Variation in lithic technological strategies among the Neanderthals of Gibraltar

Ceri Shipton; Christopher Clarkson; Marco Antonio Bernal; Nicole Boivin; Clive Finlayson; Geraldine Finlayson; Darren Fa; Francisco Giles Pacheco; Michael Petraglia

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0065185

Variation in lithic technological strategies among the Neanderthals of Gibraltar

PLoS One. 2013 Jun 6;8(6):e65185. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0065185. Print 2013.

Authors

Ceri Shipton¹, Christopher Clarkson, Marco Antonio Bernal, Nicole Boivin, Clive Finlayson, Geraldine Finlayson, Darren Fa, Francisco Giles Pacheco, Michael Petraglia

Affiliation

¹ School of Social Science, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. c.shipton@uq.edu.au

Abstract

THE EVIDENCE FOR NEANDERTHAL LITHIC TECHNOLOGY IS REVIEWED AND SUMMARIZED FOR FOUR CAVES ON THE ROCK OF GIBRALTAR: Vanguard, Beefsteak, Ibex and Gorham's. Some of the observed patterns in technology are statistically tested including raw material selection, platform preparation, and the use of formal and expedient technological schemas. The main parameters of technological variation are examined through detailed analysis of the Gibraltar cores and comparison with samples from the classic Mousterian sites of Le Moustier and Tabun C. The Gibraltar Mousterian, including the youngest assemblage from Layer IV of Gorham's Cave, spans the typical Middle Palaeolithic range of variation from radial Levallois to unidirectional and multi-platform flaking schemas, with characteristic emphasis on the former. A diachronic pattern of change in the Gorham's Cave sequence is documented, with the younger assemblages utilising more localized raw material and less formal flaking procedures. We attribute this change to a reduction in residential mobility as the climate deteriorated during Marine Isotope Stage 3 and the Neanderthal population contracted into a refugium.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Archaeology*
Caves
Climate
Fossils*
Gibraltar
Neanderthals*
Paleontology*
Population Dynamics

Grants and funding

The data collection for this study was funded by the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research. The wider project of which this study is a part, is funded by H.M. Government of Gibraltar who are also funding the publication costs. Shipton is supported by a University of Queensland Post-doctoral Fellowship. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.