Technical and conceptual behaviours of bone and antler exploitation of last hunter-gatherers in Northern Iberia. The osseous industry from the Magdalenian layers of Ekain cave (Basque Country, Spain)

Abstract

The site of Ekain Cave presents a large archaeological sequence encompassing all the Upper Palaeolithic periods. Here we present results of a technological analysis conducted on the bone and antler industry from the Magdalenian (Lower, Middle and Upper) levels. The industry reflects the pattern seen at other Magdalenian sites in north Spain and the Pyrenees, such as the choice of bone for domestic activities (awls, needles and polishers) whereas antler was employed mainly for hunting and/or fishing weapons (projectile points and barbed points). The succession of cold and amelioration phases recorded during the Magdalenian has its effect on the fauna present and on the availability of raw material, in particular, cervid antler.The present study identifies for the first time the use of debitage by fracturation in northern Iberia. A hypothesis that may explain the incentives behind the adoption of such a procedure in Ekain is proposed. These results are put in the context of the operational sequences for the osseous industry in the north of Iberia during the last Upper Palaeolithic. Indeed, our study reinforces the hypothesis that a high degree of exchange of technical and conceptual behaviours between the North and the South of the Pyrenees and the Iberian Mediterranean area as already suggested by works on lithic technology and cave and mobile art.