Dr. Ana Belén Marín Arroyo FUNDING: Basque Government (Spain) SUPERVISOR: Dr. Robert Foley |
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PROJECT TITLE: Hunting strategies during Middle/Early Upper Palaeolithic transition. Implications in human species competition and success.
RESEARCH INTEREST
My interest in the Middle/Upper Palaeolithic transition concerns the causes of the progressive replacement of Neanderthals by modern humans groups in Europe. This is still a controversial issue and a field of wide interest, as it involves questions about human evolution and the very future of our species. Climate change, resources shortage, unsustainable growth, species competition, overexploitation, technology ownership are terms usually heard nowadays and also applied to this period of human prehistory.
The subsistence strategies are a central basis of my study, as they are the reflection of each species survivorship skill in the context of biodiversity and evolution. The aim of this project is to characterize the animal subsistence strategies, represented by the macromammal faunal assemblages recovered at Palaeolithic sites, carried out by the last Neanderthals and the first Homo sapiens, in order to see behavioural differences between both species.
The methodology applied aims for the following objectives:
1. To distinguish the economic strategies adopted by hunter-gatherers groups (skeletal representation patterns, prey transport, catchment areas, etc.).
2. To check whether the assemblage is anthropogenic or natural. Type of acquisition: primary or secondary. Detailed taphonomical analysis: cortical surfaces, bone density, utility index or spatial distribution.
3. To assess the influence of the resource availability in the subsistence economy of each human group. Relationship between diet and paleoenvironment, taking into account the available data of the changes in the abiotic conditions.
4. To study the differences or similarities in the capture, processing, storing and exploitation of carcasses by humans.
5. To estimate the effect of the topography in game decisions, assessing the extent and biological features of the catchment areas in each site and period.
6. To analyze changes in the spatial organization of the settlements
7. To determine the evolution thorough time of the functionality and seasonality of sites and the relationship with their surroundings, so that the patterns of human mobility and their control of the territory can be identified.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Marín Arroyo, A. B. & González Morales, M.R. 2007. La Fragua Cave, a seasonal hunting camp in the lower Asón valley (Cantabria, Spain) at the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. Anthropozoologica 42 (1), 61-84. [PDF file right-click to download]
Marín Arroyo, A.B., Landete, D., Vidal, G., Seva, R., González Morales, M. & Straus, L.G. 2008. Archaeological implications of human-derived manganese coatings: a study of blackened bones in El Mirón Cave, Cantabrian Spain. Journal of Archaeological Science 35 (3): 801-813. [read more right-click to download]
Marín Arroyo, A.B. 2008. Patrones de movilidad y control del territorio en el Cantábrico Oriental durante el Tardiglacial. Trabajos de Prehistoria 65 (1): 29-45. [read more]
Marín Arroyo, A.B. 2008. El yacimiento paleolítico de la Cueva del Mirón: resultados de la aplicación de nuevas metodologías arqueozoológicas. In: C. Díez (ED.) Zooarqueología hoy. Encuentros Hispano-Argentinos. Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Burgos. Burgos: 69-87. [PDF file right-click to download]
Marín, A.B.., Fosse, P. & Vigne, J-D. 2009. Probable evidences of bone accumulation by Pleistocene bearded vulture at the archaeological site of El Mirón Cave (Spain). Journal of Archaeological Science 36, 284-296. [read more right-click to download]
Marín Arroyo, A.B. 2009. The use of Optimal Foraging Theory to estimate Late Glacial site catchment areas from a central place. The case of eastern Cantabria, Spain. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology doi:10.1016/j.jaa.2008.11.001 [read more right-click to download]
Marín Arroyo, A.B. 2009. Assessing what lies beneath the spatial distribution of a zooarchaeological record. The use of GIS and spatial correlations at El Mirón Cave (Spain). Archaeometry doi: 10.1111/j.1475-4754.2008.00411.x [read more right-click to download]
Marín Arroyo, A.B. In press.The human use of the montane zone of Cantabrian Spain during the Late Glacial: faunal evidence from El Mirón Cave. Journal of Anthropological Research 65 (1).
Marín Arroyo, A.B. In press. A practical comparative study of the available analytic techniques for skeletal part profile interpretation at El Mirón Cave (Cantabria, Spain). Archaeofauna 18.
