The Selection of Lithic Raw Materials in the Lower and Middle Pleistocene Levels TD6 and TD10A of Gran Dolina (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain)

Abstract

The study of hominid behavior as reflected in the selection, procurement, and management of lithic raw materials provides a reliable framework in which to study some of the traditions of particular Paleolithic communities. The raw materials composing the technological assemblages of levels TD6 (Late Lower Pleistocene) and TD10A (Late Middle Pleistocene) from the site of Gran Dolina (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos) were analyzed within this framework. The abundance and diversity of readily available raw materials in the immediate surroundings of the Sierra de Atapuerca sites have allowed the correspondence between technology and raw materials to be highlighted in both assemblages analyzed. Accordingly, the results obtained suggest that the hominids who occupied these two levels practiced different selection, procurement, and management behaviors with respect to the raw materials used for tool production. These differences are consistent with the technical systems identified in each level: TD6, containing a pr...