High Resolution Archaeology and Neanderthal Behavior

The aim of this book is to provide a new insight on Neanderthal behaviour using the data recovered in level J of Romaní rockshelter (north-eastern Spain). Due to the sedimentary dynamics that formed the Romaní deposit, the occupation layers are characterized by a high temporal resolution, which makes it easier to interprete the archaeological data in behavioural terms. In addition, the different analytical domains (geoarchaeology, lithic technology, zooarchaeology, taphonomy, anthracology, palaeontology) are addressed from a spatial perspective that is basic to understand human behaviour, but also to evaluate the behavioural inferences in the framework of the archaeological formation processes.

Auteur
Eudald Carbonell was born in Ribes de Freser (Girona, Spain) on 1953. He studied at the University School of Girona, the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the University of Paris. In 1986 he earned a Doctorate degree in Quaternary Geology from the University of Pierre and Marie Curie, Paris VI (1986), and in 1988 he earned a Doctorate in Geography and History from the University of Barcelona. In 1988 he began working at the University Rovira i Virgili of Tarragona as an Adjunct Associate Professor and in 1991 he became a Permanent Professor. Since 1999, he has been Head of the Prehistory Department at Rovira and Virgili University and he is currently Head Researcher for the Quaternary Human Autoecology Group at this same university and Director of the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES). He has participated in research and field work in Spain, France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Georgia, Tajikistan, Algeria, Morocco, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, the United States, Mexico, Chile, Cuba, China and Australia among others. His most outstanding scientific milestones are his studies on the ancient settlements of the Iberian Peninsula. These lines of work led him to develop a multidisciplinary research program in the Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos). Since 1991, Eudald Carbonell has been one of the co-directors alongside Dr. Juan Luis Arsuaga (Complutense University of Madrid) and José María Bermúdez de Castro (National Research Centre on Human Evolution). In 1983, he started the excavations at Abric Romaní (Capellades, Barcelona), the Neanderthal site that is the main subject of this book.

Contenu
1 . Introduction: Neanderthal Behavior and Temporal Resolution of Archeological Assemblages. PART I. THE ABRIC ROMANI AND THE ARCHEOLOGICAL LEVEL J (CA. 50 KA).- 2. The Abric Romaní Site and the Capellades Region (Barcelona, Spain).- 3. Spatial patterns in level J: travertine blocks, combustion activity areas, and archeological remains.- 4. Microstratigraphic Analysis of the Level J Deposits. A Dual Paleoenvironmental-Paleoethnographic Contribution to the Paleolithic Archaeology at the Abric Romani Site.- 5. Neanderthal Landscapes and Their Home Environment: Floral and Faunal Records from Level J.- 6. Level J Taphonomy.- PART II. HUMAN ACTIVITY.- 7. The Lithic Assemblage of Level J.- 8. Occupational patterns and subsistence strategies at Level J.- 9. Hearth Functioning and Forest Resource Exploitation Based on the Archeobotanical Assemblage from Level J.- PART III. CONCLUSIONS.- 10. Conclusions: Landscapes, Campsites, Time, and Neanderthal Behavior.