El Mirón Cave - Upper Palaeolithic 'Hotel' Of Cantabria

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Here's an update on the Cantabrian cave site of El Mirón, the scene of excavations since 1996, when Laurence Straus, of the University of New Mexico, and Manuel González Morales of the University of Cantabria decided that despite the looted and disrupted nature of the cave interior, the site was worth investigating, a hunch that has since paid huge archaeological dividends. This latest report comes from lead author Ana Belén Marín Arroyo, who in conjunction with Straus and others, has been following up on previous work at the cave.

"El Mirón Cave is located in a strategic point next to the access routes to the high zone of the River Asón and has a wide visibility," Arroyo told Discovery News. "It's a mountain settlement next to the coastal plain that would allow a seasonal residential mobility from the coast towards the interior at summer time, coinciding with the migrations of red deer herds to the high altitude grass."

Arroyo, a researcher in the Department of Geography, Prehistory and Archaeology at the Universidad del Pais Vasco in Spain, said engraved red deer shoulder blades, along with images of red deer hinds found at the site were probably "stylistic markers of a regional band."

In this particular study, blackened bones from a room at the rear of the cave were taken away for analysis, to determine whether they had been painted, burned, or attained their colouration through some other process. As we see...

The scientists first determined that the bones belonged to butchered red deer, ibex, roe deer, chamois (a European goat antelope) and small carnivores. The tests revealed the bones had not been painted or burned. Instead, the team determined black staining was due to the presence of manganese oxides and hydroxides. In an amazing bit of detective work, the scientists discovered that abandoned organic matter — basically leftover meat and other food waste — decomposed in the room with the bones. Compounds generated by the process then increased metal solubility and mobility, "favoring the migration of manganese to buried bones."

Based on the timing of this natural decomposition, along with clues provided by deer dental remains, the researchers believe the hunters killed mostly red deer in the spring and summer, during which time they stayed in the cave. They likely occupied the cave's large, well-lit outer vestibule, and used the interior room with the bones as a makeshift place for garbage. From this is can be determined that the cave had been used as a seasonal hunting-camp, hence the comparison with a 'residential hotel', although we assume the Magdalenian hunters didn't have to pay anyone for the privilege of staying there.

Here's some further comment on the site from Julien Riel-Salvatore, writing in November 2006, who opens by referring to the incised deer bone mentioned above...

This is a motif that has been found on similar incised artifacts in other neighboring sites, and bears resemblance to parietal depictions of deer found in neighboring Magdalenian sites as well. This has enabled Straus and his colleague to hypothesize the existence of a relatively tightly bound cultural network defined, among other things, on the basis of shared iconography and stylistic conventions. 16,000 years ago. Very, very neat stuff.

In addition, a sondage at the bottom of the excavated area has revealed the presence of a (so far) undifferentiated Early Upper Paleolithic level dated to about 27 kya (uncalibrated) and Late Mousterian levels going back to 41 kya (uncalibrated). Unfortunately, these lower levels are not very well-known yet, having only been excavated over a very small area, but they're there, which is cool in and of itself. All in all, a fantastic site, one which really gives a good view of diachronic changes in site function, land-use patterns, and 'cultural' traditions.

An interesting detail regarding the actual discovery of the engraved deer, related by Laurence Straus, at this UNM page...

Straus says this art form is typical of the region and the period in which it was created. But the context in which it was found is puzzling. It took time and talent to craft the piece, but it was found in the garbage—along with other bones, spear points, and stone tools. “It’s amazing to me how one of the most spectacular finds of my career was apparently considered disposable trash by the ice age hunters,” says Straus.

As we know, there is a vast amount of archaeological material that has been recovered from all over the world, precisely because much of it was regarded as refuse by the original owners, makers and consumers, little dreaming that people thousands of years into their future would be able to reconstruct details of their lives and environments from discarded remains and artifacts. In the case of El Mirón, archaeological evidence suggests the cave was in use from 41,000 bp to around 10,000 bp in the Late Upper Palaeolithic, and use continued through the Mesolithic, as we see from this final detail on the linked page...

Straus and González Morales have been able to prove that the Mesolithic foragers of the Cantabrian coast didn’t begin to farm, domesticate animals, or use pottery until 5,700 years ago—about 800 years after other nearby groups just over the mountains in the Mediterranean-draining Ebro River Valley. As it is, El Mirón has yielded the oldest evidence for agriculture in northern Atlantic Spain. Because of this, Straus and fellow researchers have wondered why it took the mobile foragers so long to adapt to an agrarian lifestyle.

Straus thinks the thick forests that separated the mountains from the coast 10,000 years ago could have been a major barrier between the two groups, but the large time gap still puzzles him. This and other questions posed by excavation at the El Mirón cave are complex, and for Straus and his students, the hunt for the answers continues.

As Julien suggests in his post, this is an exceptional site, particularly with regard to the tens of millennia that it played host to human foragers, and the amount and types of material that have been retrieved from its depths. Expect to hear more from El Mirón over the years, as further investigations are undertaken.

further reading: The Paleoanthropology of Iberia: A Brief History and Perspective, Parts I & II, by Lawrence Guy Straus

see also :: Los Fogones del Paleolítico - El Mundo.es