A multiperforated 'batôn percé' from the Final Magdalenian of Aizkoltxo cave (Mendaro, Gipuzkoa)

Abstract

The cave of Aizkoltxo is located beside the river Deba, close to other caves with Upper-Late Magdalenian occupation (Agarre, Ermittia, Praileaitz I and Urtiaga). Due to the activities of looters, an archaeological survey was carried out to evaluate the site’s stratigraphy and to contextualise the recovered materials. During these works, a level that had an uncommon formation process and could be attributed to Upper-Late Magdalenian was identified. In this level, along abundant lithics and osseous artefacts dated between 14864-14160 cal BP, a batôn percé was recovered. It has at least four perforations and it is profusely decorated with figurative motifs (a frontal view red deer, two red deer antlers, two equids or, perhaps, leporids) and signs (simple marks, converging lines, multiple embedded and parallel chevrons, etc.). This exceptional object, along with other similar ones, corroborates the tight relation of the sites of the Cantabrian region with sites of the Bay of Biscay and the Central and Occidental Pyrenees.