Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12136/2885
Title: Low-cost technologies in a rich ecological context: Hotel California open-air site at Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain
Authors: Santamaría, Marta
Arnold, Lee J.
Benito-Calvo, Alfonso
Demuro, Martina
Carbonell, Eudald
Keywords: Expedient technology;Lithic technology;Neanderthals;Open‐air sites;Sierra de Atapuerca
Issue Date: Jul-2023
Publisher: Wiley
Citation: Journal of Quaternary Science, 2023, 38(5), 658-684
Abstract: Hotel California is part of a network of open-air Neanderthal sites located in the Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain). In this study, we examine the technology of the lithic assemblages recovered from this site's archaeological levels 3 to 7, which are characterised by the use of local raw materials, non-hierarchical centripetal exploitation systems, systematic production of flakes and few retouched items. This type of expedient technology is repeated throughout the entire sequence, which spans Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 3 to 4. Through a comparison with the technocomplexes and occupation histories of surrounding sites – including a re-evaluation of the published chronology for the nearby site of Fuente Mudarra, which is now dated exclusively to MIS 5 – we examine whether the detected pattern is applicable to the rest of the Atapuerca Mousterian record and if this expedient behaviour has equivalents in other sites in the region. Our findings show that the lithic procurement, exploitation and configuration strategies employed at the Sierra de Atapuerca open-air sites were constant over broad time periods spanning MIS 5 to 3, in contrast to the technological sequences observed at other nearby sites on the Northern Iberian Plateau. The recurrent settlement of these open-air Neanderthal sites over tens of thousands of years and the consistent use of expedient technologies during different occupation periods is likely attributable to the rich ecological context of the Sierra de Atapuerca environs.
URI: https://cir.cenieh.es/handle/20.500.12136/2885
ISSN: 0267-8179
1099-1417
DOI: 10.1002/jqs.3501
Editor version: https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3501
Type: Article
Appears in Collections:Datación por Luminiscencia
Geocronología y Geología



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