http://hdl.handle.net/10366/154133 2026-06-11T10:05:06Z http://hdl.handle.net/10366/171653 [EN] Proceedings of the 2nd Meeting of the ICAZ Archaeomalocology Working Group (Santander, February 19th-22nd 2008). 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10366/171652 [EN] In the course of a sondage dug in the rock shelter of J3, in the Jaizkibel mountains (at the north-western tip of Guipúzcoa), the body of a adult man was located buried inside a shell midden. This shell midden had not been disturbed and presented internal stratigraphy features. In any case, the outer edge of the shell midden does show some interesting interdigitation with the adjacent habitational layers, with evidence of different stages of occupation. Within the shell midden itself, under the individual buried there, it was possible to observe layers without any ceramics, whereas the layers covering said individual included ceramic fragments. This individual has been dated to 8300 BP and therefore corresponds to a Mesolithic context 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10366/171651 [EN] Barnacles of the species Pollicipes pollicipes are crustaceans that nowadays live on wave-beaten rocky substrates in the intertidal and low-shore zones on the coasts of Atlantic Europe and North Africa. At the present time, the exploitation of this species is profitable, especially in northern Spain where this seafood is highly valued, as well as expensive. However, the gathering of this resource, which is carried out manually by the percebeiros or ‘‘goose barnacle fishers’’ entails great risks. The exploitation of goose barnacles is, however, not a recent activity, as evidence of it has been seen in southwest Europe in the Mesolithic (about 8000 BP), and above all from the early Neolithic (about 6000 BP). This paper analyses the archaeological evidence of barnacles (tergum, scutum and carina, calcareous plates located in the capitulum) that have been found at one Spanish Neolithic site located in the north of the Iberian Peninsula (Los Gitanos Cave, in Cantabrian Spain). 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10366/171650 [EN] This paper analyses the suspended objects of adornment made from marine mollusc shells that have been recorded at Mesolithic and Neolithic sites in southwest Europe. Particular attention will be given to taxonomic determination, technological aspects and the strategies utilised to obtain the raw materials for these objects. The distribution of certain species and the types of ornamentation used by the last hunter-gatherers and first farming communities will also be discussed. 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10366/171649 [EN] The Magdalenian is the period in the Upper Palaeolithic in which the greatest number of beads and pendants has been documented. Few sites with levels of this period have not provided examples of this type of artefact. The variety of raw materials used to make them (animal’s teeth, marine or fossil molluscs, antler, ivory, etc.) and the decoration on some of them, inform us of contacts between regions remote from each other. This paper reviews the different types of pendants that have been recorded from Magdalenian sites, with the aim of roughly establishing the network of contacts that existed among the groups of hunter-gatherers in Central Europe. It studies the context in which these artefacts were found, in well recorded stratigraphies at sites researched in recent decades. The study of certain types (marine shells from Atlantic and Mediterranean sources, certain kinds of perforated objects made in jet, such as discs and “Gönnersdorf type” schematic female figures, reindeer teeth sawn off at the alveoli, or discs made from scapulae) enable us to infer the existence of complex networks of long-distance contacts between human groups in the Late Glacial. 2009-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10366/171648 [EN] This paper presents the results obtained through the study of the marine malacological remains recovered during J. González Echegaray and L. G. Freeman’s archaeological excavations at Altamira Cave in the early 1980s. This research has been carried out mainly from the taxonomic, quantitative, taphonomic and biometric points of view. Finally, the information obtained has been compared with the results of earlier excavations at Altamira and other sites in Cantabrian Spain with levels dated in the Solutrean and Magdalenian periods 2009-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10366/171639 [EN] We present the preliminary results of the Linatzeta cave excavation project (Lastur, Deba, Gipuzkoa). Since its discovery in 1999, an occupational layer dating of the Mesolithic, and two burial layers have been recorded. The results obtained make this archaeological site an important context for the study of the last hunter-gatherers´s way of life in this region. 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10366/171638 [EN] This paper focuses on the exploitation of marine mollusks within a cultural and an ecological context, from the archaeological excavations in the prehistoric sites in the Cantabrian Region (North of Spain) and along the Ebro Valley. This research analyzes different species, on one hand used as ornaments or tools and, on the other hand as food, during the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic. These mollusks are examined for taxonomic diversity among cultural phases. Our research focuses on two main issues: the first one refers to which species of mollusks were selected and transformed into personal ornaments and the second to which ones were collected for their dietary interest 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10366/171635 Investigaciones sobre los restos de percebes en el yacimiento galo de Port Blanc 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10366/171625 [EN] Some animal and mineral resources, rarely identified in the levels of the Cantabrian Magdalenian, were exploited by the Paleolithic populations of the Nalón Valley (western Asturias) at the end of the Pleistocene. In this research, we present some of them, preserved in the Las Caldas Cave: dental remains and representations of marine mammals, marine crustaceans and molluscs, and diverse remains of amber and jet. These were selected, collected in ecosystems far away from the cave and, finally, transformed by the groups. These remains seem to complement the common resources exploited in Magdalenian paleoeconomy (e.g., ungulates, birds, fish, small carnivores, vegetables, flint, quartzite, quartz) recovered and exploited biotopes closest to the site. Our aim is thus to confirm a certain mobility of these communities towards the specific sources of raw material in search of subsistence resources potentially used in the activities of these communities (e.g., food, technology, social and symbolic expression, exchange). 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10366/171624 [EN] This paper studies, from the technological point of view, a number of pendants made from the teeth of marine mammals (seal, sperm whale and pilot whale) recovered in middle Magdalenian levels at Cueva de Las Caldas. It also reviews other evidence of these animals that has been found in archaeological contexts and discusses the coastal-inland relationships of hunter-gatherer groups in Europe in the Palaeolithic 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10366/171623 [EN] This paper presents some of the results of recent archaeozoological research carried out at a number of sites in Cantabrian Spain. It provides data about various types of marine remains (molluscs, crabs, goose barnacles, acorn barnacles and sea urchins) and reflects on the different kinds of information they provide (palaeo-economy, palaeoclimate, etc). 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10366/171622 Limpets & Periwinkles in Cantabrian Spain between 22,000 and 15,000 Cal BC: Archaeomalacological remains at Altamira Cave. This paper presents the archaeomalacological study of the excavations at Altamira Cave. It examines, on one hand, the molluscs found by H. Obermaier’s excavations (1924-1925) and, on the other hand, those recovered by J. González Echegaray and L. G. Freeman’s research (1908-1981). As well as classifying the two collections, the NR and MNI are calculated and the superficial alterations, caused by marine organisms (epifauna), humans, etc. are analysed. The two collections are compared, using the biometrics of the most representative species (Patella vulgata and Littorina littorea) in the two levels of the deposit (Solutrean and early Magdalenian), and the conclusion is reached that the archaeomalacological material was collected selectively during the older excavations. Through the biometric analysis of the P. vulgata specimens from Altamira and other sites in Cantabrian Spain with the same chronology, it can be seen that the size of the limpets remained very similar in the Solutrean and early Magdalenian. Finally, the existence of coastal and inland sites with remains of marine molluscs in the two periods is discussed. 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10366/171433 [ES] Preactas de Congreso 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10366/171432 [EN] The evolution of anatomical and behavioural modernity in Homo sapiens has been one of the key focus areas in both archaeology and palaeoanthropology since their inception. Traditionally, interpretations have drawn mainly on evidence from the many large and well-known sites in Europe, but archaeological research in Africa and the Levant is increasingly altering and elaborating upon our understanding of later human evolution. Despite the presence of a number of important early modern human and other hominin sites in Southeast Asia, evidence from this region has not contributed to the global picture in any significant way. Indeed, the acknowledged simplicity of lithic assemblages has led generations of scholars to assume that Southeast Asia was far from the cutting edge of behavioural evolution. Comparison of sophisticated shell tools fromlevels dated to 32,000–28,000 b.p. in eastern Indonesia with lithic artefacts recovered from the same levels and an assessment of rawmaterial procurement suggest that using lithic technologies as markers of behavioural complexity may be misleading in a Southeast Asian context and, indeed, may be hampering our efforts to assess behavioural complexity in global and comparative frameworks 2007-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10366/171431 [EN] En este artículo se ofrecen los primeros resultados del estudio de la fauna malacológica procedente de La Garma A (Omoño, Cantabria). Se analizan los restos de los niveles de adscripción gravetiense (niveles F y E). Por una parte, destacan los moluscos recogidos por su interés alimenticio, en los que la especie más consumida es Patella vulgata de grandes dimensiones. También son importantes las conchas de diferentes especies que carecen de valor bromatológico, en parte, transformadas en objetos de adorno-colgantes. Por último se hace una valoración sobre el papel que desempeñan estos recursos en la Cornisa Cantábrica y en Europa durante el Gravetiense. 2007-01-01T00:00:00Z