Santander, February 19th-22nd 2008 - Aranzadi

From the Mediterranean sea to the Segre river: manipulated shells from magdalenian levels of Parco's cave (Alòs de Balaguer, Lleida, Spain)
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Figure 4. Theodoxus fluviatilis, Homalopoma sanguineum, Cyclope neritea and Dentalium sp. (Drawings R.Álvarez).
account its common use during Prehistory, as
ornaments or as little containers (Taborin 1993), it
must be considered among the remains presented
in this paper.
3. SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
Perforated malacofauna is mainly located inside
the cave area of the site that basically is the
zone where more different activities have been
documented for the Magdalenian period, such as
flint knapping, hide work and cooking activities
related to a high number of different types of fire
pits (Fig. 5). Even though, we cannot observe any
significant distribution of these items.
4. CONCLUSIONS
To date, 41 evidences have been identified; all
of them related to the symbolic sphere of magdalenian
populations occupying Parco’s cave. The
shells appeared as ornaments (as part of pendants,
necklaces, or sewn in the clothes) or as little
containers (Glycymeris sp. and Chlamys sp.)
and obviously not related to food chain.
Among these taxa found on the site we distinguish
the presence of exclusively fluvial species,
such as Teodoxus fluviatilis, as well as exclusively
marine species, such Homalopoma sanguineum,
Cyclope neritea, - both being strictly of
Mediterranean origins - and Dentalium sp. While the
origin of the former raises no question whatsoever
since their catchment was done from the nearby
river Segre, the procurement of marine gastropods,
however, which has been identified so far exclusively
in Cantabrian sites (Álvarez 2002) could suggest
the possibility of a new doorway through the
Ebro Basin, thereby strongly pointing to the possibility
of a new way between the Mediterranean Basin
and the Cantabrian area other than the commonly
known North Pyrenean corridor (Fig. 6).
MUNIBE Suplemento - Gehigarria 31, 2010
S.C. Aranzadi. Z.E. Donostia/San Sebastián