Flint as raw material in prehistoric times: Cantabrian Mountain and Western Pyrenees data

Abstract

Currently, investigations about siliceous resources exploited during prehistoric times in the Cantabrian Mountain and Western Pyrenees are still scarce and, generally, they did not employ methods which go deeply into the provenance characteristics. A review of the studies of lithic resource exploitation offered by historiography indicates that the theme has been examined in a generalized way in most cases. A model with a clear difference between the Eastern and Western territory of the Cantabrian Coast was created: an area with flint and an area without flint. This model needs to be qualified, because in recent years siliceous outcrops have been discovered in zones of the Western Cantabrian Mountains (Asturias). Information from the investigations in the Cantabrian Mountains, Basque-Cantabrian Basin, and Western Pyrenees indicates diverse patterns. There is a preference for lithic raw material found near the occupations, together with the inclusion of exotic or distant flints, always of good quality, to a greater or lesser extent, according to the chronological periods and the geographical location.