La formación de concheros en el litoral atlántico ibérico durante el mesolíticoperspectivas geoarqueológicas y micromorfológicas sobre las adaptaciones costeras de los cazadores-recolectores del holoceno

Abstract

The formation of shell middens during the Mesolithic reflects the high- reliance on marine resources and coincides with major human behavioural shifts, such as the appearance of collective burials and the origins of sedentism. Shell midden are a primal example of the human coastal adaptations to the sea-level rise after the Last Glacial Maximum. As anthropogenic constructions, resulting from manipulations and accumulation of sediments, shell middens are complex archaeological palimpsests and excellent archives of behavioural and palaeoenvironmental information, preserved in microscopic sedimentary signatures. However, we still know very few about how shell middens were formed and how its mainetenance and uses was carried out. Through a geoarchaeological analysis of shell middens in Atlantic Iberia, focused on micromorphology and microstratigraphy, a high-resolution reconstruction of site formation processes was achieved. The combination of micromorphological data with spatial and geomorphological analysis it was possible to make novel inferences on aspects of spatial organisation, symbolic behaviour concerning funerary practices and predetermined monumentality, and the influence of natural processes in the formation of these sites.