Santander, February 19th-22nd 2008 - Aranzadi

54
BÁRBARA AVEZUELA
Figure 11. 1, Littorina obtusata, from level III, perforation broken by use. 2,
Littorina obtusata, from level I, perforation broken by use. 3, Nassarirus reticulatus,
from level III, perforated by internal pressure and signs of suspension. 4,
doubtful marine gastropod, from level III, perforated by multidirectional abrasion
and with the outer lip abraded. Part of the body whorl has disappeared and the
aperture and the siphonal canal did not conserve its original morphology.
specimen from Level III has an incomplete perforation
but the part that remains has the same characteristics
as the rest of the canines. The wear on the
specimen from Level I, despite the superficial fissures
and rises, reflects a possible lateral attachment.
5. ORIGIN OF RAW MATERIALS AND IMPLICATIONS
FOR HUMAN MOBILITY AND ACTIVITIES PRACTICED
ON THE SITE
Considering the origin of manufactured species
of mollusc ornaments to establish a relation with the
coasts, we can say that Cyclope neritea is a typically
Mediterranean species, since by their habitat requirements
they could not colonize Atlantic coasts in
cold periods (Álvarez-Fernández 2006, Taborin
1993), although nowadays the former proliferates on
Cantabrian beaches (Palacios and Vega 1997).
Trivia pulex currently only appears in the
Mediterranean sea (Brunet and Capdevila 2005).
Trivia arctica and Nassarius reticulatus could be
Atlantic or Mediterranean (Lindner 2000).
The only species with some controversy about
its origin is Littorina obtusata that currently only
proliferates in the Atlantic coasts (Lindner 2000,
Palacios & Vega 1997). Its presence in
Mediterranean sites like Cueva Ambrosio (Ripoll
1998) and Cueva de Nerja (Jordá et al. 2008)
could be explained by colonizations in cold
periods of typical Atlantic species in the
Mediterranean Sea (Álvarez-Fernández 2006;
Taborin 1993) but the explanation of long distance
contacts could be admissible too, so we might
consider both origins - Atlantic or Mediterranean -
possible for Littorina obtusata.
But the question is how did these marine
molluscs arrive at the site?
The first hypothesis could be that the inhabitants
of La Peña de Estebanvela had direct access
to the coasts. If this was true, we must ask why we
do not have any complete marine specimens
without perforations stocked as a raw material like
the Theodoxus fluviatilis.
We might say that these personal ornaments
made on marine molluscs were not manufactured
in the site; again, we only found failures during
manufacture in the Theodoxus fluviatilis.
The other most reasonable hypothesis is that
the inhabitants of La Peña de Estebanvela obtained
these personal ornaments by some exchange
with other groups. We know that the Magdalenian
hunt-er-gatherer groups that lived in La Peña de
Estebanvela were there during the summer, the
autumn and beginnings of the winter (Cacho et al.
2006, Yravedra 2005) and it is possible that during
the rest of the year they moved towards the north
looking for better climatic conditions and then they
obtained these personal ornaments. Unfortunately
the lack of archaeological registries in the Plateau
cannot corroborate this hypothesis for the
moment.
The only perforated teeth we found at the site
are the three red deer atrophied canines. The preference
for this support does not have a direct relation
with the consumed fauna present at the site,
which are always more diverse (Yravedra 2005).
That there is a material choice is clear, but for the
moment we are not able to establish if the canines
correspond to the same red deer individuals present
in the faunal assemblage or if they arrived at
the site by another means.
6. CONCLUSIONS
The presence of marine molluscs at the site
(the nearest coast is more than 200 km away in a
straight line) clearly indicates a mobility of the hunter-gatherer
groups in the Upper-Late
Magdalenian. In the same way it is important to
underline that most of the personal ornaments
have a high degree of wear; some of them had
been used till they were unsuitable, indicating the
symbolic value of these objects. The choice of
atrophied red deer canines to perforate informs us
also about the inclusion of these personal ornaments
inside a symbolic world.
The identification of the techniques used for the
manufacture of the perforations has not been as pro-
MUNIBE Suplemento - Gehigarria 31, 2010
S.C. Aranzadi. Z.E. Donostia/San Sebastián