Abstract

Lawrence Guy Straus, Manuel R. Gonz㌫ez Morales, and Elizabeth B. Stewart
Early Magdalenian Variability: New Evidence from El Mirón Cave, Cantabria, Spain
33 (2008) 197--218 Journal of Field Archaeology 33 (2008) 265--282

One of the most important and longstanding debates in Paleolithic prehistory is over the significance of interassemblage variability. The problem of variability among artifact assemblages pertaining to the Lower Cantabrian Magdalenian phenomenon (ca. 16,000--14,000 uncalibrated years B.P.) is much like the Mousterian facies question, but with far less international attention. Are the different assemblage types temporal, stylistic, or functional in nature, or are they merely products of the vagaries of archaeological sampling? Ongoing excavations in separate areas of the large El Mirón Cave in the Cantabrian Cordillera are yielding the same range of assemblage variability demonstrated for classic lowland coastal zone sites such as Altamira and El Juyo. Here we present a preliminary comparative analysis of the extraordinarily rich and diverse Lower Magdalenian (and Initial Magdalenian, ca. 17,000--16,000 uncalibrated years B.P.) contents of a sondage excavated in the center of the El Mirón vestibule and contribute to the empirical basis for the debate regarding the existence and significance of cultural facies versus temporal phases. We also briefly summarize post-Magdalenian data from the larger area of the mid-vestibule trench in El Mirón, highlighting evidence for the abrupt appearance of a fully-formed Neolithic lifeway at ca. 4500 CAL B.P., the earliest yet found in northern Atlantic Spain.

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