Ignacio Martín Lerma

Traceology on Metal. Use-Wear Marks on Copper-Based Tools and Weapons

Use-wear analysis of metallic objects had a late start when compared to lithic use-wear studies, but an enthusiastic one, focusing mainly on the functionality of prehistoric weapons. The initial moment of this research shows, with some exceptions, a certain lack of method which limits results, both in experimentation design and in typifying the observed marks. The mechanical properties of copper-based materials determine their response to use. Plastic deformations are the most abundant marks identified in the archaeological record. These marks allow us to infer evidence of use, which can change many of the interpretations about metallic objects and their context.

THE SOLUTREAN SITE OF AMBROSIO CAVE (ALMERÍA, SPAIN) New Perspectives from Andalucia

Recent research in Ambrosio Cave, in the southeastern corner of the Iberian Peninsula, has permitted us to establish more precisely the chronostratigraphic position of major Solutrean occupations within the late Upper Pleistocene. The calibration of a new radiocarbon date for Level IV (Upper Solutrean) and six other new dates (5 of them by AMS) for level II (Final Upper Solutrean) allows us to place these two cultural phases between Greenland Stadial (GS) 3 (end of OIS 3) and the end of Greenland Interstadial (GI) 2, with the main occupation of Level II happening after Heinrich Event (H) 2, corresponding with the interstadial that came just before the Last Glacial Maximum (GS 2). The new dates clearly modify the previously reported chronology, making the whole Ambrosio record much older than once thought. In addition, the discovery of cave wall panels decorated with engravings and paintings, covered by Upper Solutrean sediments, allows us to place the art precisely within the Middle Solutrean (Level VI), which must be placed between GI 5 and GI 3. Excavation of “the microstratigraphy sector” within Level II (Final or Evolved Upper Solutrean) has yielded 21 coupled hearth lenses (one of them with a stone feature) and thousands of very typical Solutrean flint implements, including characteristic barbed-stemmed points, shouldered points, and leaf points. Our analyses suggest that some of them may have been arrowheads propelled with bows.