Technological variability in El Castillo cave during MIS 4

The variability in Neanderthal behaviour is one of the key debates in Middle Palaeolithic archaeology. Here we present the analysis of the lithic industry from a unit at one of Europe’s main Palaeolithic sites: El Castillo Cave. Unit XXf1.1, dated to the beginning of MIS 4, is an example of human oc...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: González Molina, Irene, Maíllo Fernández, José Manuel, Vaquero, Manuel, Neira, Ana, Bernaldo de Quirós, Federico, Marín Hernando, Juan
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia
Repositorio:e-spacio. Repositorio Institucional de la UNED
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:e-spacio.uned.es:20.500.14468/25901
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14468/25901
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:55 Historia::5505 Ciencias auxiliares de la historia::5505.01 Arqueología
Middle paleolithic
Technological variability
Cantabrian region
Mousterian
El Castillo cave
Descripción
Sumario:The variability in Neanderthal behaviour is one of the key debates in Middle Palaeolithic archaeology. Here we present the analysis of the lithic industry from a unit at one of Europe’s main Palaeolithic sites: El Castillo Cave. Unit XXf1.1, dated to the beginning of MIS 4, is an example of human occupation during a period of population decrease. In this assemblage, the technology is organised with the aim of obtaining the largest possible blanks in an environment in which small-sized raw materials predominate, with the presence of imported tools and clear differences in the management of different raw materials. This assemblage is characterized by the predominance of centripetal exploitation methods, and there is only a small number of blanks with laminar tendency, and cleavers. From all this we can observe how Neanderthals were able to find ways to achieve their specific objectives, planning their behaviour to overcome the limitations imposed by the environment.