In glacial environments beyond glacial terrains: Human eco-dynamics in late Pleistocene Mediterranean Iberia

Barton, C. Michael; Bonilla, Valentín Villaverde; Zilhão, João; Aura, J. Emili; García, Oreto; Badal, Ernestina

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2013.05.007

Cited by 32 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…In the case of Iberia, several researchers have suggested that widespread Upper Paleolithic cultural changes might have been triggered by major abrupt climate events, implying that some of the modifications occurred in the technological domains were solutions to enhance performance and reduce risk in changing environments (e.g. Banks et al ., , , ; Bicho et al ., , ; Bradtmöller et al ., ; Schmidt et al ., ; Barton et al ., ; Cascalheira and Bicho, ; Marreiros and Bicho, ; Pereira and Benedetti, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Testing the impact of environmental change on hunter‐gatherer settlement organization during the Upper Paleolithic in western Iberia

Cascalheira

Bicho

2018

J Quaternary Science

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Recent cross-disciplinary research in the Iberian Peninsula has revealed a synchronous pattern between rapid climate change and widespread cultural modifications during the Late Paleolithic. The beginning and development of each traditionally defined techno-complex is thought to be associated with different environmental conditions. A main contrast is put on the impact of cold and arid conditions at the onset of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and its coincidence with the development of blade/flake-size projectiles and bifacial technologies, against the dominance of bladelet-size backed points across more temperate and forested environments. Based on the long-recognized assumption that lithic technology operates within the broader context of Pleistocene human ecodynamics, here we test the hypothesis that climate-related lithic techno-typological changes across the Upper Paleolithic are linked to modifications in land-use patterns and settlement organization. We present statistical analysis comparing the Shannon-Weaver diversity index for retouched stone tool assemblages (used as proxy for site function) and locational parameters of a series of contexts from Central Portugal. The results show a trend of continuity and change between periods, with some of the most important deviations starting at the onset of the LGM, with the Heinrich Event 2 associated with patterns of technological diversification and biocultural expansion.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Testing the impact of environmental change on hunter‐gatherer settlement organization during the Upper Paleolithic in western Iberia

Cascalheira

Bicho

2018

J Quaternary Science

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“…Straus, 2005) and Mediterranean (e.g. Barton et al, 2013) archaeological evidence, and climatic reconstructions of the Western Mediterranean rely largely on high-quality palaeoenvironmental records from southern Iberia (e.g. Cacho et al, 1999;S anchez Goñi et al, 2002).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chronological and palaeoenvironmental context of human occupations at the Buendía rockshelter (Central Spain) during the late Upper Pleistocene in inland Iberia

et al. 2015

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This paper introduces the sequence of the Buendía rockshelter (Central Spain), a multi-layered site with abundant lithic assemblages attributed to the Magdalenian. We present 18 new radiocarbon dates that firmly position the whole stratigraphy between 15 and 13 14 C ka BP (18-16 cal ka BP), making the Buendía rockshelter an excellent palaeoenvironmental and archaeological archive for a very specific time span of the late Upper Pleistocene. Available proxies include pollen, phytoliths, charcoal, molluscs, macromammals and other evidence of human occupation of the rockshelter, which enable the portrayal of a detailed picture of Buendía landscapes during the Late Glacial. These were generally characterized by an open landscape with sparse arboreal vegetation, in which pollen shows a dominance of Compositae in the herbaceous taxa and of Pinus among the arboreal taxa. Charcoal analysis also points to an abundance of Pinus sylvestris type, and phytoliths indicate the relevance of Poaceae. Marine and freshwater molluscs were mostly brought into the site by humans, thus highlighting long-distance transport networks among Magdalenian hunter-gatherers between the coast and inland Iberia. Climatic oscillations are observed across the stratigraphic sequence, and discussed in light of the archaeological evidence for the human occupation of inland Iberia.

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“…It is undeniable that the significant negative correlation between retouch frequency and lithic volumetric density can be a viable approach to look for the average technological options made within each context under study (see e.g. Villaverde et al 1998; Riel-Salvatore and Barton 2004Barton , 2007Sandgathe 2005;Barton et al 2013;Clark and Barton 2017). However, although the formula might excel at separating curated vs. expedient approaches, it cannot be always equated with a clear division between short-term logistic and long-term residential sites.…”

Section: Figure 1 Whole Assemblage Behavioral Indexmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of Lithic Assemblages for the Definition of Short-Term Occupations in Hunter-Gatherer Prehistory

Cascalheira

Bicho

2020

Short-Term Occupations in Paleolithic Archaeology

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One of the main elements in prehistoric research is the study of settlement patterns. In the last five decades, stemming partially from Binford's research on the topic, the idea of settlement patterns is based on site typology, including the traditional residential and logistic concepts. Both models of land use and exploitation are certainly marked by the notion of short-term occupation. This concept, used freely by many archaeologists, tends to rely on two main ideas: an occupation lasted a short span of time and resulted in a limited amount of material culture. Our aim, based on our results from various archaeological case studies dated to the Upper Paleolithic of Portugal, is to show that neither idea is necessarily correct: e.g. there may be short-term occupations with the production of large amounts of artifacts, such as lithic workshops; there might be very small collections, such as lithic caches, resulting from short occupations but with very long uses of the site; and most times, both are hardly differentiated within complex palimpsests. Our study shows that the common use of lithic volumetric density and retouch frequency is not always sufficient to differentiate between short and long-term occupations. Also, there are other variables that are more sensitive to indicate the duration of occupation of an archaeological context that should be used in the identification of time length. The archaeological use of 'Short-term occupation' Prehistoric archaeology has been fighting hard to understand the archaeological record and how it relates to past human evolution and anthropogenic adaptations to the changing environment. The development of actualistic studies (sensu Binford 1981) in the last half century, including such specialized disciplines as Ethnoarchaeology, Geoarchaeology or Zooarchaeology, have greatly helped us to understand, not only the archaeological material culture, but also site formation processes (e.g. Schiffer 1983, 1987) in a wide and very diversified manner. Nevertheless, archaeologists still endure complex problems for the definition of universally used concepts related to past human adaptations. In some cases, however, archaeologists just freely use those concepts without the necessary careful or proper consideration of their meaning and the impact that they might have in further interpretations of the distant past. The concept of 'shortterm occupation' seems to be such a case. The idea of short-term occupation has been frequently used to succinctly describe site´s or lithic assemblage's characteristics (e.g. Porraz 2009; Rios-Garaizar 2016; Picin 2017). Most times, it is, in one way or another, related to work on settlement patterns, starting with the classic Binford' studies on the Nunamiut settlement system and related discussion of site structuring and intra-site spatial organization (e.g. Binford 1978a,

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In glacial environments beyond glacial terrains: Human eco-dynamics in late Pleistocene Mediterranean Iberia

Cited by 32 publications

References 45 publications

Testing the impact of environmental change on hunter‐gatherer settlement organization during the Upper Paleolithic in western Iberia

Testing the impact of environmental change on hunter‐gatherer settlement organization during the Upper Paleolithic in western Iberia

Chronological and palaeoenvironmental context of human occupations at the Buendía rockshelter (Central Spain) during the late Upper Pleistocene in inland Iberia

Use of Lithic Assemblages for the Definition of Short-Term Occupations in Hunter-Gatherer Prehistory

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