Examinando por Autor "Blasco, Ruth"

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A zooarchaeological contribution to establish occupational patterns at Level J of Abric Romaní (Barcelona, Spain).
(2012) Rosell Ardévol, Jordi; Cáceres, Isabel; Bennàsar, Lluc; Blasco, Ruth; Bravo, Pilar; Campeny, Gerard; Esteban-Nadal, Montserrat; Fernández-Laso, María Cristina; Gabucio, Joan; Huguet, Rosa; Ibáñez, Nuria; Martín, Pilar; Muñoz, Laura; Rivals, Florent; Rodríguez, Antonio; Saladié, Palmira
In recent decades, many research questions focus on occupational patterns in the Middle Palaeolithic. Many discussions on that topic address the temporal resolution of formation of assemblages and the character of palimpsests that can be frequently observed at archaeological sites. The Abric Romaní site (Barcelona, Spain) is a good example to analyze questions related to temporal resolution of the human occupations. This site is filled by a succession of travertine platforms of rapid formation, which clearly separate different archaeological levels. With the objective of characterizing the settlement patterns developed at this site, a combination of zooarchaeological and spatial data from Level J (sublevels Ja and Jb) is presented here. On one hand, primary and immediate anthropogenic accesses to the carcasses (mainly horses and red deer) and well-established patterns of animal processing are observed. On the other hand, these activities are always developed around hearths of inhabitable areas. From a nutritional perspective, faunal refits suggest synchronic relationships between the different activity areas and, therefore, the anthropic occupation of the total surface of the rock-shelter during the formation of Level J. However, this certain synchrony is combined with the presence of other elements, such as overlapped hearths, which show a succession of several occupations with the same settlement patterns. In this way, Level J of Abric Romaní could be understood as the succession of several occupations formed by groups that maintained the same traditions through time. From this perspective, the aim of this paper is to improve data to understand the settlement patterns and the social organization systems of the Neanderthal groups during MIS 3.
Connecting areas: Faunal refits as a diagnostic element to identify synchronicity in the Abric Romaní archaeological assemblages.
(2012) Rosell Ardévol, Jordi; Blasco, Ruth; Fernández-Laso, María Cristina; Vaquero, Manuel; Carbonell, Eudald
The anthropogenic accumulations at the sites are often the product of overlapped activities and/or occupations that also involve disruptive processes such as cleaning, transport or even trampling. The results are palimpsest with a disordered appearance that can confuse the interpretations of the spatial organization of human groups. In this regard, the Abric Romaní site (Capellades, Spain) can provide significant data to interpret these questions. This site, dated in MIS 3, is composed by a sequence of travertine platforms, which are more than 20 m high. The human occupations are located between these platforms, which are isolated from each other. This fact, in addition to a high rate of identified sedimentation, allows analyzing the archaeological accumulations more accurately. The current excavations (approx. 300 m2) have documented several different kinds of anthropogenic assemblages, which go from very simple to complex human occupations. In this study, we present faunal data from Level H and Level Ja. Both levels show the same processing patterns on animal resources, but a different spatial distribution of the faunal remains. Level H presents short distance refits that suggest the presence of isolated activity areas without temporal relationships between them. In contrast, Level Ja shows several long distance refits that connect two or more activity areas. The observed differences between both levels could be explained from dissimilar human occupational patterns: presence of small groups with reduced use of the space at Level H and occupations composed by large groups with important spatial requirements at Level Ja. From this perspective, the aim of this paper is to provide criteria from faunal refits to understand the diversity of human occupations at Abric Romaní. This fact shows the importance of these studies to understand the diversity of occupational patterns and ways of life of the human communities of the European Middle Palaeolithic.
Refitting bones to reconstruct the diversity in Middle Palaeolithic human occupations: the case of the Abric Romaní site (Capellades, Barcelona, Spain).
(Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2019) Rosell Ardévol, Jordi; Modesto-Mata, Mario; Fernández-Laso, María Cristina; Modolo, Marta; Blasco, Ruth
The composition and organisational patterns of Pleistocene human groups are a main research when it comes to the evolution of human behaviour. However, these studies are often limited by the restricted characteristics of the archaeological records and do not show enough resolution to make approaches with the necessary precision. The travertinic formations of the Abric Romaní site (Capellades, Barcelona, Spain) provide an ideal scenario to answer some questions about the European Middle Palaeolithic occupational patterns. The hearth-related accumulations from this site show many similarities with those generated by several contemporary forager groups, so each could represent the activity area of a specific social unit. This work contributes to the existing research by examining the faunal refits recovered in six stratigraphic units (H, I, J-Ja, K, L and M) that cover the chronological period between 44 and 55 ka. Faunal refits are analysed using the metric parameters of ethnographic hearth-related accumulations (the hearth itself and its corresponding drop and toss zones); significant relationships are found between many of these elements and the areas of influence of the hearths. In addition, connections between the activity areas from these refits are seen in several stratigraphic units. This phenomenon allows for greater diversity in the occupational patterns of this site to be identified than those recorded only from taphonomic studies. From this perspective, two main occupational models are proposed: (1) the simple model, in which isolated and unconnected hearth-related accumulations are identified (units H, L and—to a lesser extent—K) and (2) the complex model, primarily represented by the identification of several long-distance faunal refits connecting different activity areas (units I, J-Ja and M). Thus, this work provides deeper insights into the behavioural diversity of Middle Palaeolithic human groups, their social organisation and composition and their evolution in the region.
Refitting bones: spatial relationships between activity areas at the Abric Romaní Level M (Barcelona, Spain).
(Journal of Archaeological Science Reports, 2020) Fernández-Laso, María Cristina; Rosell Ardévol, Jordi; Blasco, Ruth; Vaquero, Manuel
Studies on spatial settlement patterns have shed important light on Neanderthal intra-site behavior. Spatial analysis of the human occupations through bone and lithic refitting has contributed to the reconstruction of their settlements, offering temporal interpretations and reconstructions of their activities. Often archaeological units are a consequence of an undetermined number of events, overlapped activities and/or accumulations produced by different taphonomical agents, involving in turn various post-depositional processes. Strict behavioral conclusions may only be valid at sites with a simple taphonomic history; however, biological and non-biological processes seem to alter the most of faunal sets after hominin activity involving even the destruction of some items. The result is a palimpsest that can lead to confusing and mixed events of different nature and independent activities. The deposit of the Abric Romaní site (Capellades, Spain), dated to MIS 3-5, was generated by a sequence of sterile travertine platforms of quick formation, among which silty and sandy units containing evidence of human occupations are located. These exceptional geological conditions allow us to isolate anthropogenic units along the sedimentary sequence. Spatial analysis and bone refits from Level M have shown a highly complex occupational organization. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the knowledge of Neanderthal occupations, suggesting that the inclusion of bone refits in the studies developed in the archaeological sites is a fundamental tool to reconstruct the social and spatial organization patterns.