Publication Date
5-1-2016
Abstract
This hybrid dissertation explores how hunter-gatherer groups who lived during the Initial and Lower Magdalenian archaeological periods (c.17-14,000 uncal. BP) adapted their lithic technological organization to environmental complexity in the Vasco-Cantabrian region of north coastal Spain. Four manuscripts that examine aspects of Last Glacial hunter-gatherer adaptations are presented in this dissertation. The first three have been published or are in press in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, Journal of Archaeological Science, and Quaternary International. The last is a completed manuscript that is under review by the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. The first paper focuses on how archaeologists examine prehistoric transitions using a case study from Urtiaga cave, Giup\xfazcoa. This case demonstrates that lithic maintenance was a significant factor in Initial Magdalenian landscape-level adaptations. The second paper summarizes the lithic and osseous industries (the latter studied by L. Straus), recovered from the El Mirón cave and demonstrates the sites importance as a Lower Magdalenian residential site in central Cantabria. The third manuscript explores hunter-gatherer lithic conveyance patterns based on four sites in central Cantabria (Altamira, El Juyo, El Rascaño, and El Mirón) and proposes that the Lower Magdalenian groups who occupied these sites shared an economic territory that expanded from Cantabria into western Navarra. Local raw material conveyance shows that shifting environmental zones was an important factor in how groups mover through the diverse Cantabrian landscape. The fourth manuscript investigates how Lower Magdalenian groups procured raw materials using a mathematical model that predicts toolstone production efficiency. Using samples from the same four central Cantabrian contexts, the paper explores the relationships among toolstone efficiency, lithic procurement, and Last Glacial mobility. Each case study presented as part of this dissertation contributes to archaeological understanding of how human groups adapted--particularly through technological management and movement--to the complex environments of north coastal Spain during the early Magdalenian period.
Keywords
Upper Paleolithic, Magdalenian, Vasco-Cantabrian Spain, Lithic Technology, Technological Organization, Mobility, Mathematical Modeling, Human Behavioral Ecology
Project Sponsors
National Science Foundation American Association for University Women UNM Latin American and Iberian Institute UNM Office of Graduate Studies UNM Office of Career Services UNM Graduate and Professional Student Organization UNM Fund for Stone Age Research UNM Department of Anthropology
Document Type
Dissertation
Language
English
Degree Name
Anthropology
Level of Degree
Doctoral
Department Name
Anthropology
First Committee Member (Chair)
Lawrence Guy Straus
Second Committee Member
Bruce B. Huckell
Third Committee Member
Emily L. Jones
Fourth Committee Member
James L. Boone
Fifth Committee Member
Todd A. Surovell
Recommended Citation
Fontes, Lisa Marie. "Economies Set in Stone? Magdalenian Lithic Technological Organization and Adaptation in Vasco-Cantabrian Spain." (2016). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/anth_etds/23
Appendix_C_Photos_Geographically_Known_Flints.pdf (3356 kB)
Appendix_C_Photos_Geographically_Unknown_Flints.pdf (11861 kB)
Appendix_C_Limestones.pdf (434 kB)
Appendix_C_Mudstones.pdf (958 kB)
Appendix_C_Other_Stones.pdf (569 kB)
Appendix_C_Quartz_Calcite.pdf (387 kB)
Appendix_C_Quartzites.pdf (4348 kB)
Appendix_C_Unknown_Stones.pdf (2009 kB)