PINTO-ANACLETO (2009) - The Archaeological Site of Solana Del Zamborino-Print

8/7/2019 PINTO-ANACLETO (2009) - The Archaeological Site of Solana Del Zamborino-Print

1/9

2009 SEQS CONFERENCE, ORCE AND LUCENA, SPAIN

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE OF SOLANA DEL ZAMBORINOA ndreia PI NTO -ANA CL E TO, rea de Prehistoria I PH E S, U niversitat Rovi ra IV i rgi l i , Pl aa Imperial Tarraco 1, 43005 - Tarragona1. L O C A T I O N A N D H I ST O R Y O F T H E R E S E A R C HThe archaeological s ite of Solana del Zam borino is located on the western region of theGuadix Ba sin. It is located in the pro perty of Co rtijo Gujar Viejo, around 7 km farfrom the v i ll age of Fonelas.The si te is located at 992 m above the sea level and precisely at the boundary betweenthe depre ssion of Guadix and the begi nni ng of the cl iffs and steep areas (also calledbadlands), which is the cha racter is t ic landscape of this region of G ranada (Botel laLpez 1975).The deposi t was discovered duri ng the construct ion of a road between Hernn V allevi l l age and the C ortijo de Guj ar, which uncovered a fossi l and stone artifacts deposit.During the following yea rs, the site was visited several t ime s by fossil col lectors. In1970, Carlos Asenjo Sedan o and E duardo La o Beas, after several vis its to the s ite andthe discovery of severa l faunal rema i ns and l ithic i ndustry, contacted the Depa rtmen t ofPrehistory at the University of Granad a.Fi nal ly, given the i m portance of the fi ndi ngs, a team of researchers was o rganized,leaded by Miguel C . Botel la L pez, di rector of the excavat ion and the s tudy of thearchaeological mater ial , and J .A. Vera (Geology), J. Porta (Paleontology), and N . Sol(Pal i nology) (Botella Lp ez 1975; Botella Lpez, Porta et al . 1976) .The fi rst dig season, in 1972, was conducted in the slope of the road , 9 m 3 of materi alswere dug abov e the fer t i le levels . On ce the excava t ion area w as exposed, three sect ionswere done: two of 6x2 m and other of 5x3 m with a de pth of 4 m in al l outcrops, so intotal about 39 m 2 were dug (Botel la L pez 1975; B otel la L pez, Porta et a l . 1976;Penela 1988).I n the seco nd dig seaso n, i n 1973, withdrew the overlyi ng steri le archaeological levelsin an area about 400 m 2 , and four new sect ions were opened: one 7x3 m E-W o riented(located northeast of the surface of the excava tion), two of 6x2 m E -W oriented (para l lelto those mad e in the previous season), and one of 5x2 N-S or iented, located East of theabove, leavi ng a 1-m T-shaped core sam ple between the l ast three sections. Theexcavation was fi nished to reach about 4 m de ep above the level of l i mestone that l i mitthe archaeological deposi t (Botel la L pez 1975; B otel la L pez, Porta et a l . 1976).On 1975 Prof. Botella expanded the excavated area, diggi ng another new 27 m 2 duri ngthis year . And m ore than 58 m 2 were d ug i n the following year. Thus, i n total , about 180m 2 were d ug duri ng these four years (Martn-Pen ela 1988; Santonj a Gm ez 1992). I nthe fol lowing two dig seasons (1977-1978) there is no detai led informa t ion.2. S T R A T I GR A P H Y A N D G E O L O G IC A L C O N T E X TThe site is located in the western sector of the Guadix basi n, where two geologicalformat ions are recorded, the Guadix and the Gorafe-Hulago format ions. The GuadixFm. occupies m ost of the sector, correspon di ng to a fluvial deposit, whi le the secondcorrespo nds to a lacustri ne d eposit. The fossi l iferous levels that constitute the siterepresent a swam p-lacustr ine episode developed o n the above mater ials (Botel la L pez,Porta et al. 1976; Penela 1988).

138


2/9


The c ontext of the fi ndi ngs correspond to a smal l l ake, with wide seasonal vari ations ofwater flows (Dez Fernndez- L oman a 1992).Six stratigraphic levels were identified (A, B, C, D, E and F), of which only 3 havearchaeological remains (Botella Lpez, Porta et al. 1976). Thus, the level A (also calledLower L evel) is composed of cl ay, si l t and very f ine sands. H ere few faunal remainsand s tone industry were reco vered. Level B (also cal led C entral Level) , i s the r ichestone i n term s of faunal remai ns and stone artifacts, and it is composed of bl ack cl ays andother l ighter color, but also of sandy loam . Level C (also cal led U pper L evel) , has lessstone tools and faunal rem ai ns than the lower on es, it is com posed by cl ay, very finesands an d si lts. These three l evels correspond to an i niti al sedi mentation of fluvialorigin that gradual ly become s a lake, with an episode through local water- logging an dmo unds of ve getat ion, which h as the largest accum ulation of fauna and l ithics (BotellaLp ez, Porta et al. 1976).Level D is composed of l i mestone and seals earl ier archaeological levels. Level E iscom posed of clays with interbedded co nglomerates. Level F, is the only one whichdoesn t belong to the G uadix Formation and corresponds to the level of f il ling of thebasi n (Botella Lpez, Po rta et al . 1976).3 . P A L E O N T O L O G Y A N D T A P H O N O M YAbout 800 0 faunal rem ains were recovered, w ith a great diversi ty of herbivores , fewremains and smal l diversity of carnivores. The most abundant remains correspond tolarge bovids and horse s, fol lowed by red d eer and fal low dee r. A lso, othermega herbivores are recorded but i n a smal l number of speci men s, especi ally rhi nos andelephants (Penela 1976; Penela 1987). The rem ains of pigs , mo nkeys and hippos arevest igial (Dez Fernndez-Lom ana 1992). The com plete faunal l is t i s :

139


3/9

2009 SEQS CONFERENCE, ORCE AND LUCENA, SPAINS o r e x s p . ve l a p h uC r o c i d u r aLepus sp.Oryctolagus cf. CuniculusA l l o c r i c e t u s b u r s a e c o l o m b i e r e n s i sA r v i c o l a s a p i d u sM i c r o t u b r e c c i e n s i sApodemus c f . f l a v i c o l l is pEliomys quercinus Cf . quercinusEliomys quercinus cf. l usitanicusC a n i s c f . l u p u sL y n x c f . p a r d i n eF e l i s s y l v e s t r i s c a pP a n t h e r a ( L e o ) spelaeaEquus caballus torralbaeD i c e r o r h i n u s h e m i t o e c h u sS u s s c r o f aP a l a e o l o x o d o n a n o u u s p r i mM a m m u t h u s t r o g o n t h e r i iHippotamus sp.Cervus elaphusD a m a s p .C a p r e o l u s c a p r e o l u sB o s ( b o s ) p r i m i g e n i u s p r iB o s ( B i s o n ) p r i s c u sTable 1- The Macromam als L is t (from M art n-Penela, 1988)

Although m ost of the species belong to forest environments , the species associated withgrassl and habitats are nearly 60% of the recovered remains (Penel a 1988; DezFernndez-Lom ana 1992; Dez Fernndez-Lom ana 1993). The faunal data indicate thatthe site is m ore rece nt than the locality of Cllar-Baza I and it is earlier than othe r lateMiddle and Late Pleis tocene karst ic archae ological s ites border ing Guadix Dep ression,such as Cueva H or and Cueva de l a Carigela (Santonj a Gme z 1992).Taphonom ic s tudies by Dez Fernndez-Lomana (1992) indi cate that most of therecorded an atomical par ts mo st ly represent com plete skeletons, suggest ing that thedeath of the ani mals were di rectly on the site, and then, the autochthon ous characte r ofthe taphocenosis. Moreover, the age profi les suggest a non-selective mortal ity, withear ly access to the spoi ls. Furthermo re, the different conservat ion of the rem ains,i ndicates the existence of post- mo rtem differenti al treatmen ts that are more l i nked tonatural processes that man-m ade. The except ion is found in horse and bovid remainsthat have si mi larities in post- mortem proce sses, which may suggest the action ofhominids.4. MICROMAMALSThe set of sm al l mam mals recovered from the e xcavat ion was s tudied by Ruiz Bustos(1975, 1982) and subsequently, by C. Garca Garca (Garca Garca 1977; Garca Garca

140


4/9


and R osi no 1983) . The faunal l ist i ndicates the presenc e of Apodemus cf. flavicolis (5 8speci mens), which is found i n l arge forests environments. Furthermore, its presencesuggests a transition from a tem perate cl i mate to a cold stage (Ruiz Bustos, ToroMoyan o et al . 1982) . The othe r identified species of rodents, were Allocricetus bursae;Eliomys quercinus cf. quercinus (also recorded at Cullar-Baza I) Eliomys quercinus cf.lusitanicus; Microtus brecciensis and Arvicola sapidus. The presence o f these speciessuggests that the archaeo logical site can be place d at the end of the Mi nde l-Rissi ntergl aci al, at one stage o f the onset of cl i mate ch ange an d ecological cond itions (RuizBustos, Toro Moyan o et al. 1982). Metric com parisons with speci mens of Cllar-Baza Iare very sim ilar but neverthe less it presents charac teristics to i ncl ude them i n the seco ndhalf of the M iddle Pleistocene (Ruiz Bustos, Toro M oyano et al. 1982).5. P A L A E O E N V I R O N M E N T A L R E C O N S T R U C T I O NThe study of preferential habitats of certai n spec ies, together with the stratigraphy,sedi mentology and pa leogeography, al lowed to esti mate the paleoecological andpaleocl i matic conditions of the region at the time of forma tion of the archa eologicaldeposits (Penela 1988).Ac cording to the paleo envi ronm ental i nterpretation, i t is estimated that during thisper iod the region had a m ild and h umid cl imate, with the predom inance of large andabundant grassy flooded areas , near wooded areas (Penel a 1988; Dez Fernndez-Lom ana 1992; Dez Fernndez-Lom ana 1993). These weather condi t ions couldcorrespond to the R iss II - I II Central Europe (Penela 1988; Dez Fernndez-Lom ana1992).6. LI THI C TECHNOLOG YThe recovered l i thic assem blage, amount ing up to 1,500 pieces, was never subjected toa detailed study, hardly any sm all references in various publ ications of the site. Theused raw materi a ls are quartz, quartzite and fl i nt, in order of use. The quartz andquartzite could be found in the beds of an cient rivers of the Guadix basi n (BotellaLpe z, Porta et al . 1976; Dez Fernndez-L oma na 1992), whi le the sil iceous materialsappear to com e from both, the Sierra de Arana ( to West) and the Sierra del Mencal ( toNo rth), both further away from the archaeo logical area (Botella Lpe z, Porta et al.1976; Lpez R eyes 1998).The cho ppers as the cores are abundant (Mart nez Fernndez and Lpez R eyes 1998),especial ly the one s with unifacial knapping (Dez Fernndez-Lom ana 1 992). Most ofthese obj ects are also m ade on quartz an d quartzite, possi bly due to the ease a ccess andquality of the raw m ater ial (Dez Fernndez-Lom ana 1992). On the other han d, the fl intcores are less num erous, but show the prep arations of the stri ki ng pl atform and ha ve amore i ntense knappi ng wo rk.Most obj ects are retouched fl i nt and the most abunda nt are racloi r, denticul ate andnotches. A few number of handaxes, scrappers and cleavers m ade of quartz and f l i n twere iden tified (Botella Lpez, Porta et al . 1976) . The L eval lois technique is veryscarce (Dez Fernndez-L om ana 1992; Mart nez Fernndez and L pez Reyes 1998).The observed diversi ty in the kna pping m ethod of the different raw m ater ials , especiallybetween the flint and quartz, has m ade d ifficult to classify the lithic assem blage inside atechnolog ical mode. However, according to Prof. Miguel Botella, the assemblageexhibits all features to be included in the called Achelense Final M editerrneo (LatestMediterranean Acheulean), within the set of Acheulean industries that mark the

141


5/9


t ransit ion between the Middle Pleis tocene, and the Late P leis tocene (Botel la Lpez,Porta et al . 1976; Dez Fernndez- L om ana 1992).R E F E R E N C E SBotella Lpez, M. (1975) . El cazade ro achelense de L a Solana de l Zamborino(Granada). XII Cong reso Nac ional de Arqueologa (Huelva, 1973) Zaragoza:175-185.Botella Lpez, M ., J. Porta, et al . (1976). " El yacimiento ach elense de l a Solana delZamborino, Fonelas (Granada) (1 Campaa de excavaciones)." Cuadernos de

prehistoria de la Universidad de Granada 1: 1-46.Dez Fernndez-L o ma na, J. C. (1992). Zooarqueo loga de Atapue rca (Burgos) eimplicaciones paleoeconmicas del es tudio tafonmico de yacimientos del

Pleis toceno Medio. Departamen to de P rehis tor ia y Etnologa. Madrid,Universidad Com plutense de Madrid: 365.Dez Fernndez-Lom ana, J . C. (1993). "Estudio tafonmico de los m acrovertebrados deyacimientos del Pleistoceno Medio." Complut tum 4: 21-40.Garca Garca, C. (1977). Microm am feros del yacimiento achelense de l a Solana delZam borino. Fonelas (Granada). Granada, U niversidad de Granada.Garca Garca, C. and I. Rosi no (1983) . "L os roedore s del Pleistoceno Medio y Superiorde A ndal uci a. Estado de la Cuestin." Antropologa y Paleoecologa Humana 3:49-57.Lpez Reyes, V . (1998). "La E xplotacin de Mater ias Pr imas a t ravs del Anlis isTcnico de la Industria del Yacimiento del Pleis toceno Medio de la Solana delZam borino (Cuenca de Guadix-Baza, Granada)." Rubricatum 2 (61-67).Martn-Penela, A. J . (1976). Paleontologa de los E quidae, Rhinocerot idae yElephant idae del yacimiento de la S olana del Zam borino (Fonelas , Granada).Facultad de Ciencias. Granada, Universidad d e Granada.Mart n-Penela, A. J . (1987). Paleontologa de los grand es m am feros del yacimientoachelense de L a Solana d el Zamborino (Fonelas , Granada). Facultad deCiencias. Granada, Universidad de Granada: 268.Mart n-Penela, A. J . (1988). Los G randes Mam feros del Yacim iento Achelense d e laSolana del Zam borino, Fonelas (Granada, Espaa). A ntropologa y

Paleoecologa Humana 5: 29-235.Martnez Fernndez, G. and V . Lpez Reyes (1998). La S olana del Zamborino. ThePlio-Pleis tocene V ertebrate Succe ssion of the Guadix-Baza Basin (SE Spain). J.Ag ust , O. O ms and M .-S. E. Barcelona, Inst i tut Paleontolgic Dr. M. C rusafont,

46-56.142


6/9


Pea, J. A. (1975) . "Estratigrafia del Pleioceno-Pleistoceno d el sector occidenta l de l aDepresion de Guadix." Cuadernos Geolgicos 6: 31-54.Ruiz Bustos, A ., I. Toro Mo yano, et al. (1982). "Proceso s evolutivos durante elCuaternar io Medio y Superior en las poblaciones de pe queos mam feros del Sur

de l a Pennsula Ibrica. Co ndiciones climticas que implican e imp ortanciabioestratigrfica." Cuadernos de Prehistoria de la Universidad de Granada 7: 9-36.Santon j a Gmez, M. (1992). La ad aptacin al me dio en el Paleolt ico Inferior de laPennsula Ibr ica. Eleme ntos para una reflexin. Elefantes , Ciervos yOv icpridos. A. M. R oma nil lo: 37-76.

143


7/9


FIGURES

Figure 1. Stratgraphic series of the archaeo logical s ite of Solana del Zam borino (from Pea 1 975).

144


8/9


Figure 2. Handaxe recovered from surface (from Botella Lpez, Porta et al. 1976).

Figure 3. Stone artifacts recovered from surface (from Botella Lpez, Porta et al. 1976).

145


9/9


Figure 4. Stratigraphic col umn from two of the sections (number 1 and 3) of the site. The fossil remainsare represented by black poi nts and the quartzite stone artifacts are drowned at scale (from Botella Lpez,Porta e t al. 1976).

146

PINTO-ANACLETO (2009) - The Archaeological Site of Solana Del Zamborino-Print

Documents

Transcript of PINTO-ANACLETO (2009) - The Archaeological Site of Solana Del Zamborino-Print