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Seasonality of Human Occupations in El Mirón Cave: Late Upper Paleolithic Hunter-Gatherer Settlement-Subsistence Systems in Cantabrian Spain

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Abstract

We revisit the models of Upper Paleolithic forager settlement-subsistence systems for the coastal greater Cantabrian region of Spain proposed by K.W. Butzer and L.G. Straus in the 1980s, with a significant new seasonality dataset from El Mirón Cave in Cantabria (northern Atlantic Iberia). This large, strategically located site contains a nearly complete, archeologically rich, and well-studied stratigraphic sequence from the late Middle Paleolithic to the Bronze Age. Based on the seasonality data obtained from the most hunted taxa, red deer (Cervus elaphus) and ibex (Capra ibex/pyrenaica), the diachronic human occupation of the site is discussed. Visits to the cave during the Mousterian and early Upper Paleolithic were fleeting, with an uptick in use of the site during the Solutrean, possibly as a short-term hunting camp during the cool-cold seasons. Throughout the Initial and Lower Magdalenian, this physically and locationally advantageous site in the montane interior was often occupied as a long-term, multifunctional, residential base camp but, at other times, during the cold months of the year, as a minor, short-term, specialized hunting bivouac. A clear shift in the cave’s use to mainly the warm months in the Middle and Upper Magdalenian and Azilian is observed. The results indicate that major residential base camps were not only located in or strictly adjacent to the coastal zone as was argued a quarter-century ago. These findings confirm that the montane interior of Cantabrian Spain—only 25–50 km from the Last Glacial shore—was an integral part of band territories for both logistical and residential purposes.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the editors and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions and criticism.

Funding

Excavations in El Mirón Cave, directed by LGS and MRGM, were authorized and partially funded by the Gobierno de Cantabria. Additional funding was from the U.S. National Science Foundation, Fundación M. Botín, L.S.B.Leakey Foundation, Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia, National Geographic Society, University of New Mexico, UNM Foundation Stone Age Research Fund (J. and R. Auel, principal donors). MC’s analysis of the level 119.2 and 119 archaeofaunas was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (2016223837). ELJ’s analysis of the level 115 archaeofaunas was supported by a Fulbright Scholar Award to Spain and by a UNM Latin American and Iberian Institute Field Research Grant. This research by ABMA and JMG was funded by the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (grant agreement No. 818299‐SUBSILIENCE project (https://www.subsilience.eu) and the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (ABRUPT ‐ HAR2017‐84997‐P) to ABMA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Grupo I+D+I EvoAdapta, Depto. de Ciencias Históricas, Universidad de Cantabria, 39005, Santander, Spain

    Ana B. Marín-Arroyo, Jeanne Marie Geiling & Lawrence Guy Straus

  2. Department of Anthropology, MSC01 1040, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131-0001, USA

    Emily Lena Jones, Milena Carvalho & Lawrence Guy Straus

  3. Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and Evolution of Human Behaviour, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal

    Milena Carvalho

  4. Instituto Internacional de Investigaciones Prehistóricas de Cantabria (IIIPC), Universidad de Cantabria - Gobierno de Cantabria, Santander, Spain

    Manuel R. González Morales

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  1. Ana B. Marín-Arroyo
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Contributions

The faunal analyses were conducted by ABMA, JMG, ELJ, and MC. The text was drafted by LGS and edited by ELJ, MC, MRGM, and especially ABMA. The map, plan, and synthetic stratigraphy were drafted by Ronald Stauber and LGS. The seasonality pie charts were drafted by Marco Vidal Cordasco and ABMA. The chrono-climatic chart was drafted by Lucía Agudo Perez and ABMA. Joaquín Eguizabal, cave art guide in Ramales, kindly provided information on salmon behavior and fishing in the Asón based on the knowledge of local fishermen and his own lifelong experience.

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Correspondence to Lawrence Guy Straus.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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The faunal collections are curated in the Museo de Prehistoria y Arqueología de Cantabria, in Santander, Spain.

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Marín-Arroyo, A.B., Geiling, J.M., Jones, E.L. et al. Seasonality of Human Occupations in El Mirón Cave: Late Upper Paleolithic Hunter-Gatherer Settlement-Subsistence Systems in Cantabrian Spain. J Paleo Arch 6, 7 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41982-022-00134-8

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