Interconnected Magdalenian societies as revealed by the circulation of whale bone artefacts in the Pyreneo-Cantabrian region
Résumé
Coastal adaptations of Palaeolithic foragers along the north Atlantic seaboard have received renewed
attention in the last decade and include growing evidence for exploitation of whale bone by Late Glacial
Magdalenian groups to the north of the Pyrenees. Here we present a systematic revision of Magdalenian
osseous industries from the Cantabrian region designed to explore whether this phenomenon was more
widely shared by hunter-gatherer groups along the Atlantic coast of the northern Iberian Peninsula. Fiftyfour
whale bone objects were identified from 12 of the 64 sampled sites. Essentially represented by large,
finished weapon elements (projectile points), these objects are primarily associated with the middle
phase of the Cantabrian Magdalenian, and overlap slightly with the beginning its upper and probably the
end of its lower phases. More broadly, the circulation of these objects evinces regular, long-distance (ca.
600 km) communication networks operating on both sides of the current French and Spanish Basque
Country between 17.8 and 15 cal ka BP. The structure of this network poses interesting questions concerning
potential social and/or economic interactions between Magdalenian groups from the Pyrenees
and neighbouring Cantabrian region.We suggest that the use of whale bone by these particularly mobile
hunter-gatherer groups for the production of hunting weapons was connected to the longer use-life
afforded by the large size of this particular raw material. This choice potentially reflects attempts to
offset raw material transport costs by privileging their regular maintenance rather than the replacement
of hunting weaponry. This growing body of evidence for the exploitation of marine resources during the
Magdalenian further reinforces the Bay of Biscay being the backdrop to the emergence of the first regular,
diversified and organized coastal economies at the end of the Last Glaciation.
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