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Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. Fieldwork at Atapuerca is supported by Junta de Castilla y Leon and Fundacion Atapuerca. This work has been possible thanks to PGC2018-093925-B-C32 and PID2021-122355NB-C32 funded by MCIN/AEI/https://doi.org/10.13039/501100011033, by "ERDF A way of making Europe" to the Agency for Management of University and Research Grants of Generalitat de Catalunya SGR2021-01239 and SGR2021-01237), and to Universitat Rovira i Virgili (2022PFR-URV-64). Fieldwork and research were also funded by the Institut Catala de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolucio Social (IPHES-CERCA), which has received financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the "Maria de Maeztu" program for Units of Excellence (CEX2019-000945-M). This research is part of the ERC 101052653 project. The contribution of L. Asryan is supported by a MSCA Individual Fellowship (MSCA-IF-2020-101028232 BaTEx). The contribution of A. Bargallo is supported by a Juan de la Cierva Incorporacion. The contribution of J.L. Fernandez-Marchena is supported by a contract APOSTD (CIAPOS/2022/022), funded by Generalitat Valenciana-FSE. The contribution of P. Garcia-Medrano is supported by a Beatriu de Pinos MSCA-COFUND (AGAUR). The contribution of A. de Lombera-Hermida is supported by the Spanish Ministry of Universities and Next-Generation EU (Margarita Salas Program). The contribution of A. Arroyo, A. Rodriguez-Hidalgo, and G.C. Ye & scedil;ilova is supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the "Maria de Maeztu" (CEX2019-000945-M).

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Intriguing Occupations at Gran Dolina (Atapuerca, Spain): the Acheulean Subunits TD10.3 and TD10.4

Publicated to:Journal Of Paleolithic Archaeology. 7 (1): 6- - 2024-03-02 7(1), DOI: 10.1007/s41982-024-00171-5

Authors: Mosquera, Marina; Olle, Andreu; Saladie, Palmira; Arroyo, Adrian; Asryan, Lena; Bargallo, Amelia; de Lombera-Hermida, Arturo; Fernandez-Marchena, Juan Luis; Garcia-Medrano, Paula; Lombao, Diego; Rodriguez-Hidalgo, Antonio; Soto, Maria; Vallverdu, Josep; Arteaga-Brieba, Andion; Villalobos, Javier; Yesilova, Gorkem-Cenk; Carbonell, Eudald

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Abstract

This paper presents the zooarchaeological, technological, use-wear, and spatial analyses of the earliest sedimentary subunits of TD10 (TD10.3 and TD10.4) of the Gran Dolina site (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain), dated to c. 400 ka. Both units have yielded Acheulean technology, with occupational models characterized by the superimposition of multiple and independent events paired with short, sporadic occupations. Subunits TD10.3 and TD10.4 formed during a period in which the cave was largely reopened after a temporary closure. This period of reopening is evidenced by several blocks that fell from the ceiling and walls. Fifty-seven groups of refits and anthropic conjoins, of which 43 resulted from deliberate hominin activity, confirm the low disturbance of the deposits. Contrary to TD10.4, TD10.3 shows good preservation of faunal remains, although anthropogenic modifications are very scarce. Technologically, both deposits represent well-developed Acheulean assemblages, with high proportions of large-shaped tools and percussive material, which place this area among those that have yielded the most evidence of this type among all the excavated Atapuerca sites. The question of why these subunits contain so many hammerstones, manuports, and large tools associated with faunal remains that have been so scarcely modified is discussed based on data from spatial, technical, and use-wear analyses, which have identified butchery activities, and for the first time in the Pleistocene Atapuerca record, borer elements and possible thrusting stone spear tips. Furthermore, the occupational and technological characteristics of these subunits were compared with other western European archaeological sites, including the nearby site of Galeria, with which a broad correlation can be made.

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