Recycling and Implications for Neanderthal Productive Strategies in the Stratigraphic Unit viii of the El Salt Rockshelter (Alcoi, Eastern Iberia)

ABSTRACT

Recycling was an activity carried out by ancient hunter-gatherer populations. It has been demonstrated by many studies on this matter. However, there are main issues in relation to it that are still under debate: what we call recycling, how we identify it, and what implications it has for the technoeconomic dynamics of these groups. In order to contribute to this topic, we present here the Neandertal flint materials from the stratigraphic unit viii of the El Salt rockshelter (Alcoi, Alacant, eastern Iberia). We have selected a series of artifacts exhibiting time-dependent postgenetic alterations (i.e. white patinas and thermal alteration) that affect previous technical intervention and, additionally, display subsequent anthropogenic actions that reveal an intermediate stage between the initial and the second use. The data obtained point to a principal relationship of recycling with mobility dynamics, and entail implications for Neandertal lithic technology and provisioning.

KEYWORDS:

• Middle paleolithic
• Neandertal
• recycling
• lithic technology
• raw material

Acknowledgements

We are thankful to all the people who participated of the excavation and postexcavation works of the El Salt rockshelter stratigraphic unit viii, especially to Bertila Galván, who was the excavation director and the project main researcher, and, during its first years, also the codirector of the doctoral thesis in which this paper was framed. We also thank the staff of Museu Arqueològic Municipal Camilo Visedo Moltó for their support back then and now, and the anonymous reviewers for their ideas on previous versions of this paper.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Universitat d’Alacant [grant number UAFPU2018-049]; Institut Alacantí de Cultura Juan Gil-Albert [grant number 614303]; the Valencian Autonomous Government [grant number ACIF/2021/407]; the Spanish Central Government [grant number PID2022-138590NB-C41]; and Universidad de La Laguna [grant number 2022/20262].

Notes on contributors

Alejandro Mayor

Alejandro Mayor, PhD in Prehistory from Universitat d’Alacant (UA; Sant Vicent del Raspeig, Spain). The paper presented here was carried out in that institution. His thesis focused on the technoeconomic dynamics of flint acquisition and management, as well as on the mobility patterns of Neandertal populations in the Serpis river basin in eastern Iberia. His research concerns are centered on the relationship between technical and technological behaviors, the mobility of hunter-gatherer groups, and any changes that may have occurred in these aspects over time.

Santiago Sossa-Ríos

Santiago Sossa-Ríos, PhD candidate in Prehistory at Universitat de València (UV; València, Spain), and predoctoral researcher at the same institution. His academic journey is centered on the formation of lithic assemblages over time and space. He employs an approach that involves lithic studies and GIS analyses to deconstruct archaeological palimpsests, focusing particularly on two Neandertal sites in the Iberian peninsula: El Salt and El Pastor. By delving into the temporal and spatial dimensions of lithic assemblages, his research seeks to unravel the complexities of Neandertal behaviors.

Manuel Vaquero

Manuel Vaquero, PhD in Prehistory from Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV; Tarragona, Spain), and researcher at the same institution. His research career has followed different lines focused on the archaeological study of Paleolithic and Mesolithic populations, paying special attention to the Middle and Upper Paleolithic. These research lines have been mainly focused on issues related to lithic technology and spatial organization. This research activity has produced more than 200 scientific publications, 62 of them in international journals with an impact factor in the Science Journal Impact Factor (SCI). He has been director of archaeological excavations in different Middle Paleolithic, Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic sites: Molí del Salt rockshelter (1999–2022), Agut rockshelter (1999), Els Pinyons rockshelter (2000–2001), La Costa de Can Manel rockshelter (2003–2006), Valdavara cave (2007–2013), La Consagració rockshelter (2015–2023) and En Pau cave (2019–2023). He has been member of the scientific team in different research projects and main researcher of the projects Moments of Neanderthal life: behavioural patterns and high-resolution archaeology, Face to face: study of Neanderthal behaviour from high resolution contexts, and Neanderthal behaviour and palaeoecology in Mediterranean ecosystems.

Cristo M. Hernández

Cristo M. Hernández, PhD in Prehistory from Universidad de La Laguna (ULL; San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Spain), and assistant professor at the same institution. His research interests have focused on the study of the exploitation of lithic resources in continental and insular environments and their potential to analyse the variability of human behavior in Neandertal and sapiens populations in different geographic and chronocultural contexts. This research activity has produced more than 100 publications, 33 from which in international journals with impact factor in the Science Journal Impact Factor (SCI). He has been the director of archaeological excavations in Middle Paleolithic and Canarian aboriginal sites: El Salt rockshelter (1996–2023), El Pastor rockshelter (2005–2023), and Las Estacas cave (2018–2023). He has been member of the scientific team in different research projects and main researcher of the project Volcanism and societies in island contexts: eruptions, environments and human settlements in Tenerife (Canary Islands) during the last 2,000 years.