Reducción y gestión volumétrica: aproximación a la variabilidad y evolución de las dinámicas de explotación durante el Pleistoceno inferior y medio europeo, a través de los conjuntos de Gran Dolina y Galería (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos) y de El Barranc de la Boella (La Canonja, Tarragona)

Identifier:  TDX:3822

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TDX3822

Authors:  Lombao Vázquez, Diego

Abstract:
This PhD focuses on the study of the variability of knapping strategies and their diachronic evolution during the Early and Middle Pleistocene in the European subcontinent, through the combination of technological and reduction analyses. To do this, a new methodological approach has been developed in order to accurately estimate the volume extracted from cores as a result of knapping. Based on the data provided by the reduction analysis and the definition of the different volumetric structures of exploitation, the operative field of the core assemblages from Gran Dolina (units TD6 and TD10), Galería (units GII and GIII) and El Barranc de la Boella (Cala 1, La Mina and El Forn) has been reconstructed. This double approach allows to infer some of the technological behaviours and changes in the exploitation dynamics in relation to the functional, occupational and environmental characteristics (raw material’s availability and characteristics) of each assemblage. Thus, the knapping strategies are characterised by an adaptation to the lithological characteristics and circumstances of each knapping context in TD6.2, with more effective volumetric management in the El Barranc de la Boella assemblages and in the Gran Dolina TD10 and Galería sequences. In addition, a more complete view of the dynamics of exploitation is offered by addressing both the synchronic and diachronic variability of knapping strategies on a broader spatial scale - the European subcontinent - and in terms of the specific problematics of each assemblage. This PhD demonstrates the usefulness of this type of approach and represents a first step in the construction of a new referential framework in the study of technology through reduction.