El rol de los homininos en la formación de conjuntos arqueo-paleontológicos al aire libre: la Mina y el Forn (Barranc de la Boella, la Canonja, Tarragona) y Torralba (Torralba del Moral, Soria)

Identificador:  TDX:2848

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TDX2848

Autores:  Pineda Alcalá, Antonio

Resumen:
The assemblages studied in this doctoral thesis are from la Mina and el Forn, in the Barranc de la Boella, and Torralba. These are open-air sites, formed in fluvial-deltaic contexts. In the archaeological record, it is common to find accumulations formed in open-air sedimentary deposits. These deposits may contain evidence of the presence of hominins and carnivores. Traditionally, this evidence has been used to suggest that hominins and carnivores were the main accumulating and modifying agents of these assemblages. Zooarchaeological and taphonomics methods were used in order to establish the role of hominins and carnivores in the three sites under study. The poor conservation of the bone surfaces has affected the preservation of superficial anthropogenic taphonomic modifications. We have used anatomical profiles to characterize the nature of the bone accumulations and to identify the role of hominin in its formation and modification. In addition, we have tried to understand how these accumulations are integrated into the macro-regional space in which these populations undertook their activities. These sites should be understood as transit sites, not necessarily sites of activity, which would form part of the space to which these groups belonged and in which they carried out all their activities. The applied analyses have demonstrated contexts of differing levels of competition inferred in the assemblages of the Barranc de la Boella. The observed tendency points to a greater presence of hominins in the levels of high inferred competition, in which carnivore activity is also greater. In Torralba, on the other hand, contexts of low and moderate competition with scarce anthropic activity have been documented. Evidence of animal carcass processing is scarce. No evidence has been uncovered that would attribute an anthropic origin to these accumulations, which would have resulted from independent events in which the role of the hominins was related to the practices of foraging in these territories. The main, although possibly not the only, factor determining the presence of hominins in a specific space would be the presence of resources of interest. The risk of carnivore predation does not seem to have been a deterrent. These observations attest to the capabilities of hominin to adapt to different ecosystems.