Modern Human Origins Research in Iberia: a Critique of the Indigenist Model (original) (raw)
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The extinction of Neanderthals and the emergence of the Upper Palaeolithic in Portugal
Promontoria, 2005
Este trabalho foi apresentado no âmbito de Provas de Agregação na área de Arqueologia. Estas provas académicas, constituídas por 3 fases, são de carácter público. Para cada fase existe um arguente, sendo as fases, respectivamente, a discussão do currículo do candidato, a análise de um relatório de uma disciplina do ensino universitário e uma lição-síntese, seguida de discussão. Esta última prova consiste numa apresentação de uma hora de um tema à escolha e, como parte constituinte das Provas de Agregação, pode ser pensada de duas formas essencialmente opostas: uma de entre as várias lições do programa da disciplina apresentado no relatório acima mencionado, fazendo por isso a descrição de uma qualquer parte do conteúdo desse mesmo programa; ou, pelo contrário, respeitar o título da prova e fazer-se uma verdadeira lição síntese, de carácter inédito.
One million years of cultural evolution in a stable environment at Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain)
Quaternary Science …, 2010
The present paper analyses the evidence provided by three sites (Sima del Elefante, Gran Dolina, and Galería) located in the Trinchera del Ferrocarril of the Sierra de Atapuerca. These three sites are cave infillings that contain sediments deposited from approximately 1.2 Ma to 200 kyr. Pollen, herpetofauna, and small and large mammal remains are used as proxies to obtain a general picture of the environmental changes that occurred at the Sierra de Atapuerca throughout the one million-year period represented at these sites. Similarly, cultural changes are tracked analyzing the evidence of human behavior obtained from the study of several bone and lithic assemblages from these three sites. At least three periods with different cultural features, involving technology, subsistence and behavior, are determined from the available evidence. The first two periods correspond to the Mode 1 technology and Homo antecessor: the first is dated around 1.2 to 1.0 Ma and reflects opportunistic behavior both in technology and subsistence. The second period is around 800 kyr BP. Mode 1 technology is still maintained, but subsistence strategies include systematic hunting and the use of base camps. The third period is dated between 500 ka and 200 ka and corresponds to the Mode 2 technology and the acquisition of directional hunting and other organizational strategies by Homo heidelbergensis. A transition from Mode 2 to Mode 3 seems to appear at the end of this time-range, and may reflect the early phases of a fourth cultural change. With regard to the environment, our main conclusion is that there was an absence of extremely harsh conditions at Atapuerca throughout this time period. The presence of Mediterranean taxa was constant and the dominant landscape was a savannah-like open environment, probably with small forest patches. An alternation of Mediterranean and mesic species Quaternary Science Reviews 30 as the dominant component of the tree storey was induced by the climatic cycles, and steppes spread across the landscape during the drier periods. In any case, it is not possible to establish clear cut-off points separating entirely different environmental episodes. Our results show no evidence of any relationship between environmental change and cultural change at the Sierra de Atapuerca.
Neanderthal and Homo sapiens subsistence strategies in the Cantabrian region of northern Spain
Abstract The Iberian Peninsula is key for the study of the transition from the Middle to the Upper Palaeolithic in Europe, as well as for the replacement of Neanderthals by anatomically modern humans (AMH). On this subject, the most widespread misconception assumed that both human species coexisted during a certain period of time, after which Homo sapiens imposed on Neanderthals who finally got extinct. However, recent proposals based on improved dating methods, discuss this possibility, arguing that the arrival of AMH was marked by the complete absence of Homo neanderthalensis in this territory. In that way, new theories deny the possibility of coexistence and the disappearance of Neanderthals by cultural displacement. Covalejos Cave (Velo, Pielagos, Cantabria), one of the few settlements in the northern Peninsula with Final Mousterian and Early Aurignacian levels, supports this hypothesis. Nevertheless, in this paper, we try to avoid a direct discussion about this question in order to centre our analysis on identifying possible different subsistence strategies between H. neanderthalensis and anatomically modern humans in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Our zooarchaeological and taphonomic studies reflect that Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans exploited the same faunal species, pointing out that there does not seem to be significant differences in their behaviour in Covalejos Cave. Keywords Homo neanderthalensis . Anatomically modern humans .Mousterian .Aurignacian .Subsistence .Cantabrian region . Northern Iberian Peninsula
2001
Dentro de los debates teoricos que se vienen produciendo desde hace decadas en el seno de la Prehistoria/Arqueologia parece existir un cierto consenso sobre dos ideas fundamentales: que nuestra disciplina es esencialmente una ciencia social y que el estudio del Paleolitico es la parte mas obsoleta, conservadora y cientificista de ella. Para precisar las causas de esta anomalia y tras evaluar de un modo critico las distintas aproximaciones desde las que se han realizado analisis historiograficos en nuestro ambito, se ofrece una reconstruccion racional, ciertamente esquematica, de los principales Programas de Investigacion que han tenido alguna relevancia en el desarrollo del Paleolitico, utilizando para ello una libre adaptacion de la metodologia desarrollada por I. Lakatos. Las conclusiones mas relevantes que se desprenden de dicho analisis son, por un lado, que la parte mas antigua de la Prehistoria se ha investigado desde parametros completamente distintos a los de la Prehistoria ...
La desigualdad de género en la Prehistoria ibérica
Cintas-Peña, Marta (2020). La desigualdad de género en la Prehistoria ibérica. Una aproximación multivariable. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports., 2020
¿Hubo desigualdad de género en la Prehistoria? ¿Cuándo apareció? Este trabajo intenta abordar las diferencias de género y la posible desigualdad entre mujeres y hombres a lo largo de la Prehistoria de la península ibérica. La investigación se lleva a cabo más allá de los límites de un yacimiento específico, utilizando una metodología multi-variable a nivel macrorregional y con una horquilla cronológica de gran amplitud. Para profundizar en el conocimiento de las comunidades prehistóricas de la península ibérica, la autora analiza 15 variables agrupadas en 3 ámbitos: demografía, prácticas funerarias y representaciones gráficas. Los resultados sugieren, en primer lugar, que el método multi-variable utilizado tiene potencial para el análisis sistemático de la desigualdad de género en la Prehistoria; en segundo lugar, este estudio proporciona una reconstrucción más completa de los roles de mujeres, hombres y niños/as en las sociedades del pasado. Was there gender inequality in Prehistory? When did it appear? This work attempts to address gender differences and possible inequality between women and men throughout Prehistory in Iberia . The research looks outside the limits of a specific site, using a multi-proxy methodology in a wide chronological and macro-regional level. To shed light on the prehistoric communities of Iberia, the author analyses 15 variables grouped in 3 spheres: demography, funerary practices and graphic representations. The results suggest, first, that the multi-proxy method used has potential for the systematic study of gender inequalities in Prehistory and, second, it provides a more complete reconstruction of the roles of women, men and children in past societies. https://www.barpublishing.com/la-desigualdad-de-genero-en-la-prehistoria-iberica.html
XIII international congress of prehistoric and protohistoric sciences. Proceedings, 1998
Abstract: Radiocarbon and U-Th dates from several sites in Portugal and Southern Spain now place the replacement of Mousterian industries by the Aurignacian at ca. 28-30 Kyr BP. In Cantabria and Northern Catalonia, however, the earliest Aurignacian is now dated at ca. 38 Kyr BP. A stable frontier corresponding approximately to the Ebro river valley thus seems to have separated Aurignacian modern humans from Mousterian Neandertals for some ten thousand years. This long coexistence without mutual acculturation forces a reappraisal of ...