Accessing Social Geographies in Late Glacial Franco-Cantabria through Personal Ornaments

Summary

Besides its rich and complex archaeological record, the Late Glacial of Franco-Cantabria is also a moment of central importance in the population history of Western Europe. This region was the principal demographic source for the post-LGM recolonization of Western Europe, and the influence of cultural trends originating here may be observed across the continent. This paper will present the goals and initial results of an ongoing research project to analyze the internal social dynamics of this critical period of prehistory. It will examine the emergent Late Glacial social geographies, understand the cultural influence exerted by various demographic centers, and chart the principal axes of interaction between these clusters. It will do so by conducting a study of the personal ornaments recovered there from the Initial-Upper Magdalenian periods (approximately 22-14,000 years ago) from the Dordogne to the Pyrenees and Cantabrian Spain. Typological and technological variation across time and space will be analyzed for indications of cultural affiliation or interaction, and stable isotope geochemistry will be used to identify the source of ornament materials, allowing access to networks of mobility and exchange, and how they change through time.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Magdalenian social geographies in Western Europe   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage