Bone refits in faunal assemblages K and M Levels of Abric Romaní site (Capellades, Spain)

Abstract

The characterization of Neanderthal groups is approached by analysing both their behaviour patterns in several environments and their spatial organization in different types of occupations. The availability of resources, its management and exploitation, as well as other variables, such as seasonality, group size, occupational length and function or interaction with the occupied space, generate different types of settlements as result of adaptive strategies in specific environments. From an archaeological perspective, bones refits have demonstrated to be one of the best guide-elements to identify settlement dynamics of the occupation spaces (site functionality, domestic areas, temporal connections and socio-spatial organization), and resolve questions related to time such as events/episodes in archaeology (palimpsests). Here we present bones refits from K and M archaeological levels of Abric Romaní site (Capellades, Spain), dated to 50-55 ka. The Abric Romaní site is one of the few examples in the Iberian Peninsula showing taphonomic studies of bones refits in the most of archeological levels. This study has allowed us to compare different anthropogenic occupational patterns, including large groups that develop long-term occupations with numerous repeated events and high spatial interaction (level M), and medium or small groups that perform less intense and short-term occupations (level K).