Explaining links from the past: material distribution in Charco Hondo 2 Acheulian archeological site (Madrid, Spain)

Abstract

The study of the lithic assemblage from Charco Hondo 2 (Madrid, Spain) indicates the existence of intense activities related to the quarrying of Miocene flint outcrops, within a drainage context inside the interfluvial plateau of the Manzanares and Jarama rivers (Madrid region). This lithic production was oriented to produce the first stages of large flake bifacial shaping, with an important collection of refitted materials of the Lower/Middle Paleolithic. The sedimentological circumstances and the presence of refitted items initially suggest the existence of good preservation conditions for an open-air site. In this contribution, we present a brief analysis of the geoarchaeological sequence with special attention to depositional and post-depositional processes, in order to determine the extent to which tool distribution and the lithic refitting connections were the consequence of human activity or, on the contrary, the combination of different human and natural agents. This site provides us with a good example to discuss the relevance and significance of particular refitted distributions in open-air quarrying contexts.