Long-distance movements during the Last Glacial Maximum in the Pyrenean mountain Range: Fresh insights for Montlleó archaeological site (Prats i Sansor, Cerdanya, Spain)

Abstract

The archaeological work developed at the site of Montlleó for more than twenty years has allowed documenting a long sequence of human occupation that begins during the LGM, around 23000 cal BP and ends after the LGM, around 17000 cal BP. To the obtained radiocarbon dates and the typological variability of the lithic industry, we can now add recent studies on micro-spatial distribution that have allowed documenting at least three horizons of human occupation linked to three chronocultural periods: the Upper Solutrean, the Badegoulian and the Lower Magdalenian.

While the Lower Magdalenian occupation has been extensively studied and published, data regarding earlier occupations remains very limited to date. Therefore, in this paper, we will present a specific analysis of lithic industries, focusing on the study of the Upper Solutrean and Badegoulian markers. We have undertaken a complete archaeopetrological approach, that has included LA-ICP-MS geochemical analyses, and a technological approach on a selection of typological tracers from both periods (raclettes and notched points). The results have allowed us to confirm the stratigraphic and chronocultural succession between the Upper Solutrean and the Badegoulian and we have been able to identify different technological traditions and a wide variety of chert types exploited, whose origin is located on both sides of the Pyrenean Mountain range. Thus, these results are evidencing the existence of divergences between the territoriality of the Upper Solutrean and the Badegoulian groups.