The Neolithic of El Niño cave (Ayna, Albacete) in the Sierra del Segura context

  • Alejandro García Moreno MONREPOS Archaeological Research Centre and Museum for Human Behavioural Evolution, RGZM Neuwied, Alemania. Instituto Internacional de Investigaciones Prehistóricas de Cantabria (IIIPC). Universidad de Cantabria
  • Miriam Cubas Instituto Internacional de Investigaciones Prehistóricas de Cantabria (IIIPC), Universidad de Cantabria. Sociedad de Ciencias Aranzadi. San Sebastián/Donosti
  • Ana Belén Marín-Arroyo Instituto Internacional de Investigaciones Prehistóricas de Cantabria (IIIPC). Universidad de Cantabria
  • Joseba Ríos Garaizar Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre Evolución Humana (CNIEH), Burgos
  • José Eugenio Ortiz Laboratorio de Estratigrafía Biomolecular. Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Minas. Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.
  • Trinidad de Torres Laboratorio de Estratigrafía Biomolecular. Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Minas. Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
  • Inés López Dóriga Instituto Internacional de Investigaciones Prehistóricas de Cantabria (IIIPC), Universidad de Cantabria. Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos (CIBIO), Instituto de Ciências e Tecnologias Agrárias e Agro-Alimentares, Universidade do Porto
  • Ana Polo Díaz Departamento de Geografía, Prehistoria y Arqueología. Universidad del País Vasco,Vitoria/Gazteiz
  • Aixa San Emeterio Gómez Instituto Internacional de Investigaciones Prehistóricas de Cantabria (IIIPC). Universidad de Cantabria
  • Diego Garate Maidagan Arkeologi Museoa, Bilbao
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5209/rev_CMPL.2015.v26.n1.49342
Keywords: Neolithic, Iberian Peninsula, Segura Mountains, neolithization, Holocene, production economy, shepherding.

Abstract

Since its excavation in the summer of 1973, El Niño cave has been considered a key site to understand the process of production economy and pottery technology introduction in South-eastern Iberian Peninsula, and especially to approach how such process could have affected people already settled in the Segura mountains. However, data from El Niño cave was very fragmentary, due to the lack of a broad study of Neolithic occupations of the site. In this paper, we present the analysis of pottery, lithic industry and faunal remains, as well as the existing dates from the site´s Holocene levels. The review of different evidence from the site allows suggesting that El Niño cave would have probably acted as a hunting and shepherding station, being a logistical site of larger places. However, limitations due to the fact that we are dealing with a 40- year-old excavation, prevent specifying how the process of Neolithic introduction in the Segura Mountains occurred.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.
View citations

Article download

Crossmark

Metrics

How to Cite
García Moreno A., Cubas M., Marín-Arroyo A. B., Ríos Garaizar J., Ortiz J. E., de Torres T., López Dóriga I., Díaz A. P., San Emeterio Gómez A. y Garate Maidagan D. (2015). The Neolithic of El Niño cave (Ayna, Albacete) in the Sierra del Segura context. Complutum, 26(1), 91-111. https://doi.org/10.5209/rev_CMPL.2015.v26.n1.49342
Issue
Vol. 26 No. 1 (2015)
Section
Articles

License

In order to support the global exchange of knowledge, the journal Complutum is allowing unrestricted access to its content as from its publication in this electronic edition, and as such it is an open-access journal. The originals published in this journal are the property of the Complutense University of Madrid and any reproduction thereof in full or in part must cite the source. All content is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 use and distribution licence (CC BY 4.0). This circumstance must be expressly stated in these terms where necessary. You can view the summary and the complete legal text of the licence.