Upper Palaeolithic lithic raw material sourcing in Central and Northern Portugal as an aid to reconstructing hunter-gatherer societies
We present the results of the study of lithic raw materials used in Upper Palaeolithic occupations preserved in caves, rockshelters and open-air sites from two different geological environments in Portugal. For the sites located in the Lusitanian Basin, flint or silcrete sources are easily available...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Edinburgh
2016-09-01
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| Series: | Journal of Lithic Studies |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journals.ed.ac.uk/lithicstudies/article/view/1436 |
| _version_ | 1797735990750609408 |
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| author | Thierry Aubry Cristina Gameiro Javier Mangado Llach Luís Luís Henrique Matias Tiago do Pereiro |
| author_facet | Thierry Aubry Cristina Gameiro Javier Mangado Llach Luís Luís Henrique Matias Tiago do Pereiro |
| author_sort | Thierry Aubry |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | We present the results of the study of lithic raw materials used in Upper Palaeolithic occupations preserved in caves, rockshelters and open-air sites from two different geological environments in Portugal. For the sites located in the Lusitanian Basin, flint or silcrete sources are easily available in close vicinity. The Côa Valley sites, located in the Iberian Massif, are within a geological environment where restricted fine-grained vein quartz and siliceous metamorphic rocks are available, but no flint or silcrete, even though both are present in the archaeological assemblages. Data from the two clusters of sites are compared with a third newly located site in the Lower Vouga valley, at the limit of the Iberian Massif with the Lusitanian Basin, where quartz vein raw material types are locally available and flint is about 40 kilometres distant. This study reveals prehistoric adaptations to these different geological contexts, with shorter networks for the Lusitanian basin sites contrasting with the long distance ones for the Côa Valley, and the Vouga site at an intermediary position. Finally, we propose that lithic raw material supply networks, defined by a GIS least-cost algorithm, could be used as a proxy not only for territoriality in the case of local and regional lithic raw material sources, but also to infer long-distance social networks between different Palaeolithic human groups, created and maintained to promote the access to asymmetrically distributed resources. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T13:06:08Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-27e67c15ac7d49d6bfebe3822b610cf5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2055-0472 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T13:06:08Z |
| publishDate | 2016-09-01 |
| publisher | University of Edinburgh |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Lithic Studies |
| spelling | doaj.art-27e67c15ac7d49d6bfebe3822b610cf52023-08-28T14:27:57ZengUniversity of EdinburghJournal of Lithic Studies2055-04722016-09-013272810.2218/jls.v3i2.14361436Upper Palaeolithic lithic raw material sourcing in Central and Northern Portugal as an aid to reconstructing hunter-gatherer societiesThierry Aubry0Cristina Gameiro1Javier Mangado Llach2Luís Luís3Henrique Matias4Tiago do Pereiro5Fundação Côa ParqueUNIARQ, Centro de Arqueologia Universidade de LisboaUniversitat de BarcelonaFundação Côa ParqueCentro de Arqueologia Universidade de LisboaEra Arqueologia, S.A.We present the results of the study of lithic raw materials used in Upper Palaeolithic occupations preserved in caves, rockshelters and open-air sites from two different geological environments in Portugal. For the sites located in the Lusitanian Basin, flint or silcrete sources are easily available in close vicinity. The Côa Valley sites, located in the Iberian Massif, are within a geological environment where restricted fine-grained vein quartz and siliceous metamorphic rocks are available, but no flint or silcrete, even though both are present in the archaeological assemblages. Data from the two clusters of sites are compared with a third newly located site in the Lower Vouga valley, at the limit of the Iberian Massif with the Lusitanian Basin, where quartz vein raw material types are locally available and flint is about 40 kilometres distant. This study reveals prehistoric adaptations to these different geological contexts, with shorter networks for the Lusitanian basin sites contrasting with the long distance ones for the Côa Valley, and the Vouga site at an intermediary position. Finally, we propose that lithic raw material supply networks, defined by a GIS least-cost algorithm, could be used as a proxy not only for territoriality in the case of local and regional lithic raw material sources, but also to infer long-distance social networks between different Palaeolithic human groups, created and maintained to promote the access to asymmetrically distributed resources.http://journals.ed.ac.uk/lithicstudies/article/view/1436côa valleyupper palaeolithiclithic raw material sourcingsocial networksarchaeological gis |
| spellingShingle | Thierry Aubry Cristina Gameiro Javier Mangado Llach Luís Luís Henrique Matias Tiago do Pereiro Upper Palaeolithic lithic raw material sourcing in Central and Northern Portugal as an aid to reconstructing hunter-gatherer societies Journal of Lithic Studies côa valley upper palaeolithic lithic raw material sourcing social networks archaeological gis |
| title | Upper Palaeolithic lithic raw material sourcing in Central and Northern Portugal as an aid to reconstructing hunter-gatherer societies |
| title_full | Upper Palaeolithic lithic raw material sourcing in Central and Northern Portugal as an aid to reconstructing hunter-gatherer societies |
| title_fullStr | Upper Palaeolithic lithic raw material sourcing in Central and Northern Portugal as an aid to reconstructing hunter-gatherer societies |
| title_full_unstemmed | Upper Palaeolithic lithic raw material sourcing in Central and Northern Portugal as an aid to reconstructing hunter-gatherer societies |
| title_short | Upper Palaeolithic lithic raw material sourcing in Central and Northern Portugal as an aid to reconstructing hunter-gatherer societies |
| title_sort | upper palaeolithic lithic raw material sourcing in central and northern portugal as an aid to reconstructing hunter gatherer societies |
| topic | côa valley upper palaeolithic lithic raw material sourcing social networks archaeological gis |
| url | http://journals.ed.ac.uk/lithicstudies/article/view/1436 |
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