Obsidian in the Upper Palaeolithic of Iberia

Sourced from the Tyrrhenian Islands and exchanged over long distances, obsidian was used widely across prehistoric Western Europe. An obsidian core and bladelets from a newly discovered rockshelter site in south-eastern Spain, however, raised the possibility of an unrecognised mainland source of obs...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Antiquity 2021-08, Vol.95 (382), p.865-884
Main Authors: Zilhão, João, Angelucci, Diego E., Le Bourdonnec, François-Xavier, Lucena, Armando, Martín-Lerma, Ignacio, Martínez, Susana, Matias, Henrique, Villaverde, Valentín, Zapata, Josefina
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Archaeology
Archaeology and Prehistory
Caves
Charcoal
Discovery and exploration
Earth Sciences
Excavation
Excavations (Archaeology)
Geochemistry
Humanities and Social Sciences
Islands
Lithic
Methods
Obsidian
Paleolithic
Paleolithic period
Sciences of the Universe
Spain
X-ray spectroscopy
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Summary:Sourced from the Tyrrhenian Islands and exchanged over long distances, obsidian was used widely across prehistoric Western Europe. An obsidian core and bladelets from a newly discovered rockshelter site in south-eastern Spain, however, raised the possibility of an unrecognised mainland source of obsidian. EDXRF analysis of the Early Magdalenian finds from La Boja links them to a source 125km to the south-west. The artefacts were discarded during two brief activity phases at the site, indicating that obsidian procurement was integral to the technological choices of the site's users. The specificities of the technocomplex may explain the unique nature of this occurrence.
ISSN:0003-598X
1745-1744
DOI:10.15184/aqy.2021.85