To be or not to be: reassessing the origins of portable art in the Cantabrian Region (Northern Spain)

Olivia Rivero,Sergio Salazar,Paula García Bustos,Diego Garate,Joseba Rios-Garaizar,Ana María Mateo-Pellitero

doi:10.1007/s12520-021-01488-w

Olivia Rivero, Sergio Salazar + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-021-01488-w

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Abstract

The characterization of the first portable artistic depictions in Cantabrian Spain is crucial for comprehension of the symbolic development of Neandertals and Homo sapiens in the context of the passage from the Middle to the Upper Paleolithic. However, despite the importance of these first graphic representations, their study has tended to lack the application of suitable methodologies to be able to discriminate between graphic activity and other kind of alterations (use-wear, taphonomic, or post-depositional). The present study has examined a significant sample of Middle and Upper Paleolithic lithic and osseous objects from Cantabrian Spain that have been cited as evidence of graphic activity in the literature. The contexts in which the objects were found have been considered, and the objects have been analyzed through the microscopic observation of the marks to distinguish between incisions, pecking, and engraving made for a non-functional purpose (graphic activity) and those generated by diverse functional actions or taphonomic processes (cutmarks, trampling, root marks, percussion scars, and use-wear). The results show that some regional Middle Paleolithic osseous objects display incisions that are neither functional nor taphonomic and whose characteristics are similar to graphic evidence attributed to Neandertals in Europe and the Near East. In turn, the first portable art produced by Homo sapiens in the Cantabrian Spain seems to be limited mostly to linear signs, and no figurative representation can be recognized until the Gravettian. This appears to indicate a particular idiosyncrasy of the region in the Early Upper Paleolithic, which, in comparison with other regions such as south-west France and the Swabian Jura, shows a later and less abundant production of portable art.

Highlights

The Middle to Upper Paleolithic passage has been one of the most debated issues in paleoanthropology in recent decades
The discussion about Early Upper Paleolithic art and ornament production has centered on the existence of regionally distinguishable artistic and decorative traditions, and on the social role of the artistic explosion witnessed in the Aurignacian and onwards (Kulturpumpe) (Conard and Bolus 2003; Garate-Maidagan et al 2015; Higham et al 2012; White et al 2012)
The microscopic analysis of the artifacts presented below has resulted in interpretations that diverge from the data published previously

Summary

Introduction

The Middle to Upper Paleolithic passage has been one of the most debated issues in paleoanthropology in recent decades. The Cantabrian Region in the Northern Iberian Peninsula has been one of the classic areas for the study of the MP and UP Paleolithic since the first rock art evidence was found in Altamira Cave in 1879 (Bahn 2016) This area has participated in the debates about the original nature of the Châtelperronian, the possible interstratification of the Châtelperronian and the Aurignacian (in which El Pendo was one of the sites used to support this— rejected—hypothesis) (Montes et al 2005), or the existence of particular transitional industries such as the “Aurignacienne de Transition” defined in El Castillo (Cabrera et al 2001), or the existence of a Mousterian refugium (see Higham et al 2014; Marín-Arroyo et al 2018; but see Pinto and Grandal 2019). The dates obtained from sites like Aitzbitarte III, La Viña, and Amalda I suggest an early development of the Gravettian in the region (Marín-Arroyo et al 2018; Garate et al 2020)

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