Mid-Pleistocene Acheulean industrial complex in the Iberian Peninsula

Santonja, Manuel; Pérez‐González, Alfredo

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2010.02.010

Cited by 104 publications

(80 citation statements)

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“…(For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.) Gonz alez, 2010;P erez-Gonz alez et al, 2013;Panera et al, 2014;L opez-Recio et al, 2015;Roquero et al, 2015aRoquero et al, , 2015bRubio-Jara et al, 2016). The most complete list of artefacts associated with a warm faunal assemblage was found in the Achaeulian sites of Pinedo and Cien Fanegas (Tagus valley, near Toledo) in the þ25e30 m terrace, with top deposits dated as 226 ± 37 ka (by Amino-Acid Racemization) and the base deposits dated as >280 ka and 292 ± 17 ka (pIR-IRSL) (L opez-Recio et al, 2013(L opez-Recio et al, , 2015.…”

Section: Pp Cunha Et Al / Quaternary Science Reviews XXX (2016) 1ementioning

confidence: 99%

New data on the chronology of the Vale do Forno sedimentary sequence (Lower Tejo River terrace staircase) and its relevance as a fluvial archive of the Middle Pleistocene in western Iberia

Cunha

Martins

Buylaert

et al. 2017

Quaternary Science Reviews

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a b s t r a c tThe Vale do Forno archaeological sites (Alpiarça, central Portugal) document the earliest human occupation in the Lower Tejo River, well established in geomorphological and environmental terms, within the Middle Pleistocene. In a staircase of six fluvial terraces, the Palaeolithic sites were found on the T4 terrace (þ24 m, above river bed) which is made of a basal Lower Gravels unit (LG) and an overlying Upper Sands unit (US). Geomorphological mapping, coupled with lithostratigraphy, sedimentology and luminescence dating (quartz-OSL and K-feldspar post-IRIR 290 ) were used in this study. The oldest artefacts found in the LG unit show crude bifacial forms that can be attributed to the Acheulian. In contrast, the US unit has archaeological sites stratigraphically documenting successive phases of an evolved Acheulian. Luminescence dating and correlation with the Marine Isotopic Stages suggest that the LG unit has a probable age of ca. 335 to 325 ka and the US unit an age of ca. 325 to 155 ka. This is in contrast to previous interpretations ascribing this terrace (and lithic industries) to the Last Interglacial and early phases of the Last Glacial. The VF3 site (Milhar os), containing Micoquian (Final Acheulian) industries (with fine and elaborated bifaces), found in a stratigraphic level located between the T4 terrace deposits and a colluvium associated with Late Pleistocene aeolian sands, is younger than 155 ka but much older than 32 ka.© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. IntroductionUnderstanding of the Palaeolithic occupation of Northern Europe has been substantially based on evidence from rivers (e.g. Bridgland et al., 2006). For Western Europe and specifically in Iberia, insights into the Palaeolithic occupation is similarly derived from its major rivers (from north to south: Douro, Tejo/Tagus, Guadiana, Guadalquivir) (e.g. Santonja and Villa, 2006). Within this context, the Vale do Forno archaeological sites (Alpiarça, in central Portugal; Fig. 1) provide the earliest and most well documented human occupation in the Lower Tejo (the Portuguese part of the Tejo basin). Lower Palaeolithic bifacial sites are common, often well represented by lithic industries. Their local stratigraphy and technological characteristics indicate successive phases of what is commonly named as the Acheulian. However, they were chronologically poorly constrained.From the Spanish border to the Atlantic coast, the Tejo crosses major faults which provide a natural geomorphological subdivision of the river into a series of valley reaches (I to V;Cunha et al., 2005). * Corresponding author.E-mail addresses: pcunha@dct.uc.pt (P.P. Cunha), aam@uevora.pt (A.A. Martins), jabu@dtu.dk (J.-P. Buylaert), anmu@dtu.dk (A.S. Murray), 3raposos@sapo.pt (L. Raposo), paolo.mozzi@unipd.it (P. Mozzi), m.stokes@plymouth.ac.uk (M. Stokes).

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Section: Pp Cunha Et Al / Quaternary Science Reviews XXX (2016) 1ementioning

confidence: 99%

New data on the chronology of the Vale do Forno sedimentary sequence (Lower Tejo River terrace staircase) and its relevance as a fluvial archive of the Middle Pleistocene in western Iberia

Cunha

Martins

Buylaert

et al. 2017

Quaternary Science Reviews

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“…The presence of humans in the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula is well documented to be over one million years old (Carbonell et al 2008;Santonja and Pérez-González 2010;Santonja and Villa 2006). Yet Iberian Acheulean sites, in particular the ones that can be classified as belonging to the large flake Acheulean (Sharon 2007), are frequently dated much younger, as late as MIS 11 (Santonja and Villa 2006;Santonja and Pérez-González 2010).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flakes Crossing the Straits? Entame Flakes and Northern Africa–Iberia Contact During the Acheulean

Sharon

2011

Afr Archaeol Rev

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The entame core method was defined after studying the Acheulean bifaces from the site of Ternifine, Algeria. This specialized core method for the production of larges flakes (>10 cm) used for biface blanks involves the detachment of primary large flakes from skillfully selected quartzite cobbles. While technologically simple, a competent selection of raw material and dexterous detachment of the flake resulted in a blank perfectly suitable for the production of bifaces, with minimal further shaping required. This core method resulted in high frequencies of entame blanks in the Ternifine lithic assemblages, as well as from the Iberian Peninsula Acheulean, but not in assemblages from other large flake Acheulean sites. It is suggested that the frequent use of the entame core method common to both North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula indicates similarity in lithic tradition during the Acheulean. This may support the view of North African origin for the Iberian Acheulean during the Middle Pleistocene.Résumé La méthode de débitage par entame a été définie lors de l'étude des bifaces acheuléens du site de Ternifine en Algérie. Cette méthode, spécialisée dans la production de grands éclats (>10cm) utilisés comme supports de bifaces implique le détachement d'éclats primaires sur des galets en quartzite soigneusement sélec-tionnés. La méthode est simple et c'est la sélection rigoureuse du bloc et le soin apporté au détachement de l'éclat qui permet d'obtenir un support parfaitement adapté à la production de bifaces, requérant de ce fait un façonnage minimal. L'emploi de cette méthode est révélé par la forte fréquence de supports d'entame dans les assemblages lithiques acheuléens de Ternifine et de la Péninsule Ibérique. Ces derniers sont en revanche absents des autres sites acheuléens spécialisés dans la production de grands éclats. Il est ici proposé que l'usage fréquent de la méthode par entame, commun à l'Afrique du Nord et à la Péninsule Ibérique, reflète des traditions Afr Archaeol Rev (2011) 28:125-140 lithiques communes entre ces deux espaces. Cela pourrait soutenir l'idée que l'Acheuléen ibérique trouve son origine en Afrique du Nord, au Pléistocène moyen.

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“…1) and a continental climate, with hot and dry summers (24ºC mean), cold rainy winters (4ºC mean), and a mean rainfall of 500 mm/yr. The valleys that surround the capital city of Madrid are abundantly watered areas that have supported a long-term occupation beginning in the Middle Pleistocene (Santonja and Pérez-González 2010).…”

Section: Where and Whymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It was procured and utilized at least since the Middle Pleistocene Acheulean (Santonja and Pérez-González 2010), while the third millennium BC Copper Age signals the apogee of its use, when massive amounts of expedient tools were manufactured out of local and probably secondary resources (Díaz-del-Río 2004: 115). There is, nevertheless, no evidence for prehistoric mining in the region other than at Casa Montero.…”

Section: Whatmentioning

confidence: 99%

La mina de sílex del Neolítico Antiguo de Casa Montero (Madrid, España), 5350-5220 cal a. C.

et al. 2018

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We present a comprehensive and interpretative overview of the evidence recovered at the mining field of Casa Montero (Madrid, Spain). We describe the technical and social aspects of flint mining in the specific historical context of central Iberia's Early Neolithic societies. Combination of all the evidence allows us to suggest that mining at the site was probably a generational phenomenon, where the acts of gathering in order to perform a collective action served as a basis for binding new political relations beyond each individual group. Strategic, tactical, and logistic preconditions were required for those gatherings, including the ability and capacity to convene, design, and organize an orderly set of actions such as those deployed at the flint mine. As with other Neolithic mining sites in Europe, understanding these social preconditions are important if archaeologists are to move beyond describing the formal and technical variability of the mines. RESUMEN Presentamos una revisión de conjunto e interpretativa de las evidencias recuperadas en la mina de sílex de Casa Montero (Madrid, España). Describimos los aspectos técni-cos y sociales de la minería del sílex en el contexto históri-co específico de las sociedades del Neolítico

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Mid-Pleistocene Acheulean industrial complex in the Iberian Peninsula

Cited by 104 publications

References 30 publications

New data on the chronology of the Vale do Forno sedimentary sequence (Lower Tejo River terrace staircase) and its relevance as a fluvial archive of the Middle Pleistocene in western Iberia

New data on the chronology of the Vale do Forno sedimentary sequence (Lower Tejo River terrace staircase) and its relevance as a fluvial archive of the Middle Pleistocene in western Iberia

Flakes Crossing the Straits? Entame Flakes and Northern Africa–Iberia Contact During the Acheulean

La mina de sílex del Neolítico Antiguo de Casa Montero (Madrid, España), 5350-5220 cal a. C.

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