Primeras ocupaciones humanas en la Península Ibérica: Paleoeconomia en la Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos) y en la Cuenca de Guadix-Baza (Granada) durante el Pleistoceno Inferior

Identifier:  TDX:412

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TDX412

Authors:  Huguet Pàmies, Rosa

Abstract:
This entitled Ph. Doctoral: 'First human occupations in the Iberian Peninsula: Palaeoeconomy in the Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos) and the Guadix-Baza basin (Granada) during the Lower Pleistocene' arises from the interest to know the cultural development degree of the hominids, that lived in western Europe during the Lower Pleistocene, as well as their capacity to survive and reproduce themselves as a group in the territories that lived. This work began with the will to make a study of these human groups from a palaeoecologic and cultural point of view. This exposition is inspired by contextual archaeology or 'human autoecology' by Butzer (1989; 1971) and applied, from my point of view in an extraordinary form by Peters and Blumenschine (Blumenschine and Peters, 1998; Peters and Blumenschine, 1995) in their works on the hominids of Olduvai. The sites documented in the karstic system of the Sierra de Atapuerca constitute the greater concentration of archaeological deposits of the existing Lower Pleistocene in Europe, which makes this place a key point for the study of the first hominids' subsistence strategies of the continent. In a determinate territory, Sierra de Atapuerca, different archaeological sites have been documented, relatively synchronous, but with own characteristics. This shows us different hominids behaviors and activities, according to their cultural development and the conditions of the environment in which they lived. The study of the materials of Fuente Nueva-3 and Barranco León (Guadix-Baza basin) have shown us the characteristics of the establishments that the hominids made in the open air, which has allowed us to obtain a more complete vision of different landscapes where the hominids of the Lower Pleistocene moved: the cavities (Sierra de Atapuerca) and the open air (Guadix-Baza basin). The sum of both results has facilitated us the characterization of the subsistence strategies hominids in the Iberian Peninsula, as well as its comparison with other European sites of similar chronologies. Gran Dolina, Fuente Nueva-3 and Barranco Leon form corpus of data bases of this work of investigation carried out the zooarchaeology and taphonomy analyses in the bones of the different sets from Sima del Elefante. In addition, we have compiled the results obtained in different disciplines in relation to the paleobiological characteristics from hominids point of view, their technological development and the characteristics of the territories that occupied. The structure of this Ph. Doctoral is centered in three great blocks: From different points of view, the chapters that form the first block provide a context for the work made. In chapter 2, we displayed the present state in which the main subjects of debate are on the first human occupations of Europe. In chapter 3, we developed a theoretical frame of the palaeoeconomy and the subsistence strategies of the hominids. In chapter 4, we raised how the studied materials are, as well as the methods that we have used for the study of these materials. Finally, in chapter 5, we have made an exhaustive presentation of different aspects from the Lower Pleistocene. Most extensively, in the second block of this Ph. Doctoral, we displayed the results obtained in each of the studied archaeological sets. Thus, in chapters 6, 7 and 8, we displayed the results and interpretations of the sites of the Sierra de Atapuerca; whereas in chapter 9, the results and interpretations of the sites of the Guadix-Baza basin appear. The third block is made up of the final discussion and conclusions. In chapter 10, we have made the simultaneous discussion of the obtained results in the different studied sets. Thus, we have characterized the subsistence strategies of the human groups in the Iberian Peninsula. We have observed different types of orictocenosis in the sites of the Sierra de Atapuerca, as well as have observed differents kinds of human occupation in the karstic system. In this chapter, we also have compared the results obtained in this Ph. Doctoral with those of other European archaeological sets, of more chronologies more modern and similar. Finally, in chapter 11, the different conclusions obtained in this work appear in a more concise and ordered way.