Earlier Palaeolithic Settlement Patterns: Landscape Archaeology on the River Duero Basin Plateaus (Castilla y León, Spain)

Abstract

This paper is based on a landscape archaeology project, ongoing since 1996, that is being conducted on the Tertiary limestone plateaus of the Northern Spanish Meseta. The study aims to document the abundant Palaeolithic archaeology of these tablelands adjacent to the river Duero, and to interpret its territorial implications. We provide a synthesis of the chronological context of the discoveries, the extent of the forces of post-depositional disturbance involved in the formation of the various archaeological aggregations, the technological description of the lithic collections, the environmental reconstruction of the locales selected by Palaeolithic human groups in this region and their mobility patterns, based on the intensive field research carried out to date.