Early Middle Palaeolithic occupations at Ventalaperra cave (Cantabrian Region, Northern Iberian Peninsula)

Joseba Rios-Garaizar

doi:10.2218/jls.v3i1.1287

Abstract

The Middle Paleolithic assemblage from Ventalaperra level III, excavated in 1931 by Aranzadi and Barandiarán, was initially interpreted as being Aurignacian, and then as a Late Middle Paleolithic assemblage. Recent excavations at the site undertaken by Ruiz Idarraga and d'Errico have confirmed the Middle Paleolithic attribution, and have additionally produced data on subsistence strategies and environmental conditions. The results obtained from the technological analysis made on level III’s assemblage suggest that its characteristics fit with an Early Middle Paleolithic attribution. The extensive use of local raw materials, the absence of ramified productions, and the use of centripetal (Levallois and Discoid) and SSDA flaking systems, link this assemblage with sites like Arlanpe and Lezetxiki VI which have been dated to the end of the Middle Pleistocene, or nearby sites such as Abrigo Rojo, still under study. This reveals a behavioral pattern for Early Middle Paleolithic populations in the eastern Cantabrian Region characterized by an extensive use of the landscape, high mobility, short occupations and a high dependence on local resources to assure subsistence and technological provisioning.

Highlights

Research on Middle Palaeolithic occupations in eastern Cantabria has expanded over the past several years thanks to new excavation projects and revision of classic sites. 25 years ago the Middle Palaeolithic presence in this region, with the exception of Lezetxiki’s levels VI and VII, was restricted to the Upper Pleistocene (Baldeón 1990)
Other aspects as the relevance in Early Middle Palaeolithic (EMP) assemblages of ramified strategies have not been thoroughly explored, but as we have shown at least for the eastern Cantabrian Region there is a clear difference regarding this technological behaviour between EMP and Late Middle Palaeolithic (LMP)
Research on human presence during the Late Middle Pleistocene in the eastern Cantabrian Region has significantly advanced in the past several years, thanks to the publication of new sequences such as Arlanpe, and to the review of already-known sites such as Lezetxiki

Summary

Introduction

Research on Middle Palaeolithic occupations in eastern Cantabria has expanded over the past several years thanks to new excavation projects and revision of classic sites. 25 years ago the Middle Palaeolithic presence in this region, with the exception of Lezetxiki’s levels VI and VII, was restricted to the Upper Pleistocene (Baldeón 1990). Research on Middle Palaeolithic occupations in eastern Cantabria has expanded over the past several years thanks to new excavation projects and revision of classic sites. 25 years ago the Middle Palaeolithic presence in this region, with the exception of Lezetxiki’s levels VI and VII, was restricted to the Upper Pleistocene (Baldeón 1990). The publication of new sequences with Early Middle Palaeolithic (EMP) occupations, such as that of Arlanpe cave (Rios-Garaizar et al 2015), and the review of already-known sites such as Lezetxiki (Álvarez Alonso & Arrizabalaga 2012), have shown that human presence in the region by the end of the Middle Pleistocene was greater than previously thought (Montes 2003). Rios-Garaizar region are still related to the later phases of the Middle Palaeolithic, representing a key region to understand Neanderthal extinction (Higham et al 2014; Rios-Garaizar 2012a)

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