Abstract
The period of deglaciation from ca. 13,000 to ca. 9000 B.P. along the northern edge of the Cantabrian Cordillera and Pyrenees was characterized by marked climatic and environmental oscillations, culminating in the establishment of interglacial conditions. While along the Cantabrian coast, late Upper Paleolithic groups had long been developing diversified systems of adaptation, fully exploiting the wide range of food resources of that narrow but ecologically varied region (notably red deer and marine mollusks), Magdalenian hunters along the southern edge of the Aquitaine basin were becoming increasingly specialized in the hunting of one medium-size game species, reindeer. Thus, while the artifact industries and artistic traditions of the two adjacent regions along the forty-third parallel developed along similar lines in the Magdalenian and Azilian, and despite a common montane specialization in ibex hunting, the changes that came with the end of the Last Glacial affected the human groups of the two regions very differently, as reflected in the early Mesolithic records of Vasco-Cantabria and Gascony, respectively.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Altuna, J. (1972). Fauna de mamíferos de los yacimientos prehistóricos de Guipúzcoa.Munibe 24 1–464.
Altuna, J. (1976). Los mamíferos del yacimiento prehistórico de Tito Bustillo. In Moure, J., and Cano, M. (eds.),Excavaciones en la Cueva de Tito Bustillo, Instituto de Estudios Asturianos, Oviedo, pp. 149–194.
Altuna, J. (1980). Historia de la domesticación animal en el Pais Vasco.Munibe 32 1–163.
Altuna, J. (1981). Restos óseos del yacimiento prehistórico de Rascaño. In González Echegaray, J., and Barandiarán, I. (eds.), El Paleolítico Superior de la Cueva del Rascaño.Monografías del Centro de Investigación y Museo de Altamira 3 221–269.
Altuna, J. (1986). The mammalian faunas from the prehistoric site of La Riera. In Straus, L., and Clark, G. (eds.), La Riera Cave.Anthropological Research Papers 36 237–274, 421–479.
Altuna, J., Baldeón, A., and Mariezkurrena, K. (1985). Cazadores magdalenienses en la Cueva de Erralla.Munibe 37 1–206.
Altuna, J., Eastham, A., Mariezkurrena, K., Spiess, A., and Straus, L. (1990). Magdalenian and Azilian hunting at the Abri Dufaure.Archaeozoologia (in press).
Altuna, J., and Mariezkurrena, K. (1982). Restos óseos del yacimiento prehistórico de Abauntz.Trabajos de Prehistoria Navarra 3 347–353.
Altuna, J., and Mariezkurrena, K. (1984). Bases de subsistencia de origen animal de los pobladores de Ekain. In Altuna, J., and Merino, J. (eds.),El Yacimiento Prehistórico de la Cueva de Ekain, Sociedad de Estudios Vascos, San Sebastián, pp. 211–280.
Arambourou, R. (1978). Le Gisement Préhistorique de Duruthy à Sorde-l'Abbaye.Mémoires de la Société Préhistorique Française, 13, Paris.
Bahn, P. (1982). Inter-site and inter-regional links during the Upper Paleolithic: The Pyrenean evidence.Oxford Journal of Archaeology 1 247–268.
Bahn, P. (1984).Pyrenean Prehistory, Aris & Phillips, Warminster.
Barandiarán, I. (1979). Azilien et post-azilien dans le Pays basque méridional. In de Sonneville-Bordes, D. (ed.),La Fin des Temps Glaciaires en Europe, CNRS, Paris, pp. 721–732.
Barandiarán, I., and Cava, A. (1989). The evolution of the Mesolithic in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula. In Bonsall, C. (ed.),The Mesolithic in Europe, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, pp. 572–581.
Berganza, E. (1990). El Epipaleolítico en el Pais Vasco.Munibe 42 81–89.
Boyer-Klein, A. (1984). Analyses polliniques cantabriques au Tardiglaciaire.Revue de Paléobiologie 1984 33–39.
Butzer, K. (1981). Cave sediments, Upper Pleistocene strategraphy and Mousterian facies in Cantabrian Spain.Journal of Archaeological Science 8 133–183.
Butzer, K. (1986). Paleolithic adaptations and settlement in Cantabrian Spain.Advances in World Archaeology 5 201–252.
Clark, G. A. (1983). The Asturian of Cantabria.Anthropological Papers of the University of Arizona, 41, Tucson.
Clark, G. A., and Straus, L. G. (1983). Late Pleistocene/early Holocene hunter-gatherer adaptations in Cantabrian Spain. In Bailey, G. (ed.),Hunter-Gatherer Economy in Prehistory, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 131–147.
Clark, G. A., and Straus, L. G. (1986). La Riera Cave.Anthropological Research Papers 36.
Clarke, D. L. (1976). Mesolithic Europe: the economic basis. In Sieveking, G. de G.,et al. (eds.),Problems in Economic and Social Archaeology, Duckworth, London, pp. 449–481.
Clot, A. (1984). Faune de la grotte préhistorique du Bois du Cantet (Espèche).Munibe 36 33–50.
Clottes, J. (1976). Les civilisations du Paléolithique supérieur dans les Pyrénées. In Lumley, H. de (ed.),La Préhistoire Française, CNRS, Paris, Vol. 1, pp. 1214–1231.
Clottes, J. (1989). Le Magdalénien des Pyrénées. In Rigaud, J. (ed.), Le Magdalénien en Europe.ERAUL 38 281–357.
Clottes, J., and Simonnet, R. (1979). Le Paléolithique final dans le bassin de Tarascon-sur-Ariège, d'après les gisements des Eglises et de Rhodes II. In de Sonneville-Bordes, D. (ed.),La Fin des Temps Glaciaires en Europe, CNRS, Paris, pp. 647–659.
Deith, M. (1983). Seasonality of shell collecting determined by oxygen isotope analysis of marine shells from Asturian sites in Cantabria. In Grigson, C., and Clutton-Brock, J. (eds.), Animals and Archaeology: Shell Middens, Fishes and Birds,British Archaeological Reports S183 67–76.
Deith, M., and Shackleton, N. J. (1986). Seasonal exploitation of marine molluses: Oxygen isotope analysis of shell from La Riera Cave. In Straus, L. G., and Clark, G. A. (eds.), La Riera Cave,Anthropological Research Papers 36 299–313.
Delpech, F. (1983).Les Faunes du Paléolithique Supérieur dans le Sud-Ouest de la France, CNRS, Paris.
Delpech, F., and LeGall, O. (1983). La faune magdalénienne de la grotte des Eglises.Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique de l'Ariège 38 91–118.
Duplessy, J., Delibrias, G. Turon, J., Pujol, C., and Duprat, J. (1981). Deglacial warming of the north-eastern Atlantic Ocean.Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 35 121–144.
Dupré, M. (1988).Palinologia y Paleoambiente: Nuevos Datos Españoles, Servicio de Investigación Prehistórica, Valencia.
Eastham, A. (1984). The avifauna of the cave of Ekain. In Altuna, J., and Merino, J. M. (eds.),El Yacimiento Prehistórico de la Cueva de Ekain, Sociedad de Estudios Vascos, San Sebastián, pp. 331–344.
Eastham, A. (1986). The La Riera avifaunas. In Straus, L. G., and Clark, G. A. (eds.), La Riera Cave,Anthropological Research Papers 36 275–284.
Fernández-Tresguerres, J. (1980). El Aziliense en las Provincias de Asturias y Santander.Monografías del Centro de Investigación y Museo de Altamira 2.
Freeman, L. G. (1973). The significance of mammalian faunas from Paleolithic occupations in Cantabrian Spain.American Antiquity 38 3–44.
García Guinea, M. A. (1975) El Mesolítico en Cantabria. In García Guinea, M. A., and Puente, M. A. (eds.),La Prehistoria en la Cornisa Cantábrica, Institución Cultural de Cantabria, Santander, pp. 177–197.
Geddes, D., Carrière, I., and Robert, M. (1985). La Balma Margineda: Animaux Sauvages et animaux domestiques.Histoire et Archéologie 96 28–30.
Geddes, D., Guilaine, J., Coularou, J., LeGall, O., and Martzluff (1989). Postglacial environments, settlement and subsistence in the Pyrenees: The Balma Margineda, Andorra. In Bonsall, C. (ed.),The Mesolithic in Europe, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, pp. 561–571.
González Morales, M. R. (1982). El Asturiense y Otras Culturas Locales.Monografías del Centro de Investigación y Museo de Altamira, 7, Santander.
González Morales, M. (1990). La prehistoria de las Marismas.Cuadernos de Trasmiera 2 13–28.
González Sainz, C. (1989).El Magdaleniense Superior-Final de la Region Cantábrica, Tantin, Santander.
Gordon, B. (1988). Of Men and Reindeer Herds in French Magdalenian Prehistory,British Archaeological Reports S390.
Guilaine, J. (1985). La Balma Margineda: Aux origines du peuple andorran.Histoire et Archéologie 96 10–15.
Jochim, M. (1987). Late Pleistocene refugia in western Europe. In Soffer, O. (ed.),The Pleistocene Old World, Plenum, New York, pp. 317–331.
Klein, G., Wolf, C., Freeman, L., and Allwarden, K. (1981). The use of dental crown heights for constructing age profiles of red deer and similar species in archaeological samples.Journal of Archaeological Science 8 1–31.
Leroi-Gourhan, Arl., and Renault-Miskovsky, J. (1977). La palynologie appliquée à l'archéologie. In Laville, H., and Renault-Miskovsky, J. (eds.), Approche Ecologique de l'Homme Fossile.Supplément au Bulletin de l'Association Française pour l'Etude du Quaternaie 47 36–48.
Menéndez de la Hoz, M., Straus, L., and Clark, G. (1986). The icthyology of La Riera Cave. In Straus, L. G., and Clark, G. A. (eds.), La Riera Cave,Anthropological Research Papers 36 185–188.
Mourer-Chauviré, C. (1975).Les Oiseaux du Pleistocène moyen et supérieur de France, Ph.D. thesis, Université de Lyon I, Lyon.
Mourer-Chauviré, C. (1984). La faune de la grotte du Bois du Cantet.Munibe 36 45–47.
Ortea, J. A. (1986). The malacology of La Riera Cave. In Straus, L. G., and Clark, G. A. (eds.), La Riera Cave,Anthropological Research Papers 36 289–298.
Renault-Miskovsky, J., and Leroi-Gourhan, Arl. (1981).fr|Palynologie et archéologie: nouveaux résultats, du Paléolithique supérieur au Mésolithique.Bulletin de l'Association Française pour l'Etude du Quaternaire 1981(3–4): 121–128.
Rigaud, J. Ph. (1984). Circonscription d'Aquitaine.Gallia Préhistoire 27 269–306.
Saint-Périer, R. Comte de (1920). Les migrations des tribus magdaléniennes des Pyrénées.Revue Anthropologique 30 136–141.
Simonnet, R. (1981). Carte des gîtes à silex des Pré-Pyrénées. In Clottes, J. (ed.),La Préhistoire du Quercy dans le Contexte de Midi-Pyrénées, Société Préhistorique Française, Paris, pp. 308–323.
Simonnet, R. (1985). Le silex du Magdalénien final de la grotte des Eglises dans le Bassin de Tarascon-sur-Ariège.Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique de l'Ariège 40 71–97.
Straus, L. G. (1977). Of deerslayers and mountain men: Paleolithic faunal exploitation in Cantabrian Spain. In Binford, L. R. (ed.),For Theory Building in Archaeology, Academic Press, New York, pp. 41–47.
Straus, L. G. (1979). Mesolithic adaptations along the northern coast of Spain.Quaternaria 21 305–327.
Straus, L. G. (1983a). From Mousterian to Magdalenian: cultural evolution viewed from Vasco-Cantabrian Spain and Pyrenean France. In Trinkaus, E. (ed.), The Mousterian Legacy,British Archaeological Reports S164 73–111.
Straus, L. G. (1983b). Terminal Pleistocene faunal exploitation in Cantabria and Gascony. In Clutton-Brock, J., and Grigson, C. (eds.), Animals and Archaeology: Hunters and Their Prey,British Archaeological Reports S163 209–225.
Straus, L. G. (1985). Chronostratigraphy of the Pleistocene-Holocene transition: The Azilian problem in the Franco-Cantabrian region.Palaeohistoria 27 89–122.
Straus, L. G. (1986). The end of the Paleolithic in Cantabria and Gascony. In Straus, L. G. (ed.), The End of the Paleolithic in the Old World,British Archaeological Reports S284 81–116.
Straus, L. G. (1987a). Upper Paleolithic ibex hunting in SW Europe.Journal of Archaeological Science 14 163–178.
Straus, L. G. (1987b). Paradigm lost: A personal view of the current state of Upper Paleolithic research.Helinium 27 157–171.
Straus, L. G. (1990). L'Abri Dufaure: Un Gisement Tardiglaciaire en Gascogne.Mémoires de la Société Préhistorique Française, Paris (in press).
Straus, L. G., Akoshima, K., Petraglia, M. D., and Séronie-Vivien, M. (1988). Terminal Pleistocene adaptations in Pyrenean France: The nature and role of the Abri Dufaure site.World Archaeology 19 328–348.
Straus, L. G., and Clark, G. A. (1983). Further reflections on adaptive change in Cantabrian prehistory. In Bailey, G. N. (ed.),Hunter-Gatherer Economy in Prehistory, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 165–166.
Straus, L. G., and Clark, G. A. (1986). La Riera Cave: Stone Age Hunter-Gatherer Adaptations in Northern Spain.Anthropological Research Papers 36.
Straus, L. G., and Spiess, A. (1985). Le Magdalénien final de l'Abri Dufaure: un apérçu de la chronologie et de la saison d'habitation humaine.Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique de l'Ariège 40 169–184.
Straus, L. G., Clark, G. A., Altuna, J., and Ortea, J. A. (1980). Ice Age subsistence in northern Spain.Scientific American 242(6): 142–152.
Ters, M. (1973). Les variations du niveau marin de puis 10000 ans, le long du littoral atlantique français. InLe Quaternaire: Géodynamique, Stratigraphie et Environment, CNRS, Paris, pp. 114–135.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Straus, L.G. Epipaleolithic and Mesolithic adaptations in Cantabrian Spain and Pyrenean France. J World Prehist 5, 83–104 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00974733
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00974733