Retorno a Lezetxiki (Arrasate, País V. asco): nuevas perspectivas de la investigación
Year:
2004
Serie:
Volume:
Pages:
20-26
Publisher:
M. Santonja, A. Pérez-González, M.J. Machado
Keywords:
Mousterian, Aurignacian, Neanderthal, Chronology, Palaeoenvironment, Cantabrian area
ISBN:
ISSN:
URL:
Abstract:
The site of Lezetxiki (Arrasate, Basque Country) was first excavated by J.M. de Barandiarán and other collaborators between 1956 and 1968. It represents one of the key stratigraphies of the Cantabrian to help us understand various problems, among which we include the first human occupations, the possible presence of an Acheulean level in the cave, the transition Middle/Upper Palaeolithic or the previous existence of archaising material uses during very long periods of time. This situation is completed by an extensive stratigraphy (up to nine meters deep) and the existence of human fossil remains within the stratigraphy. The circumstances of the research and the methodologies available have changed considerably during the last decades; this is the reason why one of us (A.Arrizabalaga) has started the excavation of Lezetxiki again in 1996. After having organised the corresponding cross-curricular research team and once the monograph of the nearby place of Labeko Koba was published, we started obtaining new information about the settlement. In doing so we were supported by the invaluable collaboration on the Barandiarán Foundation that authorised us to consult the original documentation of the classic excavation. On the whole, the research project includes obtaining more absolute datings, a new paleoenvironmental support based on different records (Palynology, Anthracology, Macromammals, Micromammals, Sedimentology, Micromorphology) and adapting the model of supplying resources of all kinds to the new information provided about the settlement.
