Under the guidance of Dr. Lawrence Guy Straus (PI), Lisa M. Fontes (co-PI) will study stone artifacts from five Lower Magdalenian (c. 17-14,500 radiocarbon years ago) archaeological sites in northern Atlantic Spain: Altamira, El Mirón, El Juyo, El Rascaño, and Ekain. Data collected will be used to explore questions of human technological adaptations to the harsh, cold, but variable climate in the Cantabrian region immediately following the Last Glacial Maximum. This project will expand archaeological understanding of prehistoric hunter-gatherer behavior, specifically how people organized the collection and transport of raw materials and the manufacture, use and discard of their tools as part of a successful adaptive system.
This research has two objectives: (1) to learn more about how humans adapted their stone technologies to diverse environmental circumstances during the Magdalenian, a time when a regional culture, characterized by its distinctive stone and bone artifacts and art, flourished; and (2) to widen the lens through which archaeologists understand human behavior in the Stone Age by integrating a robust theoretical approach (human behavioral ecology) and new analytic methods for analysis of stone artifacts (both tools and manufacturing debris) with direct landscape-level comparisons. These methods will build upon previous Magdalenian research that has provided a general understanding of human behavior in this region and time period. The co-PI hypothesizes that technological organization differed site-circumstantially based on ecotonal variation, yet was adaptively stable overall. Through this research, archaeologists will be able to explicate the relationship of stone tool technology to overall human behavior during the Magdalenian.
This project will have a broader impact beyond its contribution to anthropological knowledge of Magdalenian hunter-gatherers. Through year-long study in Spain, the co-PI will foster international research collaboration among researchers living in the US and Europe who study the Cantabrian Magdalenian. The results of her work will be disseminated to the scientific and public community through peer reviewed journal publications; presentations at local, regional, and professional conferences; a project website written for the general public; and tDAR (the Digital Archaeological Record), an online archive. This research project will be the key to preparing the co-PI for a career as a professional archaeologist. Additionally, the co-PI will apply the results of her research to her future teaching in the US, a goal to which she is dedicated. Data collected will be used to assist in training undergraduates in archaeological methods. Through dissemination of project results, the co-PI will endeavor to improve public understanding of anthropology, archaeology, and methodology in social science.
This project will contribute to ongoing discussion of how prehistoric peoples used technology as a critical means of adaptation; this is relevant to current debates about how humans utilize their technologies in a globalized world. Through studies such as this one, archaeologists can apply understanding of past technological adaptations to current situations where humans must consider the long-term effects of technology and resource management.
