Aproximación al aprovisionamiento de materias primas líticas en el yacimiento del Paleolítico medio del Abrigo de la Quebrada (Chelva, Valencia) (1) An approach to lithic raw material procurement at the middle Palaeolithic site Abrigo de la Quebrada (Chelva, Valencia) Aleix Eixea (*) Valentín Villaverde (*) João Zilhão (**)
RESUMENEl objetivo de este trabajo es ofrecer una primera caracterización de las materias primas líticas documentadas en los niveles I al III del yacimiento del Paleolítico medio del Abrigo de la Quebrada. Estos materiales, excavados en las campañas del 2004 y 2007, han sido objeto de una primera caracterización tecnológica (Villaverde et al. 2008) y su análisis ha estado precedido de una campaña de prospección para la localización de las fuentes de aprovisionamiento local, realizada el 2008. Mediante un estudio macroscópico, presentamos las diferentes unidades de materias primas identificadas y sus variantes dentro del contexto regional, así como los diversos afloramientos reconocidos de la zona. Con los datos extraídos se efectúa una primera aproximación a las áreas de captación de recursos de los grupos humanos que utilizaron el abrigo y a las pautas de movilidad que de los datos se infieren.
ABSTRACT
LOS NIVELES DEL PALEOLÍTICO MEDIO DEL ABRIGO DE LA QUEBRADAEl Abrigo de la Quebrada se localiza en la localidad valenciana de Chelva (Los Serranos) a unos 65 km al noroeste de Valencia. Su longitud es de 38 m, con una profundidad que oscila entre los 9 y los 2 m, con una superficie escasamente accidentada. El término municipal ocupa una superficie de unos 190 km² y se encuentra surcado por los ríos Tuéjar-Chelva y Turia, más hacia el TRABAJOS DE PREHISTORIA 68, N.º 1, enero-junio 2011, pp. 65-78, ISSN: 0082-5638
Level 4.1 from the Abri du Maras (Ardèche, France) is chronologically attributed to the beginning of MIS 3 and is one example of late Neanderthal occupations in the southeast of France. Previous work on the faunal and lithic remains suggest that this level records short-term hunting episodes of reindeer associated with fragmented lithic reduction sequences. During fieldwork, the high density of the material did not allow identification of clear spatial patterning of these activities. In order to try to decipher the palimpsest of these short-term occupations, we combined contextual micro-stratigraphic analysis with interdisciplinary and methodological approaches to obtain high-resolution intra-site spatial data. The former was performed by studying microfacies variability of occupation layers at meso to microscales. A combination of spatial techniques based on GIS and kernel density analysis, along with faunal and lithic refitting was used and focused on the horizontal distribution of the whole archaeological assemblage.The results demonstrate that quantitative approaches, associated with the interdisciplinary empirical processing of data, are suitable and adequate methods for describing the spatio-temporal formation of the archaeological assemblage. This integrated approach allowed us to identify a temporal succession of occupational events marked by distinctive anthropic imprints in the host matrix in well-preserved activity areas. The analysis of their spatial patterns reveals differential treatment of lithic and faunal remains. We describe the possible organization of the settlement patterns dynamics of these specialized short-term occupations.
The Abrigo de la Quebrada (Chelva, Valencia) stratigraphic succession comprises nine Middle Palaeolithic levels. Human selection of this rock shelter for occupation owes to its favourable location-at the gates of a blind valley where the trapping of large herbivores would have been practicable. The immediate environment is varied, with both abrupt and flat terrain, and would have supported a wide range of prey animals. Radiocarbon-dated charcoal samples from level IV, which is characterised by a high density of lithic (> 18,000) and bone (> 100,000) remains, yielded results of 43,930 ± 750 BP (Beta-244002) and > 51,6 ka BP (OxA-24855). There is no evidence of modification by carnivores or birds of prey, so this level's faunal remains must be anthropogenic in the main. Relative to the inhabited space, the location of level IV's many combustion features shows little variation. The level's typical palimpsest structure results from frequent, repeated occupations with intense on-site processing in a context of low sedimentation rates. The study of seasonality, carcass exploitation, taphonomy, stone tool refitting and raw material provenience patterns supports the notion that the different occupations subsumed in the level IV deposit were all short term. The comparison of our results with coeval contexts from the central area of Mediterranean Iberia sheds additional light on the adaptations of western Europe's Neanderthal groups.
a b s t r a c tThe notion of recycling and it relationship with ramified productions and small tool production in Late Middle Paleolithic from the Iberian Peninsula are investigated. Results from Amalda, Axlor, Peña Miel, and Quebrada show that the production of small tools is one of the principal objectives of lithic provisioning in these sites. Whereas in Axlor and Amalda, this is achieved through the ramification of production, due to the remoteness of flint sources, in Quebrada, where raw material sources are closer, small flakes are obtained at the end of Levallois production. The implications for Neandertal society organization of this small tool production is discussed, and its evolution is observed from a diachronic perspective.
Abstract:Different flint types from the Middle Palaeolithic site of Abrigo de la Quebrada (Chelva, Valencia) are characterized, both macro-and microscopically, and compared with types found at other localities in the region. Although procurement predominantly concerned the immediate vicinity of sites, our results show the presence of the same types in assemblages separated by distances of up to 120 km. The long distances involved are suggestive of a pattern of North-South mobility of human groups along the coastline of central Mediterranean Iberia.
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