El paleolítico superior en el sureste de la península ibéricaestudios de tecnología y funcionalidad en la industria lítica

Abstract

The lithic industry is one of the parts of the Palaeolithic archaeological record that allows us to approach the lifestyles of the populations that inhabited this period. In this doctoral thesis, we analyze the manufacturing processes of lithic tools and the function of a specific type of tool, the projectile elements, in several sites in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula during the Upper Palaeolithic. The sites from which the study sample has been selected are the Cueva del Arco (Cieza), the Cueva de Ambrosio (Vélez-Blanco), the Cueva del Algarrobo (Mazarrón), the Cueva del Caballo and the Cueva de los Mejillones (Cartagena), which correspond to the Early Gravettian, Late Upper Solutrean and Upper and Late Magdalenian technocomplexes. The lithic assemblage from the site of Val Lastari (Veneto, Italy), dating to the Epigravettian period, is also analyzed. In this work, we set out a series of objectives. Firstly, we intend to generate a bibliographical and knowledge base on the archaeological and palaeoenvironmental context of the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula and other adjacent regions. On this basis, we will study the selected sites in depth to address the following questions: to know the tool indices and their characteristics; to understand the different chaînes opératoires; to analyze the lithic elements technologically and typometrically; to study the management of the lithic materials in depth; and to observe the functional evolution of the projectile elements. At the beginning of this thesis, a series of hypotheses are put forward that revolve around the evolution of the lithic knapping processes, the intentionality of the knappers during the development of the chaîne opératoire and the objectives of the knapping, the typological changes between the different periods and their motivations, and the fracturing processes of the projectiles. In short, we propose that in the Upper Palaeolithic there was a process of evolution of the knapping methods, linked to the adaptation to the palaeoenvironmental, cultural, and technological changes that occurred during the different technocomplexes that make up the period. In order to achieve these objectives and to validate or not the hypotheses set out above, methods of analysis are used that correspond to lithic technology and typology and functional studies. At the techno-typological level, an analysis of the chaîne opératoire and the lithic knapping methods and techniques used is carried out using diacritical analyses, the recording of the technological and typological characteristics of the blanks and the types of retouching used in the making of the tools. The sample on which the work is carried out consists of cores, core conditioning products, blanks, and retouched tools. A typometric study of the most representative sets is also carried out by means of multivariate analysis using the k-means method. We have also used experimental archaeology to advance our understanding of the knapping methods and techniques used in the manufacture of Solutrean foliaceous projectiles. In the proposed experiment, preforms of points located in the Cueva de Ambrosio are replicated, controlling a series of variables, in order to subsequently compare the technological attributes generated with the archaeological pieces. Finally, functional studies of projectile point fractures are carried out by observing the fractures with a binocular loupe and classifying them in terms of morphology and location on the blank. After the archaeological and palaeoenvironmental contextualization of the sites and the study of the lithic remains using the methodology described above, a series of results are obtained. After discussion, they allowed us to reach some conclusions related to the initial hypotheses. It is confirmed that the knapping methods show changes between the different technocomplexes, although the tools correspond to similar functions; that the objective of the knapping is to obtain laminar blanks, with the exception of the Solutrean site, where flakes become more representative due to their link with the production of projectiles; that the progressive microlithisation or reduction in the size of the tools has been observed in relation to palaeoenvironmental changes; that there are similarities in the manufacture of back projectile elements in all the assemblages analyzed; and that the foliated points show a process of standardisation in their manufacture. It can thus be seen that in the Upper Palaeolithic there is a process of evolution in lithic technology that generates indicators of techno-cultural regionalization.