The Pleistocene-Holocene Transition in Cantabrian Spain: Current State of the Question

Summary

Decades of research involving new excavations, chronometric dating, artifact and faunal analyses, site distribution studies and isotopic analyses have refined our understanding of the transitions from Upper Magdalenian to Azilian and then to a variety of Mesolithic cultural traditions in the period between the Allerod and Boreal climatic phases in the classic region of Cantabrian Spain. There are indicators of both continuity in some aspects of settlement, subsistence and technology at some points along this transition, as well a clear breaks either across the board (notably in expressive behavior, a.k.a. "art") or in terms of just certain aspects of culture at different times and places. The possible relative roles of changes in environment and resources versus human demography (regional population density) are evaluated in this overview in light of the currently available record. The balance between continuity and major reorganization is explored, including the recent interest in the idea of subsistence intensification leading to over-exploitation (as summarized by F.I.Gugtierrez-Zugasti and A.B.Marin-Arroyo) in the early Holocene context of closed forest vegetation, sea level transgression and densely packed forager populations.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Global Perspectives on the Impact of Drastic Environmental Changes in Hunter-Gatherer Technologies

Keywords

Spatial Coverage