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The Magdalenian settlement of the Cantabrian region (Northern Spain):The view from El Miron Cave

Lawrence Guy Straus a,b,*, Manuel R. Gonzlez Morales b

a Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, MSC01 1040, Albuquerque, NM 87131-001, USAb Instituto Internacional de Investigaciones Prehistricas, Universidad de Cantabria, 39005 Santander, Spain

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:

Available online 4 April 2012

a b s t r a c t

TheMagdalenianof Cantabrian Spain spans theperiod of OldestDryas andthe Late Glacial Interstadial, with anEpimagdalenian extension, the Azilian, datingto Younger Dryas, fora full temporalrange between ca.17e9 ka

(20e11 cal ka).It is currentlydivided intoInitial(17e16 ka 20.3e19.3 cal ka),Lower (16e14.5 ka 19.3e18 calka), Middle (14.5e13.2 ka 17.7e16.4cal ka)and Upper(13.2e12ka 16.4e14 calka) phases, a possible Final

Magdalenian/Transitional (12e11.5 ka 14e13.4) period, and nally the Epimagdalenian Azilianper se datingto ca. 11.6e9 ka (13.4e10.2 cal ka). Although the Initial and Middle phases are still poorly known (and

difcult to specify in the absence of diagnostic artifacts and/or precise radiocarbon dates), it is clear that

the densities of Lower Magdalenian, Upper/Final Magdalenian and Azilian sites are the highest of any ofthe Paleolithic time periods in the geographically circumscribed Cantabrian region,a narrow strip of land

between the Bay of Biscay and the Cantabrian Cordillera. Human populations may have been organizedinto small bandterritoriescorresponding tothe short valleys in thisregion of extremelyhigh relief, whoseLate Glacial coastline (unlike that of neighboring Aquitaine) was only slightly further north its present

position and whose chief gamespecies (red deer and ibexeas opposedto reindeer, horse and saiga) were

characterized by low mobility. The Magdalenian is known for a wealth of cave and portable art. In theInitial and Lower Magdalenian (as in the preceding Solutrean), Cantabrian societies seem to have been

characterized by a high degree of localism, while in the Middle and Upper Magdalenian contacts withPyrenean France and other parts of the expanding Magdalenian world increased signicantly, as

expressed in art styles and items of exchange. This region had been a major refugium for human groupsduring the Last Glacial Maximum/Solutrean period and the development of Magdalenian technologies

and other cultural traditions seems to have been a largely in situ process in northernAtlantic Spain, which

is adjacent to, but geographically and ecologically different from both SW France and MediterraneanSpain. However, increasingly, as environmental conditions ameliorated, there was an intensication of

social contacts between VascoeCantabria and the rest of the ever-larger inhabited parts of WesternEurope. El Mirn Cave, in theCordillera on theborderbetweenthe provinces of Cantabria andVizcaya, has

yielded one of the most complete and thoroughly dated sequences of Magdalenian (and Azilian) levels inthe entire region. It is characterized by major, intensive, repetitive, long-term, multi-functional occupa-

tions(Initial, Lowerand MiddleMagdalenian)ewith independentlydatedrockart andrich assemblagesoflithic and osseous artifacts, portable art objects,personal adornments,terrestrial and anadromous faunal

remains, structural features, and a highly ritualized secondary human burial. However, there were alsoshort, ephemeral, limited-function, discontinuousoccupations (Upper/FinalMagdalenian, Azilian), as the

role of the cave and the organization of human activities within theterritory of the Asn River basin bothchanged during the closing millennia of the Pleistocene.

2012 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

The Magdalenian of Cantabrian Spain has been researched since

the time of Sanz de Sautuolas excavation in Altamira Cave (Canta-bria [ex-Santander province]) in the late 1870s. Work by H. Alcalde

del Rio followed (on a larger scale) by H. Obermaier in the early 20thcentury, in both that cave and nearby El Castillo. For overviews of

* Corresponding author. Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico,MSC01 1040, Albuquerque, NM 87131-001, USA.

E-mail address: [email protected](L.G. Straus).

Contents lists available atSciVerse ScienceDirect

Quaternary International

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1040-6182/$e see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2012.03.053

Quaternary International 272-273 (2012) 111e124

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research on the Cantabrian Paleolithic in general and the Magda-lenian in particular, (see, e.g.,Gonzlez Sainz and Gonzlez Morales,

1986; Straus 1992; Corchn 2005a; Gonzlez Sainz and Utrilla,2005;Gonzlez Sainz and Gonzlez Urquijo, 2007;Utrilla 2007, allwith references). In association with Obermaier, H. Breuil and the

Institut de Palontologie Humaine, J. Bouyssonie and L. Sierraexcavated the massive late Magdalenian and Azilian deposit in ElValle (eastern Santander). In parallel with them, the Conde de laVega del Sella and E. Hernndez Pacheco dug Magdalenian and

Azilian layers at several sites in Asturias (notably Cueto de la Mina,La Riera, Collubil, La Paloma, La Cuevona). J.M. Barandiarn et al.found Magdalenian deposits rst in Santimamie and then in

Ermittia and Urtiaga in theBasque Countryeall during the1910s and1920s. In 1892, the Conde de Lersundi had already discovered animportant Magdalenian occupation in Aitzbitarte near San Sebas-tin. Research slowed and then ceased during the violent 1930s and

the subsequent impoverished, isolated 1940s, after the Civil War,only to start again on a small scale with very limited means in the

mid-late 1950s, with work at such key Magdalenian sites as ElPendo, El Juyo and La Lloseta by J. Martnez Santaolalla and A. Leroi-Gourhan, P. Janssens and J. Gonzlez Echegaray, and F. Jord,

respectively, as well as the recommencement of excavations inAitzbitarte and Urtiaga by Barandiarn and associates. Beginningsoon before World War I until 1923 with the work of Passemard and

continuing from the late 1920s through 1935 with that of the deSaint-Priers, research at Isturitz, in the heart of the French BasqueCountry, 18 km from the Spanish border, yielded evidence of very

important Middle and Upper Magdalenian occupations in this

super-site at the crossroads between the Pyrenean and Cantabrianregions.

While by 1912, Breuil already had a very elaborate 6-7 stagesystematization for the Magdalenian in France (with a Magdale-nian 0 or Badegoulian later tobe introducedby A. Cheynier and E.

Vignard), the situation in Cantabrian Spainethough always basedon the French model with the exception of J. Carballos attempt tointroduce an Altamiranculture to describe what is now generallyknown as the Lower Cantabrian Magdalenian was seemingly

different and perhaps simpler.Obermaier in 1924basically recog-nized an Early (without harpoons) and a Late (with harpoons)

Magdalenian in this region, with only one case of a supposedlyMiddle Magdalenian (at Cueto de la Mina). It was in 1958, with thepublication of El Juyo (Janssens and Gonzlez Echegaray, 1958; seealso;Gonzlez Echegaray, 1960) and La Lloseta (Jord, 1958), that

Gonzlez Echegaray and Jord proposed the equivalence of theindustries of these sites with the Magdalenian III of France,

systematizing their ideas in the 1960s-early 70s, extending them toinclude other key sites such as Altamira. P. Utrilla (1981) furthersystematized the Early Magdalenian, pointing out the probable

existence of a very early (archaic) phase (based on Echegaray andBarandiarans re-excavation of El Rascao with a radiocarbon dateback to 16.4 uncal ka) and a tentative MiddleMagdalenian (basedmainly on her reanalysis of old collections from Ermittia and LaPaloma). The Late (i.e., Upper and Final-true harpoon-bearing)

Magdalenian was systematized in the 1970s and 1980s byMoure(1974) and Gonzlez Sainz (1989). Major developments occurredduring that period and continued through the 1990s and rst

decade of the 21st century with the excavations of Las Caldas and LaVia in the Naln River valley at the western end of the Cantabrian

Paleolithic culture area in central Asturias, in La Riera, Llonn andTito Bustillo in eastern Asturias, in La Garma and El Mirn (Canta-bria) and in Ekain (Guipzcoa), notably the clear identication of anInitial Magdalenian stage following a technological transition of

desolutreanization, further denition and extensive radiocarbondating of the Lower Magdalenian, and nal recognition of a MiddleMagdalenian with dramatic discoveries of portable art links to the

French Pyrenees. Recent/on-going excavations in Vizcaya (e.g.,Santimamie, Antoliako, Santa Catalina, plus Praile Aitz in west-

ernmost Guipzcoa) are adding substantially to the Magdalenianrecord spanning the whole VascoeCantabrian region.

Important in understanding the Upper Paleolithic record of

Cantabrian Spain within the context of Europe are the facts that thisis an oceanic (i.e., relatively equable) region, a narrow (25e50 km)strip of high relief land between the coast of the Bay of Biscay and

the Cantabrian Cordillera (maximum elevations: 1000e2600 masl), running eastewest along the 43rd parallel of latitude(i.e., relatively southerly). Unlike the rest of Iberia, the northernAtlantic fringe of Spain is in the Euroesiberian ecological zone, but

witnessed far less severe climatic uctuations than, for example,northern France, England, the Low Countries or Germany, thoughfar greater than Mediterranean Spain or southern Portugal. Never

a polar desert or steppe, environments (still mainly open duringOldest Dryas/Greenland Stadial 2) did include variations of heath-and grasslands with varying amounts of coniferous (pine, juniper)

and e at times e deciduous (birch, mixed oak) trees in isolatedstands, groves or localized woods during the course of the late LastGlacial, with the most dramatic changes coming at the onset of

Blling (Greenland Interstadial 1c3), ca. 12.1 uncal. ka/14 cal ka(see e.g., Straus,1992, Straus and Goebel, 2011; Cuenca-Bescs et al.,

in this volume, all with references). During early Magdaleniantimes, the Late Glacial shore was still at nearly its Last GlacialMaximum position (anywhere between ca. 6e12 km further north,depending on local bathymetry), but by the end of the Azilian it

had reached approximately its modern position, with the majorsea-level rise also beginning in Blling times.

2. The Last Glacial maximum in VascoeCantabria:

Solutrean adaptations prior to the Magdalenian

Although in recent years the number of known Gravettian siteshas increased in Vasco

eCantabria, it is still the case that the major

boon in apparent population density here (and in other peri-coastal

Iberian regions) seems to have occurred during the Solutrean,probably as a long-term consequence of the contraction of thehuman range and the relatively favorable environmental and

resource conditions in the south during the Last Glacial Maximum.The Solutrean of VascoeCantabria is now represented by about 55sites (Rasilla and Straus, 2007). While these do include montaneinterior sites, they are relatively few and attest only to limited

occupations. The main Solutrean sites (places such as Aitzbitarte,Antoliako, Altamira, El Pendo, Cueto de la Mina/La Riera, orerathermore inland, but in the wider lowland of central AsturiaseLasCaldas) are all in the coastal zone (and would have been within

only a few hours walk of the Ice Age shore). A settlement system

consisting of hub or base residential sites near the mouths of themany short river valleys that run down from the Cordillera to theshore surrounded with satellite loci in the or near the coast andassociated with equally minor sites in the upper reaches of many ofthe valleys seems to have becomermly established during the LGM

(Straus, 2000; Straus et al., 2000a, b), The subsistence intensicationindicated both by the faunal assemblages and by the weaponsdevelopments of the Solutrean amounted to a fuller, more efcient

exploitation of the food resources (aquatic as well as terrestrial) ofthe region (presumably in the face of higher population density).

Solutrean artifact assemblages display compositional variability thatprobably track predominant site role activities (e.g., lithic, osseous,

beror wood manufacturing, hunting, carcass processing), as well aslocally vs. extra-locally available lithic raw materials (Straus, 1983).

The technological shift from assemblages that archeologists callSolutreanto others that are called Magdalenianmainly involves

artifacts involved in hunting (i.e., projectile tipsecontinuing a trend

L.G. Straus, M.R. Gonzlez Morales / Quaternary International 272-273 (2012) 111e124112

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from single-element points to increasingly abundant antler sagaieswith or without serially mounted bladelets), while there is consid-

erable substrate(sidescrapers, denticulates, notches, continuouslyretouched pieces, etc.) continuity between assemblages of the twocultural modes (Straus, 1990, 1993,2002).

3. The Initial and Lower Magdalenian (Fig. 1)

Until the 1973 (re-) excavation of Rascao Cave in central Can-

tabria, there had been no strong basis for a pre-Lower CantabrianMagdalenian phase (Gonzlez Echegaray and Barandiarn, 1981).

Level 5 in this small, specialized, montane, ibex-hunting site yieldeda single bone collagen date of 16,430130 BP (BM-1455) anda lithicassemblage with relatively high percentages of both so-called

archaictypes (denticulates, notches sidescrapers) and nucleiform

endscrapers, but few backedbladelets and no microlithic triangles.On-going excavations since 1996 in large El Mirn Cave (also in themontane interior, at260 m asl and ca. 25 kmfromthemodernshore,

on the border of Vizcaya in eastern Cantabria (Fig. 2)) have revealed

levels (117e

119.2 in thevestibule rear (Figs. 3 and 4)) between seriesof Solutrean and classic Lower Magdalenian layers. Although the

associated 14C dates (Table 1) are not in stratigraphic order (partlybecause of intensive human activity from trampling to hearth pitconstruction), they do span the period from 17 to ca. 16 ka ( Strausand Gonzlez Morales, 2003,2007a,b,2010). Final counts are not

yet available, but it is clear that these Initial Magdalenian levelscontain high numbers of large akes and archaic tool types(denticulates, notches, sidescrapers, choppers, etc.) on locally avail-

able non-int raw materials (mudstone, quartzite, limestone andpoor-quality chert) and relatively few backed bladelets (thoughthese are present, and are made on high-quality int from non-local

sources). Raclettes are extremely rare in both Rascao Level 5 andMirn Levels 117e119.2, as is also true of La Riera Levels 20e18 ineastern Asturias, which however, in contrast to the pair of Canta-

brian sites,do have very high percentages of backedbladelets (Strausand Clark, 1986). These La Riera levels lack Solutreanpoints, buteven

apparently Solutrean levels 17 and 16 have assemblages similar to

those of 20e18 with huge percentages of backed bladelets, variable(but not insignicant) percentages of archaictool types and only

one raclette. The 14C dates are stratigraphically incoherent, but LaRiera Levels 20e17 seem to be contemporary with Mirn 117e119.2,i.e., ca. 17e16 ka. While these diverse (backed bladelet-rich or

archaic

tool-rich) assemblages lack signicant quantities (or any)diagnostic artifacts of the French Badegoulian(a type of Magda-

lenian 0), it is clear that they are neither Solutrean nor classicLower Cantabrian Magdalenian. The bone/antler tools from Levels

117e119.2 include sagaies with a variety of cross-section types(round, oval, quadrangular and a few triangular). Intactsagaiebasesare rare, but include conical and single-bevel types. Surface mark-

ings are also rare, but include grooves and include a case of wheatsheaf engravings (Gonzlez Morales and Straus, 2005; GonzlezMorales and Straus, in press a, b). Needles (some with preservedeyes) are also present. The most signicant nd of portable art/

personal ornamentation is a broken, perforated slate pendantbearing a nely engraved image of a horse head (Gonzlez Morales

and Straus, in press a,b).El Mirn Vestibule Front Levels 15e17 (Fig. 5) and Vestibule Rear

Levels 108e116 and Mid-Vestibule Level 312 (Fig. 6) (Straus et al.,

2008) are 14C dated to ca. 16e14.5 ka and their contents norma-tively correspond to the classic Cantabrian Lower Magdalenian(although there is considerable ambiguity concerning the age ofLevel 108, which could coincide to a Middle Magdalenian, but

without diagnostic artifacts or portable art works). These levels emassive palimpsests with no sterile layers e are dark chocolatebrown-grey in color and are highly organic (rich in charcoal powderand highly fragmented faunal remains). They contain numeroushearths, generally lled and surrounded with re-cracked rocks(quartziticsandstone), many of which hadbeen used as anvils before

probably being heated in the re and dropped into skin bags lledwith water for bone grease rendering (Straus and Gonzlez Morales,

2007a, b;Nakazawa et al., 2009). The abundant structures in theLower Magdalenian levels of El Mirn are matched by extraordinaryones in El Juyo (Freeman et al., 1988) and La Garma (Arias et al.,2005). Such intensity of occupations with signicant investment in

Fig. 1. Map of distribution of sites with Initial, Lower and/or Middle Magdalenian components in Cantabrian Spain (L.G. Straus and A. Winegardner).

L.G. Straus, M.R. Gonzlez Morales / Quaternary International 272-273 (2012) 111e124 113

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site furniture construction and reuse is hinted at in Obermaiersdescriptions of the Magdalenian Beta horizon in El Castillo with its

abundant hearth layers (Obermaier, 1924; Cabrera, 1984) and, evenmore clearly attested both by Obermaier (Breuil and Obermaier,1935) and byFreeman and Gonzlez Echegaray (2001)in Altamira.

As in El Juyo, there are lenses/patches of pigment (red, yellowish,greenish).

The very abundant El Mirn Lower Magdalenian lithic assem-

blages consist of the full gamut of dbitage, cores (mainly at leastpartially bladelet cores), and retouched tools. The latter are heavily

dominated by backed bladelets and there are many nucleiformendscrapers (that were no doubt initially bladelet cores that mayhave been recycled as scrapers or planes, with concentrated edgeretouch/wear on specic bit edges). Small numbers of geometric

microliths (mainly triangles and circle segments) are found in theselevels, as is sometimes the case in the Cantabrian Lower Magdale-

nian.The lithics are overwhelmingly made on high-qualityints that

appear to be non-local and probably came from Upper Cretaceous

ysch outcrops along the present day sea-cliffs of western Vizcaya

and central Cantabria (Rissetto, 2009). The most emblematic artifactnds are several engraved red deer scapulae, one of which (a largestag shoulder blade) is essentially complete and bears the image of

a red deer hind whose outline is lled with striation engravings;this gure is followed by a non-striatedoutline of a bovine(GonzlezMorales et al., 2007; Straus and Gonzlez Morales, 2009). These

engraved scapulae are absolutely characteristic of the LowerMagdalenian within the boundaries of modern Cantabria andeastern Asturias, and they are associated with identical engravings(also usually depicting red deer hinds) on the walls and ceilings of

several caves in the same area (notably Altamira and El Castillo(Alcalde del Ro et al., 1911;Breuil and Obermaier, 1935;Almagro,1976)). The presumed time-transgressive regional band territory

dened by the striation-engraved rupestral and scapula hind imagesis an area no morethan c.130 kmlongon the WesteEast axis from ElCierro in coastal eastern Asturias to El Mirn e a strip crossed by 10

river valleys each of which could have been the territory of atleast one local band moving seasonally between the coast and theCordillera. El Mirns Lower Magdalenian also yielded a pebble

engraved with a reticulate design. The presence of Homalopomasanguineum shells links the site to the Mediterranean and to other

Magdalenian sites via inter-band contacts (Alvarez, 2006), presum-ably via the corridor of the Ebro Valley (e.g., Utrilla et al., 2010).

Antler sagaies (mostly fragmentary) are very abundant in theMirn Lower Magdalenian levels and include a wide variety of

cross-section types (round, oval, triangular, centrally-attened andespecially quadrangular) and bases (single-, double-bevel, conical),

many with oblique engraved lines on the beveled bases (GonzlezMorales and Straus, 2005).Somesagaiemid-sections have longitu-

dinal grooves and others with tectiform (geometric) or serial tickmarks. The former kind of decoration is absolutely typical ofthe Cantabrian Lower Magdalenian, as rst discovered at Altamira

and Castillo. Needles are also very common, as are perforated teeth(mainly red deer canines); perforated shells are also present,attesting to personal ornamentation. El Mirn Level 17 yielded

a small atleatl that is virtuallyidentical in form, size andproportionsfrom a trio of roughly the same age found in the SW French sitesof Roc de Marcamps and Le Placard (Straus and Gonzlez Morales,

2009). Another spearthrower was found by Obermaier in hismassive Early Magdalenian horizon at El Castillo (Heras et al., 2003).

The Mirn Lower Magdalenian fauna assemblages are dominated

by ibex and red deer, being a site that on the one hand is located ona steep, rocky cliff-side of a 1000-m high mountain,but on the otherhand immediately overlooks the relatively broad upper valley of theRo Asn. In this these occupations differ signicantly on the one

hand from the major Lower Magdalenian residential hub sites of the

central Cantabrian coastal plain (Altamira and El Juyo) or its edge(El Castillo), which are overwhelmingly dominated by red deerand on the other from the small, montane, gorge-side site of ElRascao whose faunal assemblages are composed of >90% ibex.El Mirn conrms the pattern of Lower Magdalenian with what

Freeman (1973) termed wild harvestinge the massive slaughterofred deer and/or ibex as part of a trend of subsistence intensication(see overviews in Straus, 1977; Altuna and Mariezkurrena, 1996).

The Mirn levels are also rich in remains of large salmon (Consuegraet al., 2002), while contemporary sites within much closer distance

of the Oldest Dryas shore have not only many sh remains but alsosubstantial quantities of marine molluscs (limpets and periwinkles).The fact that (probably warm-season) residents of El Mirn eithervisited the coast during their stays or (more likely) came to the cave

after stays at lowland sites near the shore is attested by the regularpresence of isolated sea shells (including rolled, deep-water scal-lops) in the Lower Magdalenian levels. It could be suggested that the

Fig. 2. Map of the Asn River valley showing the location of El Mirn Cave (at no. 11)

and other Magdalenian and Azilian sites (El Horno, also at no. 11; Polvorn no. 9;

Cullalvera no. 10, Cubera no. 14; El Valle no. 6; La Chora no. 5; Cobrante no. 4; El Otero

no. 3; La Fragua & El Perro no. 1.)(L.G. Straus and R. Stauber).


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settlement model for this period included long-term, multi-func-tional, residential base camps in both the coastal lowland and in the

montane interior, as well as small, special-purpose, short-termscamps (e.g., hunting stands, over-nighttransit sites) around those

hub sites in both topographic zones (seeStraus, 1986,1987, withreferences).

The Lower Magdalenian occupation layers in El Mirn witnessedthe fall of a large limestone block from the ceiling at the rear of thevestibule. Such rockfalls are common in Lower Magdalenian depositsthroughout the region (includingly most famously at Altamira),

perhaps indicative of seismic activity. This large block fell immedi-ately after 16.5 ka (19.7cal ka), itsat inner, sheared-of surface facingthe cave mouth (west). This was engraved with groups of lines

(deep/wide, shallow/narrow) and then was progressively coveredover by occupation layers dating to the Middle and Upper Magda-lenian, Azilian and Mesolithic periods (Garcia Diez et al., in press). At

about the same time that the engraving began, the bones of a youngadult human, stained with red ochre, wereburied behind theblock ina narrow space in front of the cave wall, atop a bedrock ledge and in

a pit in the layer upon which the block had fallen. The back of theblock adjacent to the bones is also stained with red ochre. The boneswere covered by four rocksand sediments stained andspeckled with

red ochre (hematite, identied by R. Seva [personal communication,March 13, 2012]) (Straus et al., 2011). The skull is missing here, but inthe Lower Magdalenian of El Castillo, Obermaier (1924)had found

two human frontal bones that he had argued had been fashionedinto skull bowls(but seeGarralda,1992). This nd, like those of La

Garma, El Juyo and such great art sanctuariesas Altamira, hints atthe complex ritual life of Lower and Middle Magdalenian people(see Arias, 2009). The engravings on the block can be dated both

terminus postand ante quem to a rather narrow window of timewithinthe late Lower or early MiddleMagdalenian. By extension andbased on the logic of (standing) human artist height and the slope

angle of the Magdalenian surfaces at the vestibule rear, neengravings on the immediately adjacent cave walls in this area

(including one horse and one possible bison image) were likely alsoexecuted during this time (Garcia Diez et al., in press).

The VascoeCantabrian region was thoroughly dotted withvalley-based territories of Lower Magdalenian hunter-gatherer

bands, maximally exploiting the cave shelters, terrestrial andaquatic food resources, the lithic tool-stone materials and presum-ably still-restricted fuel woods of thecoastal andupland areas.This is

a period well-demarcated by its diagnostic or semi-diagnostic arti-facts types, hence the high site counts (even in the absence ofradiocarbon dates) are probably fairly reliable, but separation from

the Initial Magdalenian, especially in materials from old excavations(such as El Castillo with its massive Early Magdalenan Level Beta,that clearly contained components of both phases (Cabrera,1984))isoften problematic in the absence of dates. Early Magdalenian sites

(more or less including the Initial, Lower and Middle Magdalenianphases) number at least some 40 caves by a very strict count and

as many as 60 by a count that includes many old nds with littledetailed information (but no reports of true harpoons, the absolutetemporal marker for the Upper/Final Magdalenian)(Straus et al.,2000a,b).

4. Middle Magdalenian

The Middle Magdalenian is only problematically represented in

El Mirn: Levels 107 (Fig. 7) in the Vestibule Rear, 309e310 in theMid-Vestibule, and possibly 13 in the Vestibule Front. Only the lastof these has a 14C dateand at14.9 kait might bea bit old;the othersare bracketed by clear Lower and Upper Magdalenian dates (i.e., ca.

15 and 13 ka respectively). However, the Middle Magdalenian,dated in Cantabrian Spain between ca. 14.3e13.3 ka (GonzlezSainz and Utrilla, 2005) and dened by the presence of exotic

Fig. 3. Plan of El Mirn Cave vestibule with locations of the Cabin, Mid-Vestibule and Corral excavation trenches (E. Torres and R. Stauber).


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portable art objects whose centers of distribution are clearly in the

French Pyrenees, has been manifesting itself strongly in recentyears along the coastal and Middle Ro Naln corridors, from Ekainin Guipzcoa to Las Caldas in Asturias. Originally (and weakly)dened in the Cantabrian region fundamentally by the presence of

a proto-harpoon from Barandiarns old excavations in Ermittia(Guipzcoa)(Utrilla, 1981), it is dened by the presence ofcontours

dcoups (real [hyoid bone cut-outs] or ersatz) in La Via, LasCaldas, Tito Bustillo (with a cacheof four)(all in Asturias), El Juyo,La Garma (both in Cantabria) and Ekain (Guipzcoa)(Fortea, 1983;Moure, 1983; Balbn et al., 2003; Corchn, 2005e06, 2005b;

Freeman and Gonzlez Echegaray, 1982; Alvarez, 2005; Altuna,

2010) and rondelles (perforated and decorated at bone disks) inLas Caldas, Tito Bustillo, Llonn, Linar, Las Aguas (the latter two inCantabria) (Corchn 2005a, b; Corchn and Rivero, 2008; Forteaet al., 1990; Rasines et al., 2009; Schwendler, 2005). Both theseususual types of portable art objects seem to have their centers of

distribution in the French Pyrenees, where the Middle Magdalenian(ca. 14e13 ka) is especially well represented. The site of Isturitz(with a major Middle Magdalenian horizon rich in these objects)

was undoubtedly the node of human communication betweenVascoeCantabrian and the French Pyrenees and thus a/the source

of these objects and/or the ideas for their imitation by Cantabrianpeople (as some of the objects in Asturias are clearly incompleteand others in Cantabria seem to be imperfect imitations). The roleof this strategically located super-site, to use the term coined by

P. Bahn (1984), was clear and critical. It was here in the ever-straddling Basque Country that the Cantabrian Magdalenian

bands of the red deermay have met the Aquitanian Magdalenian

bands of the reindeer at the border of two distinct biotopes

within the greater EuroeSiberian ecological zone. Shared symbolsand beliefs seem to have trumped staple diets in terms of shared

common identity as a people in the late Ice Age world of SWEurope. Indeed, the primacy of horse and bovine imagery in so

much Magdalenian art on both sides of the Pyrenees dees anydirect correlation between symbols and daily meals.

As with the Initial Magdalenian, it is hard to determine therealistic number of Middle Magdalenian occupations in the region,since the denition of this phase is dependent on these rare diag-nostic art objects or proto-harpoons and/or on radiocarbon dates

which are still rare and/or imprecise. In most cases, Magdalenian

age sites without harpoons or 14C dates between ca. 13e

11.5 ka arelumped into the general Early Magdalenian category for the

purposes of drawing regional site distribution maps and countingloci as a proxy for approximating regional population density.In short, there are clear osseous artifact and/or art temporal diag-

nostics for the Cantabrian Lower Magdalenian, the Pyrenean-inuenced Middle Magdalenian and the Upper Magdalenian withits harpoons and frontal view engravings of ibex, for example.

While true harpoons, as common utilitarian artifacts, are wide-spread (although very unevenly distributed among sites of Upper

Magdalenian age, as demonstrated in the great differences betweenthe harpoon-rich and poor sites of the Asn valley, La Chora, ElOtero, El Valle and El Horno on the one hand and El Mirn on theother), the striation-engraved scapulae of the Lower Magdalenian

areconned to a smallnumberof sites within onlya territory that isin the central sector of the VascoeCantabrian region and the sites

with Pyrenean Middle Magdalenian diagnostic art objects are

Fig. 4. North stratigraphic section of the Mirn Corral excavation area (TeX/10e11)(L.G. Straus and R. Stauber).


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found in only a few sites along the coastal corridor e presumablysecondary nodes in a down-the-line, inter-band trade network.Proto-harpoons, for example, are exceedingly rare, making thisa poor fossil director.

The Middle Magdalenian faunal assemblages from El Mirn(principally Levels 107e107.2) are dominated by both red deer and

ibex (with some chamois) and indicate warm-season occupations(spring-early summer) (Marn, 2010). Other sites, insofar asanything is published about their subsistence, display the typicalheavy reliance on red deer in the coastal zone and on ibex in sites in

purely steep, rocky montane settings (like Ermittia)(Altuna and

Mariezkurrena, 1996). Excavation of the critical Middle Magdale-nian horizon at Las Caldas, ca. 40 km from the Oldest Dryas(Greenland Stadial 2) shore, has discovered (perforated orengraved) seal and whale teeth, undoubtedly collected as curiosi-ties during visits to the strand or acquired in trade with other

people who lived in the coastal zone of central Asturias ( Corchnet al., 2008).

5. The Upper and Final Magdalenian (Fig. 8)

The Upper/Final Magdalenian is represented throughoutVascoeCantabria by at least 65e70 sites, distributed between thecoastal and interior montane zones. Indeed, the long trend ofincreasing numbers of upland sites in the post-LGM period reached

its maximum in this terminal Pleistocene period (late Oldest Dryas[a.k.a. late Greenland Stadial 2] and early Late Glacial Interstadial:

Greenland Interstadial 1e [a.k.a. Meiendorf] plus 1c3 [a.k.a. Blling

sensu stricto]), with sites now appearing on the south side of theCordillera on the mesetas of Old Castile (Burgos, Segovia, Soria)

(see Cacho et al., 2010; Corchn, 2002, both with references).The Upper/Final Magdalenian is dated by very large numbers of14C

assays between ca. 13.2e11.5 ka; in calibrated years this representsa cultural phenomenon of about 2.5e3 millennia in duration (see

Gonzlez Sainz and Utrilla, 2005; Gonzlez Sainz and GonzlezUrquijo, 2007). Its lithic artifact assemblages are highly laminarand especially lamellar in composition. The tool fractions containlarge quantities of backed bladelets (plus backed micro-points),

along with varying amounts of endscrapers, knives, perforators and

burins, though these types (notably the burins, usually dominatedby simple dihedral types) are not as complex and seeminglyspecialized as in many contemporaneous assemblages in France.

Archaic tool types (often made on non-int raw materials,especially in the western parts of the Cantabrian region whereint

is scarce and poor in quality) continue to be frequent in someassemblages, but far less so than in the earlier Magdalenian phases.In addition to the harpoons (mainly unilaterally barbed, but

sometimes bilateral, with basal attachment treatments consistingof either holes or bulges), there are very large quantities ofsagaiesof diverse cross-section (especially round) and basal (single- anddouble-bevel) types, often decorated (including stylized frontalviews of ibex heads and horns) (see Gonzlez Sainz, 1989).There are numerous needles, as well as often elaborately decorated

wands, spatulae, perforated antler tines (btons de commande-ment), plus a few spear-throwers in sites throughout the region.

H. sanguineum shells in the early Upper Magdalenian of Tito Bustillo

Table 1

El Miron Cave Magdalenian Radiocarbon Chronology

Phase Vestibule Front Mid-Vestibule Vestibule Rear Burial, Slope & Inner Cave

AZ 305: 10,27050 Breccia: 10,39050

Breccia: 10,74040

TM/AZ 11: 11,78555

11.1: 11,20555

11.1: 11,720140 306: 11,65050 102.1: 11,95070

105: 13,49040

UM 12: 12,97070 308: 12,350190 106: 12,460180

L-MM 13: 14,93070

14: 14,600190 108: 13,66070 VIII: 14,62080

15: 15,010260 108: 13,7107015: 15,220300 108: 14,710160

16: 15,180100 108: 14,85060#

110: 14,76070 503.1(a)15,12040

110: 14,79575

17: 15,470240 110: 16,13025017: 15,450160 110: 16,52040

17: 15,700190 111: 16,370190

17: 15,61090 111: 15,530230 504(h) 15,46040

17: 15,37080 112: 15,43075 504(b) 15,74040

312: 15,850170 114: 16,46050115: (13,800840)

IM 18: 16,08040 116: 15,220100

19: 16,60040 116: 17,40080#

21: 16,05040 117: 17,05060

118: 15,460190

119: 16,96080 Niche: 16,60090

119.2: 16,320160

Sol 313: 17,400270*

121: 18,390300

125: 18,980360

126: 18,950350

127: 19,23050

AZAzilian; TM/AZTerminal Magdalenian or Azilian; UMUpper Magdalenian; L-MLower & Middle Magdalenian; IMInitial Magdalenian; SolSolutrean. Dates areuncalibrated BP. #: sample is froma hearth pit; *: Level 313 in P6 testpit might be Solutrean, but w/oSolutrean points. Numbers before the dates are levels. Nichell of niche

in south cave wall above mid-slope between vestibule & inner cave. Brecciaconcretion at base ofowstone at top of slope between vestibule & inner cave. aabove burial.

bhuman burial layer; hhuman bula.

General Cantabrian Magdalenian Phase Radiocarbon Date RangesInitial: 17-16 ka20-19 calBP; Lower: 16-14 ka19-17 calBP; Middle:14-13 ka17-16 calBP Upper : 13-11.5 ka16-13.5 calBP; Azilian: 11.5-9 ka13.5-10 calBP.


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link this site to the Mediterranean and to Magdalenian sites asdistant as the German Rhineland (Alvarez, 2002). The Mirn Upper

Magdalenian has a unilaterally barbed harpoon dated perfectly on

closely associated charcoal to 12.9 uncal. ka, but is otherwise poorin osseous artifacts and lacking in art (in dramatic contrast to theLower and Initial Magdalenian at the same site).

Subsistence intensication continued in the Upper/FinalMagdalenian, but using essentially the same game species (red deer

and ibex), with increasing slaughter of young animals (along withtheir mothers) (Altuna, 1986; Gonzlez Sainz, 1989;Marn, 2009,2010;Straus, 1977;Straus and Clark, 1986). The same holds true for

the secondary ungulate game that were increasingly hunted aswoodlands increased in the region: roe deer, boar and chamois.

Horses and bovines (aurochs and/or bison) are consistently found,but in small numbers. Reindeer, never at all abundant among thearcheofaunas of VascoeCantabria, made its last (trace) appearancesin a dozen Upper Magdalenian sites, but none are particularly well

dated (Altuna, 1996; Alvarez-Lao and Garcia, 2010) Absent directdating of reindeer bones, the last ones could have survived in the

region until sometime between ca. 12e11 ka. Salmon, trout, other

sh (includinglittoral marinespecies), andshellsh are consistentlyand sometimes fairly abundantly represented in Upper Magdale-

nian deposits depending on their location. (One salmon fromUpper

Magdalenian Level 308 in El Mirne

12.4 uncal kae

was at least80 cm long, weighing at least 4.3 kg [C. Garca-Leniz, personalcommunication, 2003].) Carcasses were intensively processed fornot only meat and fat, but also for marrow and bone grease.All these indices (and the expansion of settlement up onto the

Castilian meseta) certainly reect the escalating need to providefor a growing regional population. For the Asn Valley, there is

evidence (ungulate kills) of warm-season human occupations at ElMirn and at the minor coastal sites of El Perro and La Fragua,though the latter is more autumnal (Marn, 2009). El Horno and El

Valle, located at the foot of mountain slopes in the Upper and MidAsn Valley respectively, witnessed kills in winter/early spring, i.e.,cold season (Costamagno and Fano, 2006; Morales et al., 2004). Thissuggests that the sum total of human movements e residential

and logistice

were somewhat more complex than strict seasonal,altitudinal (up- and down-valley) transhumance, though El Mirnseems basically to have been a warm-season site. There is evidence

Fig. 5. East stratigraphic section of the Mirn Cabin excavation area (JeK/2e4)(L.G. Straus and R. Stauber).


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of multiseasonal hunting of ibex in the much smaller montane siteof Rascao in the Miera valley, immediately west of the Asn and

a cave not likely to have been used for large-scale residentialoccuptions due to its narrowness and difcult access (Altuna,1981).Valley-bottom occupations during the late Last Glacial in the Upper

Asn are also attested by parietal art of classic Pyrenean UpperMagdalenian black-outline style, an engraved bone, and a radio-carbon date of 12.3 ka uncal. on an associated bone in Cullalvera

Cave, below El Mirn in the town of Ramales.

6. The Azilian (Fig. 9)

The Tardiglacial cycle of cultural adaptation closes with theAzilian, whose beginning (ca. 11.5 ka uncal.) is increasingly difcult

to separate from the Final Magdalenian in the absence of thenormatively diagnostic harpoons (round section for the latter and

at-section for the Azilian)(Adan et al., 1999, 2005; Fernndez-

Tresguerres, 2006, 2007). The technological transition occurredduring Allerd (zGreenland Interstadial 1c1-1a), so the EarlyAzilian was well in place by the time of the Younger Dryas(Greenland Stadial 1) cold event. The Azilian clearly straddled thePleistocene-Holocene boundary, ending at the close of Preboreal,

ca. 9 ka, the Late phase clearly being an Initial Holocene phenom-enon (Straus, 2011). There was a simplication of lithic and osseous

tool assemblages, although some of the lithic types (thumbnailendscrapers, straight- and curved-backed micro-points) werealready present in signicant numbers in many Final Magdalenian

assemblages. Small tools (often made on akes) abound, but manyformal types (notably in the burin and perforator classes) disappearfrom the repertory. Antlersagaies(projectile tips) were apparentlyreplaced by wooden arrows tipped and barbed with micro-points

and backed bladelets. There are precocious geometric micro-liths in a few Azilian assemblages (El Pilago, El Valle (Cheynier and

Gonzlez Echegaray, 1964;Garcia Guinea, 1985)).

Fig. 6. West, north and east stratigraphic sections of Mirn Mid-Vestibule square P6 (L.G. Straus and R. Stauber).


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In El Mirn there are series of levels in the vestibulefront, center

and rear that lie atop the Upper Magdalenian (ca. 13e12 uncal. ka)layers and the culturally very poor, CaCO3-enriched deposits of

Mesolithic age (ca. 9.6e8.4 uncal. ka). These are Levels 11, 11.1 and11.2 in the front (Cabinexcavation area)(Fig. 10), 306e305 in theMid-Vestibule Trench, and 104e102 in the rear (Corralarea). TheCabin area levels seem to show rhythmic episodes of low-intensity

human occupation and abandonment. The contrast in the use of the

cave relative to the preceding Middle, Lower and Initial Magdale-nian periods could not be sharper. (The cave would be even lessfrequently and intensively occupied after the Azilian, until it onceagain became a major residential site in the Neolithic, ca.5.7 uncal. ka.) The Final Magdalenian/Azilian levels have a half-

dozen radiocarbon dates ranging between 11,950e10,270 BP. Inaddition, there is a small breccia remnant at the base of a narrowledge ofowstone adhering to the north wall of the cave at the top

of the eroded colluvial-alluvial ramp that leads up to the inner cave.This breccia has yielded two dates of ca. 10.5 ka. on an ungulate

tooth. None of these deposits has yielded Azilian (or Magdalenian)harpoons and, given the similarities between some of the lithicartifacts of the Final Magdalenian and Azilian (curved and straightbacked micro-points, thumbnail endscrapers) and the small sample

sizes in El Mirn, it is impossible (and indeed fairly meaningless) totry to draw an exact boundary between the two culture-historical

units. It is clear that the Azilian is merely the technologically

simplied (and artistically impoverished) continuation of theMagdalenian tradition under Younger Dryas and Preboreal condi-tions (seeGonzlez Morales and Straus, in press a,b). It would be

ratherarbitrary for us to assign one name or theother(Magdalenianor Azilian) to artifact-poor Mirn levels 103e102, 306 or 11.2e11 inthe absence of round- or at-section harpoons (and given incon-

sistency in the dates from 11.2 to 11).Representational art ended in the Upper Magdalenian of

Cantabria (the last dated charcoal drawingse

in Las Monedas,Monte Castillo e are ca. 11.8 ka (Moure and Gonzlez Sainz, 2000)),although there are several charcoal drawings (representing deerand a possible anthropomorph) from Palomera Cave in northernBurgos, just beyond the Cordillera, that have been dated to

11.5e11 uncal. ka e MagdalenianeAzilian transition or early Azilian(Corchn et al., 1996). Both terminal Magdalenian and Azilian

assemblages (in this region, throughout France and even in OldCastile at Estebanvela (Cacho et al., 2006)) have geometricallydecorated objects: bone spatulae with barbed wire line engrav-

ings (Gonzlez Sainz, 1989), cobbles with symmetrically arrangedgroups of massed striations (Dufaure-Rochedane-type cobbles),further pointing to the largely semantic nature of the so-called

difference between Final Magdalenian and Azilian cultural reper-

toires. In Asturias there are three Early Azilian sites (Los Azules, LaLluera, Cueva Oscura de Ania) with at-section, jaggedly barbed,classic Azilian harpoons, but with geometric engraved designs,

Fig. 7. West stratigraphic section of the Mirn Corral excavation area (TeS/7e10)(L.G. Straus and R. Stauber).


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presumably carried over from the Upper Magdalenian tradition.

Painted cobbles (typical of the French Azilian, especially at the typesite of le Mas dAzil in the central Pyrenees) are rare but present ina few Vasco-Cantabrian sites (e.g., Los Azules in Asturias, Urratxa inVizcaya) (Fernndez-Tresguerres, 20 07).

As with theUpper Magdalenian, there aremodest traces (including

thumbnail endscrapers, backed micro-points and a red ochre-stainedcobble [from Level 11.1, with a date of 11.2 ka 13.7 cal ka], but noharpoons) of Azilian-age visits to El Mirn Cave during the nal

centuries of the Pleistocene and rst ones of the Holocene, but

the occupations must have been quite ephemeral, especially incontrast to the important Azilian deposits atop the Upper Magdale-nian in nearby El Valle. Thoseoccupations in El Mirn continued to be

basically warm-season (Marn, 2010). The small cave of La Fraguaat the mouth of the Asn has indices (admittedly numerically limited)

of winter occupation during the Azilian (Marn, 2004). It and othercoastal Azilian sites such as La Pila (central Cantabria)(Bernaldo deQuirs et al., 1992) and La Riera (eastern Asturias)(Straus and Clark,

Fig. 9. Map of distribution of sites with Azilian components in Cantabrian Spain (L.G. Straus and A. Winegardner).

Fig. 8. Map of distribution of sites with Upper/Final Magdalenian components in Cantabrian Spain (L.G. Straus and A. Winegardner).


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1986) attest to very intensive exploitation of marine molluscs (with

size decreases among limpets that were probably caused by human

over-shing (seeGutierrez Zugasti, 2011)), as well as shing of estu-arine and litoral piscine taxa. Red deer and ibex remain key ungulate

game species, but there are increasing numbers of woodland species(roe deer and boar) and few (though still present) horses or bovines(the latter presumably now all or mostly aurochs). Subsistence

intensication also seems to have included the killing of increasingnumbers of juvenile ungulates in many sites, despite their lower meatyields.

7. Conclusions

The overall tenor of the greater Magdalenian (and even LateUpper Paleolithic) record in the Vasco-Cantabrian region is oneof continuity. Continuity in site locations and distributions (with

the exception of increasing numbers and importance of sites inthe montane interior as the glaciers receded); continuity in lithic

raw material exploitation (but with shifts in the use of local non-

int stones in areas lacking good int, as there were changes in

human mobility changes and site catchment areas); continuity in

subsistence (but with continuing trends toward intensication).However, there do seem to have been shifts in the amount ofextra-local social contacts reected in portable art: less duringthe Solutrean, Initial and Lower Magdalenian, more in the Middleand Upper Magdalenian. Rupestral art also displays more or less

similarities to other regions (notably the French Pyrenees), withthe GravettianeSolutrean cave art being more local in quality, the

Middle and Upper Magdalenian more universal e i.e., similar tostyles also found in French caves. Never, however, was this region

e the southwestern end of the classic Franco-Cantabrian Paleo-

lithic culture area e isolated. To varying degrees and with varyingintensities, the hunter-gatherer bands of northern Atlantic Spainwere participants in the development of Upper Paleolithic life-wayse as both creators and recipients of innovations in survival

strategies, technology, art and presumably belief systems. Whenthe Upper Paleolithic pattern of adaptation ended with the shift

to Mesolithic lifeways in the early Holocene Boreal period, it

Fig. 10. West stratigraphic section of the Mirn Cabin excavation area (HeG/1e4)(L.G. Straus and R. Stauber).


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ended throughout Southwestern Europe, and it ended ratherabruptly.

Acknowledgments

Excavations in El Mirn Cave since 1996 have been authorizedand partially funded by the Consejera de Cultura, Gobierno de

Cantabria. Additional nancial support has been provided by theU.S. National Science Foundation, Fundacin Marcelino Botin,National Geographic Society, Ministerio de Educacin y Ciencia,

L.S.B.Leakey Foundation, University of New Mexico, UNM Founda-tion Fund for Stone Age Research (principal donors: Jean and RayAuel). Material assistance has been given by the Town of Ramalesand the Universidad de Cantabria.

Straus travel from Santander to Bern for the INQUA Congresswas partially funded by the Latin American & Iberian Institute of the

University of New Mexico. Thomas Terberger and one anonymousreviewer provided valuable suggestions and corrections on anearlier draft.

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