Santander, February 19th-22nd 2008 - Aranzadi

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MIGUEL ÁNGEL FANO & ESTEBAN ÁLVAREZ-FERNÁNDEZ
such as flint, or ideas such as those connected with
technical processes or graphic activity. This data
enables trends to be defined at a macro-spatial level,
like the reduced mobility seen in Cantabrian Spain
after 12,500/12,000 BP (González Sainz 1989;
González- Sainz & González Urquijo 2007). However,
information about the circulation of materials, ideas
and possibly people over middle or long distances,
to be understood more fully, needs to be supported
by knowledge about population dynamics at a local
scale. It would be difficult to understand long distance
interaction if we did not know the relationship of
sites with their immediate surroundings (Fano and
Rivero, in press).
The problem arises when this scale is to be defined,
given the difficulty in determining the territory
occupied by hunter-gatherer societies. In the current
case, the Asón valley has been chosen as the unit of
study, so as to define, within the framework of a
medium-term project, population dynamics in the
area during the period 13,000-11,500 BP, normally
denominated the late-final Magdalenian (LFM).
The establishment of this model requires a comparative
study between the different settlements that
were occupied during this time. In the first place, this
analysis must examine the typology, technology and
functionality of the lithic and bone implements that
were used; their manufacture (phases of the chaîne
opératoire that have been identified) and the types of
activities that were carried out. Equally important is
the identification of the areas of provenance of the
lithic raw materials. Secondly, the food resources that
were exploited at each settlement should be compared,
with special attention given to the way in which
they were managed. Thirdly, a comparative study
should be made of materials that were especially significant
from the cultural point of view, such as portable
art objects and other artefacts used as personal
ornamentation, which can also be analysed from the
viewpoint of the chaînes opératoires. The reconstruction
of these makes it possible to compare different
settlements and explore whether the same model of
graphic representation existed in artistic production
within the area of study (Fritz 1999).
The analysis described above will contribute to
define the role played by each settlement within its
regional context, but this definition will need a specific
study of the characteristics of each site (Fano
2001). In this sense, we begin with the premise that
intentionality existed behind the choice of each site,
and therefore it is also very likely that a reciprocal
relationship existed between the characteristics of
the settlement and the activity that was carried out in
and/or from that place. Consequently, a link could be
found between the characteristics of the site and the
remains left behind by the activity carried out by the
human group – the archaeological record sensu stricto.
It is therefore important to analyse those factors
that determine the habitability conditions of the settlement.
If we assess objectively the characteristics of
the occupied areas, our hypothesis about the role
played by each site in its regional context will become
more solid.
In summary, the aim is to introduce a more integrated
perspective to the social facts provided by
archaeological research. If we attempt to achieve a
representation of the organizational strategies of hunter-gatherer
societies in the late Palaeolithic, each of
the types of analysis mentioned above should be
conceived within an overall framework of research
(cf. Terradas 2001).
It cannot be denied that the approach described
above must face a large number of difficulties, and
these should be taken into account when the solidity of
the resulting model is assessed. Among these difficulties
are, in the first place, the problem of determining
how representative the archaeological record is; in
fact, only in recent years have we known of the existence
of late Magdalenian habitation areas in the
upper Asón, apart from the well-known problem of the
conservation and/or location of open-air settlements. In
second place, closely connected with the former point,
certain modifications to the environment oblige us not
only to accept the loss of information, but also to take
into account the morphology of the geographical area
around the sites during the Palaeolithic. The variations
to the landscape have been highly significant in places.
This is the case of some Magdalenian sites located
near the present-day mouth of the River Asón, i.e.
within a completely different environment from the one
the Magdalenian groups knew (Figure 1), because of
the Flandrian transgressive episode.
Finally, in third place, we must mention a problem
that is inherent in any spatial archaeological study,
noted some years ago by I. Hodder and C. Orton
(1990), and this is the relationship of contemporaneity
that can be established between different sites. Thus,
when we establish comparisons between archaeological
levels for which no absolute dates are available,
attributed to the same period because of the material
that has been recovered from them, it is difficult to
know whether we are relating occupations that
actually are close in time. Even if the levels have been
dated, many factors have to be considered when we
assess how representative the determinations are,
such as the factors connected with the dynamic processes
that intervene in the formation of Palaeolithic
sites (Texier 2001).
MUNIBE Suplemento - Gehigarria 31, 2010
S.C. Aranzadi. Z.E. Donostia/San Sebastián