Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12136/2888
Title: A symbolic Neanderthal accumulation of large herbivore crania
Authors: Baquedano, Enrique
Arsuaga, Juan Luis
Pérez-González, Alfredo
Laplana, César
Márquez, Belén
Huguet Pàmies, Rosa
Gómez-Soler, Sandra
Villaescusa, Lucía
Galindo-Pellicena, María Ángeles
Rodríguez, Laura
García-González, Rebeca
Ortega Martínez, María Cruz
Martín-Perea, David Manuel
Ortega Martínez, Ana Isabel
Hernández-Vivanco, Lucía
Ruiz-Liso, Gonzalo
Gómez-Hernanz, Juan
Alonso-Martín, José I.
Abrunhosa, Ana
Moclán, Abel
Casado, Ana I.
Vegara-Riquelme, Marina
Álvarez-Fernández, Ana
Domínguez García, Ángel C.
Álvarez-Lao, Diego
García, Nuria
Sevilla, Paloma
Blain, Hugues-Alexandre
Ruiz-Zapata, Blanca
Gil García, María José
Álvarez-Vena, Adrián
Sanz, Teresa
Quam, Rolf
Higham, Tom
Issue Date: Mar-2023
Publisher: Nature Research
Citation: Nature Human Behaviour, 2023, 7(3), 342–352
Abstract: This work examines the possible behaviour of Neanderthal groups at the Cueva Des-Cubierta (central Spain) via the analysis of the latter’s archaeological assemblage. Alongside evidence of Mousterian lithic industry, Level 3 of the cave infill was found to contain an assemblage of mammalian bone remains dominated by the crania of large ungulates, some associated with small hearths. The scarcity of post-cranial elements, teeth, mandibles and maxillae, along with evidence of anthropogenic modification of the crania (cut and percussion marks), indicates that the carcasses of the corresponding animals were initially processed outside the cave, and the crania were later brought inside. A second round of processing then took place, possibly related to the removal of the brain. The continued presence of crania throughout Level 3 indicates that this behaviour was recurrent during this level’s formation. This behaviour seems to have no subsistence-related purpose but to be more symbolic in its intent.
URI: https://cir.cenieh.es/handle/20.500.12136/2888
ISSN: 2397-3374
DOI: 10.1038/s41562-022-01503-7
Editor version: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01503-7
Type: Article
Appears in Collections:Arqueología
Series de Uranio

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