Estudio funcional de los conjuntos líticos musterienses procedentes de los yacimientos de Galería de las Estatuas (sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos) y Abrigo de Navalmaíllo (Pinilla del Valle, Madrid)

Resumen

Neanderthals are an extinct human species that lived between 300,000 and 28,000 years ago around. The spatial framework they occupied was mainly Europe, from the southernmost point of the Iberian Peninsula, to the northernmost part of the continent, including Siberia, part of Asia and the Middle East. Neanderthals are the best-known fossil human species to date, and their remains have attracted the attention of scientific community. Currently, a great amount of information about their physical features, technological skills and cognitive and symbolic behaviour is available. Through the functional analysis of their lithic industry, it is also possible to deduce their economic and social dynamics and to interpret their interaction with the natural environment that inhabited. During this dissertation, a functional study of two Mousterian lithic assemblages from sites located in the interior of the Iberian Peninsula was conducted: Galería de las Estatuas (sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos), with a chronology between 70,000 and 112,000 years ago; and Abrigo de Navalmaíllo (Pinilla del Valle, Madrid), with to dates of 71,000 and 77,000 years ago. In order to carry out a functional study as precise as possible, the raw materials identified in both lithic assemblages were characterised through macroscopic and petrographic analysis, and Computed Tomography Scan (CT Scan). Therefore, to create a use-wear experimental collection with similar archaeological materials has been possible. To develop this reference collection, activities directly related to the sites and the Neanderthals who occupied them were conducted. Thus, work on wood in different states, processing of animal carcasses and work on hide were carried out. Traceological results obtained from Galería de las Estatuas lithic assemblage indicate Neanderthals used some of the tools in cutting and scraping activities. However, due to the postdepositional alterations identified in a large part of the lithic assemblage, the interpretation of specific worked materials has been a complex task. With the exception of some items with usewear related with hard materials, or even the processing of animal carcasses, the most of tools have provided information on uses of indeterminate origin. On the other hand, the microwear analysis of Abrigo de Navalmaíllo lithic industry indicates that, on level F, cutting and scraping activities over hard materials, such as wood, or the processing of animal carcasses from medium and large mammals, were developed. Microwear results from a smaller sample, which is isolated from level F, seems to restrict the tools use to scraping on wood. Generally, the microwear state of preservation of Abrigo de Navalmaíllo lithic assemblage made in quartz, is optimal, with very few superficial alterations. To conclude, a methodological approach to experimental use-wear quantification through Laser Scanning Confocal Microscopy (LSCM) has been developed. This technique allows the threedimensional measurement of the tools topography and the obtaining of roughness parameters. For this study, flint flakes have been used on wood working and butchering activities, with the aim of producing micropolishes for their quantitative characterisation. Thus, through the statistical analysis of the roughness parameters, it has been concluded that a quantitative differentiation between wood micropolishes and the natural surface of the same items used, as well as between the butchering micropolishes and the natural surface of the same pieces used, is possible. Finally, the comparison between wood micropolishes and butchering ones indicates that a quantitative differentiation of both altered surfaces is also possible.