted in a 2π counter. Energy analysis with a silicon-junction detector was used to measure the presence of "foreign" activities. For 235U, the measured specific activity was (4798.1±3.3) (dis/min)/(mg 235U), corresponding to a half-life of (7.0381±0.0048) × 108 yr. For 238U, the specific activity was measured as (746.19±0.41) (dis/min)/(mg 238U), corresponding to a half-life of (4.4683±0.0024) × 109 yr. Errors quoted are statistical (standard error of the mean), based upon the observed scatter of the data. This scatter exceeds that expected from counting statistics alone. We believe that systematic errors, if present, will no more than double the quoted errors.
Archaeological sediments are analysed from karst cave columns in Cantabrian Spain: Cueva Morín, El Pendo, the Castillo cave complex (including La Flecha, Las Chimeneas, La Pasiega, Las Monedas), Hornos de la Peña and Cobalejos. External sediment influx, including loess, is calibrated by an index of cave and slope run-off energy, while other features (slope and roof rubble, chemical precipitates, cryoturbations, fine soil derivatives, and cultural components) are discussed. The key sequences (Morín, El Pendo, Castillo) are each interpreted in local terms and then combined into a regional climatostratigraphy that includes 40 environmental phases within deep-sea isotope stages 2–5. Trends in run-off energy (reflecting slope stability), temperature, and summer-moisture are rarely in phase, indicating complex environmental change. Mid-Pleistocene and older deposits exist but have largely been destroyed, explaining the apparent absence of Acheulian settlement. Mousterian occupation is verified by isotope stage 5b, and two or three Mousterian facies that span 25–50,000 years are coeval in several caves, regardless of the direction of climatic oscillations. This suggests the flexible lithic technology of a single population, maintaining an adaptive steady state despite repeated environmental changes. By contrast, the distinct upper palaeolithic industries each span only a few millennia, but in part overlap temporally within the region between 35,000 and 9500 bp.
Las pinturas y grabados de las cavernas prehistóricas de la provincia de Santander
- Alcalde Del Río
Alcalde del Río, H., 1906. Las pinturas y grabados de las cavernas prehistóricas de la
provincia de Santander. Altamira -Covalanas -Hornos de la Peña -Castillo.
Blanchard y Arce, Santander.
El yacimiento de la cueva de
- V Cabrera Valdés
Cabrera Valdés, V., 1984. El yacimiento de la cueva de "El Castillo" (Puente Viesgo,
Santander), Bibliotheca Praehistorica Hispana. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones
Científicas, Instituto Español de Prehistoria, Madrid.
El arte mueble paleolítico cantábrico; contexto y análisis interno. Centro de Investigación y Museo de Altamira, Monografías n°16
- Mª S Corchón
Corchón, Mª S. 1986. El arte mueble paleolítico cantábrico; contexto y análisis interno.
Centro de Investigación y Museo de Altamira, Monografías n°16, Madrid.
Mousterian Developments in Cantabrian Spain
- L G Freeman
Freeman, L.G., 1964. Mousterian Developments in Cantabrian Spain. Ph. Dissertation.
Pinturas y grabados de la cueva de Las Chimeneas
- J González Echegaray
González Echegaray, J., 1974. Pinturas y grabados de la cueva de Las Chimeneas (Puente
Viesgo, Santander). Monografías de Arte rupestre, Barcelona.
El fenómeno laminar del Paleolítico Medio: el ejemplo de Cueva Morín. Espacio, Tiempo y Forma Serie I
- J M Maillo Fernández
Maillo Fernández, J.M., 2001. El fenómeno laminar del Paleolítico Medio: el ejemplo de
Cueva Morín. Espacio, Tiempo y Forma Serie I, Prehistoria 14, 79-105.
Beyond art: the internalarchaeological context in Paleolithic decorated caves
- M A Medina-Alcaide
- D Garate
- A Ruiz-Redondo
- J L Sanchidrián
Medina-Alcaide, M.A., Garate, D., Ruiz-Redondo, A., Sanchidrián, J.L., 2018. Beyond art:
the internalarchaeological context in Paleolithic decorated caves. J. Anthropol.
Archaeol. 49, 114-128.
La cueva del "El Pendo": actuaciones arqueológicas
- R Montes
- J Sanguino
Montes, R., Sanguino, J., 2001. La cueva del "El Pendo": actuaciones arqueológicas 1994-2000, Monografías Arqueológicas de Cantabria. Consejería de Cultura, Educación y
Deporte, Gobierno de Cantabria, Santander.
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