Santander, February 19th-22nd 2008 - Aranzadi

MUNIBE(Suplemento/Gehigarria) - nº nº 3100 48-56 000-000 DONOSTIA-SAN SEBASTIÁN 2010 2003 D.L. ISSN SS-1055-2010
XXXX-XXXX
The personal ornaments made from molluscs at the Middle-Late
Magdalenian site of La Peña de Estebanvela (Segovia, Spain)
Los objetos de adorno-en concha del Magdaleniense
medio-superior de La Peña de Estebanvela (Segovia, España)
KEY WORDS: Spanish Northern Plateau / Magdalenian / Molluscs / Personal ornaments / Experimental program.
PALABRAS CLAVE: Meseta Norte / Magdaleniense / Moluscos / Adornos-colgantes / Programa experimental.
GAKO-HITZAK: Ipar Goi-ordokia / Magdaleniarra / Moluskuak / Apaingarriak-zintzilikariak / Programa esperimentala.
Bárbara AVEZUELA (1)
ABSTRACT
The site of La Peña de Estebanvela is situated on the south edge of the Duero river basin in contact with the mountains of the Central System.
This rock shelter offers a sequence attributed to the Middle-Late Magdalenian. Its ornamental collection is made up of six species of marine
molluscs, one freshwater mollusc and three red deer atrophied canines, all of them perforated. We present a technological study of the perforations
made on the molluscs and an experimental comparative collection. Furthermore, we try to go beyond the taxonomic and technological
descriptive analyses in order to assess the potential relationship of the groups who lived in La Peña de Estebanvela with the coasts.
RESUMEN
El yacimiento de la Peña de Estebanvela se encuentra situado en el borde sur de la cuenca del Duero en contacto con el Sistema Central. El
relleno de este abrigo rocoso nos ofrece una secuencia atribuida al Magdaleniense Medio-Final. Su conjunto ornamental está compuesto por seis
especies de moluscos marinos, una especie de molusco dulceacuícola y tres caninos atrofiados de ciervo, todos ellos perforados. Realizando una
coleccion experimental de referencia presentamos un estudio tecnológico de las perforaciones realizadas sobre los moluscos y damos un paso
más allá intentando superar el terreno descriptivo, tanto taxonómico como tecnológico, para adentrarnos en una valoración sobre cuál fue la relación
que tuvieron los grupos que habitaron la Peña de Estebanvela con las costas.
LABURPENA
Peña de Estebanvelako aztarnategia Duero ibaiaren arroaren hegoaldeko ertzean dago, Mendikate Zentralaren ondoan. Gune harritsu horretan,
Magdaleniar kulturaren erdialde-amaierarekin lotutako sekuentzia bat ageri da. Apaingarrien multzoa itsas moluskuen sei espeziek, ur gezatako
moluskuen espezie batek eta oreinen hiru letagin atrofiatuk osatzen dute, eta guztiak ere zulatuta daude. Erreferentziazko bilduma esperimental
bat eginez, moluskuei egindako zulaketen azterketa teknologikoa aurkezten dugu eta beste urrats bat ematen dugu eremu deskribatzailea,
taxonomikoa zein teknologikoa, gainditzen saiatzeko, Peña de Estebanvelan bizi izan zirenek itsasertzekin zer-nolako harremanak izan
zituzten baloratzeko.
1. INTRODUCTION
The study of personal ornaments has important
anthropological meaning since these elements have a
polysemous character that, depending on the context,
can constitute an aesthetic expression but can also
serve as a personal reaffirmation of belonging to a
group or social status. They can be used as ritual elements,
offerings or amulets. All these characteristics
transform them into valuable elements as exchange
goods and, in any case, into elements that shape the
system of communication within the society in which
these objects are created and used (Taborin 2004).
Therefore, we decided to study the personal ornaments
from the Middle-Late Magdalenian site of La
Peña de Estebanvela as a cohesive group even though
when we recovered the material, perforated shells were
grouped with the malacofauna and perforated red deer
canines were included in the osseous tools.
Our objectives were: to identify the origin of raw
materials and its possible selection; to know the processes
of transformation and where they were
carried out; to discriminate between failures and perforations
broken by use. We were sure that reconstructing
the operational sequence was a necessary
step. For our study we wanted to create our own
experimental comparative collection of technological
or manufacture traces and apply the results to
our archaeological series to see what information
this provided.
(1)
Laboratorio de Estudios Paleolíticos. Departamento de Prehistoria y Arqueología. Facultad de Geografía e Historia. Universidad Nacional
de Educación a Distancia. Ciudad Universitaria. Calle Senda del Rey, 7. E-28040 Madrid, Spain (barbara@bec.uned.es).