Maria Soto
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Departamento de Prehistoria y Arqueología, Department Member
- X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) Spectroscopy, XRD Crystallography, Experimental Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Geoarchaeology, Palaeolithic Archaeology, and 19 moreMesolithic Archaeology, Settlement Patterns, Archaeological GIS, Flint (Archaeology), Archaeology, Archaeological Prospection, Lithics, Upper Paleolithic, Arqueología, Hunter-Gatherer Archaeology, Upper Palaeolithic, Lithic Raw Material Sourcing, Chert Source Provenance Studies, Lithic Technology, Prehistòria de Catalunya, Raw material Characterization (Chipped Stone), Mesolithic/Neolithic, Landscape Archaeology, and Magdalenianedit
Evidence for the symbolic behavior of Neanderthals in the use of personal ornaments is relatively scarce. Among the few ornaments documented, eagle talons, which were presumably used as pendants, are the most frequently recorded. This... more
Evidence for the symbolic behavior of Neanderthals in the use of personal ornaments is relatively scarce. Among the few ornaments documented, eagle talons, which were presumably used as pendants, are the most frequently recorded. This phenomenon appears concentrated in a specific area of southern Europe during a span of 80 thousand years. Here, we present the analysis of one eagle pedal phalange recovered from the Châtelperronian layer of Foradada Cave (Spain). Our research broadens the known geographical and temporal range of this symbolic behavior, providing the first documentation of its use among the Iberian populations, as well as of its oldest use in the peninsula. The recurrent appearance of large raptor talons throughout the Middle Paleolithic time frame, including their presence among the last Neanderthal populations, raises the question of the survival of some cultural elements of the Middle Paleolithic into the transitional Middle to Upper Paleolithic assemblages and beyond.
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Ancient starch research illuminates aspects of human ecology and economic botany that drove human evolution and cultural complexity over time, with a special emphasis on past technology, diet, health, and adaptation to changing... more
Ancient starch research illuminates aspects of human ecology and economic botany that drove human evolution and cultural complexity over time, with a special emphasis on past technology, diet, health, and adaptation to changing environments and socioeconomic systems. However, lapses in prevailing starch research demonstrate the exaggerated expectations for the field that have been generated over the last few decades. This includes an absence of explanation for the millennial-scale sur-vivability of a biochemically degradable polymer, and difficulties in establishing authenticity and taxonomic identification. This paper outlines new taphonomic and authenticity criteria to guide future work toward designing research programs that fully exploit the potential of ancient starch while considering growing demands from readers, editors, and reviewers that look for objective com-positional identification of putatively ancient starch granules.
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Aplec de treballs (ISSN 0211-9722) és una revista de divulgació històrica, etnològica, arqueològica i geogràfica de les diverses poblacions de la Conca de Barberà i rodalies. Són articles que estan escrits per estudiosos i investigadors... more
Aplec de treballs (ISSN 0211-9722) és una revista de divulgació històrica, etnològica, arqueològica i geogràfica de les diverses poblacions de la Conca de Barberà i rodalies. Són articles que estan escrits per estudiosos i investigadors de la zona. Amb aquesta tasca divulgativa, es ...
During the 10th International Symposium on Knappable Materials (ISKM) held at Barcelona (Spain) in 2015, a field trip along " The Silica Road " was organized. It included the visit to different chert outcrops located along the Montsant... more
During the 10th International Symposium on Knappable Materials (ISKM) held at Barcelona (Spain) in 2015, a field trip along " The Silica Road " was organized. It included the visit to different chert outcrops located along the Montsant Massif (Tarragona, NE Iberian Peninsula), and to the Middle Palaeolithic site of the Abric Romaní (Capellades, Barcelona), as important locations for the Prehistory of the North East of the Iberian Peninsula. This paper present some keynotes distributed to the symposium attendants. It consists on: 1) a brief geological framework of the Montsant Massif, located at the southern margin of the Catalan Central Depression. It includes the definition of their Palaeozoic to Cenozoic depositional sequence and the localization of some points of interests with panoramic views and source areas where Tertiary chert nodules were available. They represent a significant focus for the raw materials procurement of several Paleolithic occupations since Lower Pleistocene. 2) A general presentation of the Middle Palaeolithic site of the Abric Romaní site, including a brief reference of the three research phases initiated at the beginning of 20th Century, the description of its 50 meters stratigraphic sequence, where 27 archaeological levels have been identified dating since 110 to 39 ka BP, and some of the main traits of the archaeological assemblages recovered.
Raw material provenance and procurement studies are an essential research line to infer landscape exploitation, mobility dynamics and territorial management among prehistoric hunter-gatherer groups. This paper proposes an original and... more
Raw material provenance and procurement studies are an essential research line to infer landscape exploitation, mobility dynamics and territorial management among prehistoric hunter-gatherer groups. This paper proposes an original and intuitive method, the chert abundance ratio, aimed at quantifying lithic resource occurrence in the landscape while considering the geological natural factors of an area (chert-bearing formation extent, thickness, occurrence index, size and chert content). The resource availability can be statistically compared to any archaeological assemblage distribution to define the procurement strategies, whether generalist or selective, and the mobility patterns. The study area, the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula, focused in the Prades Mountains, represents a regional scenario with high chert disposal shared by several Late Upper Palaeolithic occupations. The discrimination of the procurement areas is used as a parameter for outlining the foraging radius and the territorial range, contributing to an understanding of several aspects of the settlement, such as site functions, occupation length or intensity and group size.
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The Picamoixons site is a rockshelter located in the province of Tarragona (NE Iberian Peninsula). It was object of two rescue campaigns during 1988 and 1993, which led to the recovery of a complete archaeological assemblage, including... more
The Picamoixons site is a rockshelter located in the province of Tarragona (NE Iberian Peninsula). It was object of two rescue campaigns during 1988 and 1993, which led to the recovery of a complete archaeological assemblage, including stone tools as well as faunal and portable art remains that date the occupation to the 14 th to 11 th millennium BP (calibrated). This study involves a petrographic characterisation of the stone-tool assemblage in order to establish: 1) the procurement areas, 2) the raw materials management strategies and 3) the mobility radius and territorial sizes of the hunter-gatherers groups that occupied the site. The method applied comprises in a multiscale analysis that includes systematic prospection, the petrographic characterisation of geological and archaeological samples, an analysis of the chert types represented in the knapping sequence, and the definition of the mobility axes and areas frequented according to lithic procurement. A petrographic analysis of the chert in the prospected area led to the definition of nine macroscopic varieties related to five types (Vilaplana, Morera, Maset, Vilella and Tossa cherts), related to Lower and Upper Muschelkalk (Triassic), Lutetian, Bartonian (Palaeocene) and Sannonian (Oligocene) deposits.The study of the knapping sequences indicates the main exploitation of Bartonian cherts (Tossa type), and the use of Lutetian cherts (Maset and Morera types) for configuring retouched tools. The exploitation of the remaining raw material types identified is considered sporadic and opportunistic.Defining the procurement areas enabled the mobility radius to be assessed as between 3 and 30 km, highlighting the importance of the fluvial basins as natural movement pathways. The results indicate that the main procurement territory was 16 km2 in area, associable with a forager radius. The most remote procurement distances suggest a maximum exploitation area of 260 km2, defining an intra-regional range. This range presents parallelisms with various contemporaneous hunter-gatherers groups in Western Europe, suggesting a progressive mobility reduction dynamic during the Late Pleistocene-Initial Holocene.
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This work attempts to link two primary areas of focus in lithic technology studies today: shape and reduction analyses. We set out to determine whether a correlation could be found between tool shape and reduction stage in order to look... more
This work attempts to link two primary areas of focus in lithic technology studies today: shape and reduction analyses. We set out to determine whether a correlation could be found between tool shape and reduction stage in order to look for differences between different mobility scenarios and to test the strength of classical typological classifications based on the shape of the retouched segments of tools. Our study was conducted using materials from two culturally different sites, one dating to the Late Upper Paleolithic and the other to the Early Neolithic and our focus was on a single common tool class, endscrapers. Both sites are located in the same region, meaning that the hominins that inhabited them had the same opportunities for procuring locally abundant lithic raw materials. Geometric morphometrics and 3D-based reduction analyses were performed on the tools, and shape and reduction variables were cross-referenced in the search for any existing correlation between the two. Nomadic Late Upper Paleolithic groups exhibit a highly expedient tool management strategy, without shape maintenance, and considerable correlation was found between tool shape and reduction stage. Meanwhile, Early Neolithic groups left behind a curated assemblage, exhibiting shape maintenance and great reduction intensity. In this case, shape was found to be independent of reduction. Finally, we link these behaviors to different mobility strategies and raw-material transport costs, and consider the validity of exclusively typological approaches.