Refitting bones: spatial relationships between activity areas at the Abric Romaní Level M (Barcelona, Spain)

Abstract

Studies on spatial settlement patterns have shed important light on Neanderthal intra-site behavior. Spatial analysis of the human occupations through bone and lithic refitting has contributed to the reconstruction of their settlements, offering temporal interpretations and reconstructions of their activities. Often archaeological units are a consequence of an undetermined number of events, overlapped activities and/or accumulations produced by different taphonomical agents, involving in turn various post-depositional processes. Strict behavioral conclusions may only be valid at sites with a simple taphonomic history; however, biological and non-biological processes seem to alter the most of faunal sets after hominin activity involving even the destruction of some items. The result is a palimpsest that can lead to confusing and mixed events of different nature and independent activities. The deposit of the Abric Romaní site (Capellades, Spain), dated to MIS 3-5, was generated by a sequence of sterile travertine platforms of quick formation, among which silty and sandy units containing evidence of human occupations are located. These exceptional geological conditions allow us to isolate anthropogenic units along the sedimentary sequence. Spatial analysis and bone refits from Level M have shown a highly complex occupational organization. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the knowledge of Neanderthal occupations, suggesting that the inclusion of bone refits in the studies developed in the archaeological sites is a fundamental tool to reconstruct the social and spatial organization patterns.