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- Initial and Lower Magdalenian Large Mammal Faunas and Human Subsistence at El Mirón Cave (Cantabria, Spain)Publication . Carvalho, Milena; Jones, Emily Lena; Marín-Arroyo, Ana B.; Geiling, Jeanne Marie; Straus, Lawrence Guy; González Morales, Manuel R.In late Upper Paleolithic Cantabrian Spain, humans developed sophisticated territorial systems, used specialized lithic and osseous tools and weapons, and were skilled hunters of red deer and ibex while also depending increasingly on supplementary food resources, as means of adapting to climatic and environmental change after the Last Glacial Maximum. However, the specific effects of the environment on hunting decisions are not well understood for the early Magdalenian. Was subsistence specialization a byproduct of environmental change, does it reflect human population pressure and preferences, or are hunting strategies dictated by the geographic setting of El Miron? In this paper, we present the results of taphonomic and zooarchaeological analyses of Initial and Lower Magdalenian faunas from levels 119.2, 119, and 115 from El Miron, a large cave site in the Ason River valley of montane eastern Cantabria. We assess the human role in accumulation of these faunal assemblages and then explore whether there were differences in subsistence between the Initial and Lower Magdalenian. The results of this study complement analyses of other Magdalenian assemblages from El Miron and support the patterns of general continuity observed for the Cantabrian Magdalenian at several other regional sites.
- Seasonality of human occupations in El Mirón cave: late upper paleolithic hunter-gatherer settlement-subsistence systems in Cantabrian SpainPublication . Marín-Arroyo, Ana B.; Geiling, Jeanne Marie; Jones, Emily Lena; Carvalho, Milena; Morales, Manuel R. González; Straus, Lawrence GuyWe 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 Mir & oacute;n 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 & mdash;only 25-50 km from the Last Glacial shore & mdash;was an integral part of band territories for both logistical and residential purposes.