Geographically Broad Social Networks in Southwest Europe during the Solutrean: The Origin of Siliceous Rocks Exploited at Peña Capón (Central Spain)

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Local and/or Exotic Interactions: Symbols, Materials, and Societies" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Solutrean of southwest Europe (∼25,000–20,000 cal BP) is an outstanding case for studying human mobility and social networks within harsh environmental conditions, given its coincidence with the Last Glacial Maximum. However, little is known about these topics in the inland territories of the Iberian Peninsula. Although it was assumed that humans avoided the Iberian hinterland during the coldest periods of the Last Glacial, recent research has demonstrated that some interior regions were recurrently settled. Thus, investigating networks connecting these regions with other areas is essential for understanding population dynamics and human-environment interactions. We present results on chert sourcing and mobility patterns of hunter-gatherers occupying the Peña Capón rock shelter (central Spain) during the Solutrean. We conducted macroscopic, petrographic, and geochemical analyses by means of LA-ICP-MS. The statistical treatment of data has allowed connecting different archaeological chert types with a specific geological source. Then, we used GIS tools to establish the least cost routes potentially connecting the archaeological site with the rock sources. Results show that siliceous rocks exploited at Peña Capón come from a wide variety of regions, including areas well beyond inland Iberia, thus demonstrating the existence of long-distance contacts during the LGM.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Local and/or Exotic Interactions: Symbols, Materials, and Societies   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39386.0