A great mist accompanies the clan as the sun increases and they start their journey. There are 12 individuals in overall, a few of them grownups, some kids, and others so little that they need to take a trip on the backs of the females.
This is among the human groups that often visited the Pyrenean Mountains throughout the duration called the Last Glacial Optimum, or Glacial Epoch. These Humankind— nomadic hunter-gatherers who occupied Western Europe in between 11,000 and 35,000 years earlier– bring with them a leather rucksack including items of worth: mainly flint cores and flakes that they will utilize on the journey as searching tools, or as accessories. These are pieces of their homeland.
By mid-morning, the group comes to their location for the next couple of days: the large Pyrenean valley of Cerdanya, among the enclaves that, generation after generation, has actually acted as both a sanctuary and meeting point.
Today this location is called Montlleó: an outdoor Magdalenian historical site situated high in the Catalan Pyrenees. At around 1,144 metres above water level, in the Coll de Saig, it is among the most beneficial mountain passes for crossing the Pyrenees. Even throughout the Glacial Epoch, when glaciers covered much of the landscape, Cerdanya was still satisfactory.
They will invest a couple of days there, maybe hunt a horse or a goat and satisfy neighbouring neighborhoods, who have actually originated from both sides of the range of mountains and have the very same cultural custom. At these conferences, they share experiences, however likewise exchange concepts, items and products.
Some groups originate from the coast, bringing with them an abundance of perforated seashells which embellish their necks and clothes. Others bring little, premium flints that they exchange for resources such as deer or reindeer antlers.
On the opening night, they reveal the projectiles they have actually made. These items all have the very same function: to wound an animal till it passes away and ends up being food for the group. Nevertheless, each item is particular of its neighborhood, made with various ranges of flint and in a specific shape. They are, in a manner, a distinct component of each clan, comparable to the custom shared by the various neighborhoods that regular the Pyrenees.
Mapping ancient movementsThe historical research study performed in current years has actually enabled us to take a trip back in time in order to finish, gradually, the puzzle that is the research study of prehistory.
Historical operate in the Pyrenees has actually revealed that human populations adjusted to modifications in the mountain environment and settled in locations that had actually at first been thought about permafrost: completely frozen ground throughout the Last Glacial Optimum.
To discover how and where these groups relocated the Pyrenees, we can study the important tools and accessories that they brought with them from their location of origin. The lithic market found at Montlleó is comprised of more than 25,000 pieces, of which more than 2,000 are completed flint tools and cores (masses of uniform rock that are sculpted to draw out flakes for later usage). We have a great variety of challenge trace.
Our research study task– called SPEGEOCHERT and moneyed by the European Research Study Council (ERC)– traces the paths followed by human groups to cross the Pyrenees. Today we understand that the mountains were not a barrier, however rather a passage often visited by the Humankind of the Upper Palaeolithic.
Amongst the task’s numerous surprises, 3 specimens of possible flint from Chalosse have actually been tentatively recognized. They are from the south-west of contemporary France and represent, for the time being, the most far-off source.
Preferred flintsIn order to draw up these prospective paths, we count on an extremely plentiful resource in the historical record: tools made from flint, among the most commonly utilized rocks in ancient times.
Flint’s attributes specify to the location and time of its development in the Earth’s geology. This enables us to understand, after comprehensive research study, the origin of the pieces we discover in the historical record.
Our group is working to find and recuperate samples of geological developments including flints comparable to those discovered in ancient websites. In our research study, we are seeing that not all flints have the very same territorial extension. To put it simply, it appears that there were “preferred” flints that flowed more than others.
For our research study, we picked these favored kinds of flint as tracers or markers. By observing their circulation radius, we had the ability to track the movement of the groups that brought them. This consisted of little cores gotten ready for sculpting, some crude tools such as blades and flakes, and likewise completed tools which were all set to be utilized.
We evaluated, at numerous scales, the historical flints recuperated from more than 20 websites situated on both sides of the Pyrenees range of mountains, together with recommendation samples recuperated from other geological developments.
Geochemical analysis then enabled us to develop a match in between the historical piece and the source location.
Finally, we used geographical details systems, which take into consideration various variables such as topography and even the dominating weather conditions. With all this, we recommend the paths that these populations might have followed to obtain flint, which, in other words, enables us to understand where they moved and what relationship they had with the mountain locations.
It is now acknowledged that a minimum of 2 primary natural passages for crossing the Pyrenees were often visited by ancient human groups: the “Basque Crossroads” in the west and the Cerdanya valley in the east. What this informs us is that human existence in high-altitude open locations throughout the Glacial epoch was not simply a possibility, however a truth.
Marta Sánchez de la Torre is a Profesora agregada de Prehistoria at Universitat de Barcelona.
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