Detecting human mobility in the Pyrenees through the analysis of chert tools during the Upper Palaeolithic

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present the preliminary results of PhD research focused on hunter-gatherer groups that occupied the Central and Eastern Pyrenees during the Magdalenian period. This research aims to improve the knowledge we have about those Magdalenian groups, specifically concerning their lithic procurement strategies. The core of the study is based on the lithic tools collected from two archaeological sites - Alonsé Cave and Forcas I Shelter, both in Huesca, Spain-, and in particular those made from chert, because they are both a spatial and a cultural marker at the same time. These cherts have been studied using petroarchaeological methods, and as a result, it has been possible to detect the type of procurement strategies carried out and to guess the relation existing between those human groups and their environment, especially in what refers to mobility strategies.

Keywords

• petroarchaeology
• alonsé cave
• forcas i shelter
• cantabrian lower magdalenian