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Lithic taphonomy and the use of the spatial information: assessing Palaeolithic sequence of Cova de les Cendres (Teulada-Moraira, Spain)

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Abstract

The formation processes of archaeological deposits determine the potential information that could be obtained in a site, so they influence the interpretations about past societies. This paper presents the lithic taphonomy study of the Aurignacian, Gravettian and Solutrean levels of Cova de les Cendres. For this purpose, lithic refits and typological characteristics of the lithic industry are analysed in statistical and spatial terms. The use of density maps of refitting connection lines is an innovative procedure that stands out in this study. Most of the connections are intra-level and long vertical connections are very scarce. In addition, lithic morphotypes characteristic of each period show a coherent archaeostratigraphical distribution. Results suggest that most of the levels preserve some degree of integrity. Furthermore, the post-depositional alterations had a deeper impact horizontally, whereas their influence in the vertical sense is not that deep. The spatial analysis shows vertical and horizontal variations throughout the sequence, highlighting spatial information as an essential aspect to reach a complete image of the deposits in these critical analyses. This work underscores the necessity to extend these taphonomic studies to other Upper Palaeolithic sequences and cave contexts to make more accurate interpretations about cultural evolution.

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Notes

  1. Geographical coordinates:

    38°41′00.8"N

    0°08′57.8"E

    DMS coordinates for the Moraira headland, where archaeological site of Cova de les Cendres is located, were provided by Google Maps.

  2. The two connections of level XVII were not included because of the extremely wide spatial error margin of their refitted pieces.

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Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Prof. Valentín Villaverde and Dr. Carmen M. Martínez Varea for their proofreading of the first draft of this work and their useful comments. I would like to thank also Drs. Mercè Bergadà, Ignacio de la Torre, Thierry Aubry, Jean-Guillaume Bordes, Mathieu Langlais, Emili Aura and Ernestina Badal for their comments and fruitful discussions. I am also grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their insightful observations and suggestions.

Funding

Archaeological fieldwork and research at Cova de les Cendres was funded by the Spanish Ministerio de la Ciencia e Innovación (HAR2011-24978, HAR2014-52671-P and HAR2017-85153P) and by the Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEOII/2013/016 and PROMETEO/2017/060). The research and writing of this article were supported by a predoctoral grant (Ayuda para contratos predoctorales para la formación de doctores BES-2015–075108) from Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad to Miguel Ángel Bel.

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    Miguel Ángel Bel

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Bel, M.Á. Lithic taphonomy and the use of the spatial information: assessing Palaeolithic sequence of Cova de les Cendres (Teulada-Moraira, Spain). Archaeol Anthropol Sci 14, 173 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-022-01642-y

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