The Montsant Valley (Localities of Valle del Montsant Priorat, Tarragona), A key core region for...

PLEISTOCENE AND HOLOCENE HUNTER-GATHERERS IN IBERIA AND THE GIBRALTAR STRAIT:

THE CURRENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD208

herd may evidence quasi-domestication. Palyno-logical data contained the excavation report show that the Neolithic landscape was compatible with agriculture, which would concur with the identifi-cation of flint blades used to cut grain.

Traceology has revealed a wide range of ac-tivities performed in this shelter, from butcher-ing, leather and woodwork –linked to the nu-merous fires–, and flint knapping to the use of materials for colouring.

In recent years, research work has been car-ried out as part of programme SGR2014-108 of the Generalitat de Cataluña and programme HAR2011-26193 of the MINECO

1. Presentation

The middle course valley of the Montsant Riv-er, an affluent of the Siurana, the final tributary of the Ebro before its connection to the sea, contains a concentration of prehistoric sites, specifically from the Late Upper Palaeolithic and Epipalaeo-lithic, that makes it a benchmark area in the Ibe-rian Peninsula when researching these two phases of prehistory. This area is located in the district of Priorato, in the province of Tarragona (Catalonia, Spain), in the NE of the Iberian Peninsula (Fig. 1).

The presence of material evidence of the prehis-toric population has been known since the 1930s, when Salvador Vilaseca prospected the area and discovered different many flint artefacts from the El Filador and Els Colls shelters. His work in this area, practically all of which was in the municipal-ity of Margalef de Montsant, continued through to the end of the 1960s, with special emphasis on the aforementioned shelter, El Filador, where he carried out different excavation campaigns until 1968. His numerous publications (Vilaseca 1936; 1949; 1953; 1960; 1968; 1973) demonstrated the vital importance of the sector studied for Epipal-

aeolithic times. The work by Javier Fortea in the early 1970s, re-examining the materials from El Filador for his PhD, elevated the site to a pre-eminent position within the cultural and mate-rial evolution of the Epipalaeolithic in the Iberian Peninsula (Fortea, 1973).

Starting in 1978, the University of Barcelona be-gan an excavation programme in the middle course of the Montsant. The programme began with the re-excavation of El Filador (1979-1997), and the systematic prospecting in the area soon produced results. Excavation was done at three other sites, the Els Colls shelter (1982-1991), the Boix cave (1983-1984) and the L’Hort de la Boquera shelter (since 1998); other surface settlements were located, such as L’Hort d’en Marquet or El Planot (the latter with Mousterian materials, located in the highest terrace of the river), and other settlements already mentioned by Vilaseca, and with very positive potential for the future, were surveyed, such as the cova de la Jaia or Tormos d’en Celoni, among many others. In addition to this, in 1981, the only known example of cave art with an engraved Palaeolithic figure in the NE of the peninsula was discovered; this was a figure of a deer, found in the inner galleries of the cova de la Taverna (Fullola and Viñas, 1985; Fig 4.2), and while initially this appeared out of place, it is much more coherent in light of the Late Palaeolithic chronological context of the sites in the Montsant Valley that we present in this paper. In regard to a different matter, the con-struction of a dam required an urgent excavation in

The Montsant Valley (Localities of Valle

del Montsant Priorat, Tarragona), A key

core region for Prehistory in the NE of

Iberian Peninsula

Pilar García-Argüelles*Jordi Nadal*

Josep Mª Fullola*

* Adscripción de los tres autores: SERP (Seminari d’Estudis i Recerques Prehistòriques) de la Universidad de Barcelona, área de Prehis-toria, Departamento de Prehistoria, Historia Antigua y Arqueología, Facultad de Geografía e Historia, Universidad de Barcelona; calle Montalegre, 6, E-08001, Barcelona. Correspondent author: [email protected]

EBRO VALLEY, PYRENEES AND PRE-PYRENEES 209

the L’Auferí shelter, which was carried out by archae-ologists from our group in the early 1990s.

All of these excavations clearly demonstrated the richness of the area; in consequence, since 1978, the University of Barcelona, first with re-search programmes directed by one of us (JMF) and later, since 1986, through the SERP (Seminari d’Estudis i Recerques Prehistòriques), and with different co-directors of the different excavations, with special dedication by the other two authors of this paper (PG-A and JN), has been working continuously in the middle sector of the Mont-sant, in the municipality of Margalef de Montsant.

2. Geoarchaeological information

The Montsant Valley gets its name from the Montsant Range, located to the SW of the Central Catalan Depression. Geographically, the Mont-sant Range is oriented NE to SW, with a total length of 19 km, and approximately 30 km from

the Mediterranean coast. Geologically, Oligocene conglomerates predominate, reaching thicknesses of up to 300 m, with a sandy matrix and calcar-eous cement. Alternating with the conglomerates are layers of red clays, gypsum, and flint nodules, which erode much more easily and create rounded shapes, which served as shelters under which the Prehistoric peoples lived.

In the area between Margalef de Montsant and Bisbal de Falset, the river loses a significant part of its erosion capacity, which has protected the dif-ferent archaeological sites in the area.

Dr. Bergadà (Bergadà, 1998) has proposed an evolutionary and chronological reconstruction of the sedimentary sequence of the middle course of the Montsant River.

Prior to 10.950BP

Phase 1: alluvial deposit with significant in-tensity, with several m of gravel and sand, located

Figure 1. Location of the Montsant Valley, in the NE of the Iberian Peninsula.



mainly on the concave bank of the river. Probably occurred during the Upper Pleistocene, which would correspond to terrace level T2. Level IV of L’Hort de la Boquera and level IX of the Els Colls shelter.

Phase 2: period of lower alluvial intensity, with sand deposits. Level VII of the Els Colls shelter and level II of L’Hort de la Boquera.

Phase 3: time of flooding with local additions (falling blocks), level IV and V of the Els Colls shelter.

From 10,950– 10,050 BP

Phase 4: flat flood area (bioturbated sandy silts) with local additions, falling blocks from the ledges of the Els Colls shelter (levels IV, III and II) and from L’Hort de la Boquera (level II), with local runoff contributions.

The environmental conditions were wet and cold, based on the data from the Els Colls shelter, while L’Hort de la Boquera had less moist condi-tions. Runoff processes began to operate, level III and IV of L’Hort de la Boquera, and the slope de-posits began to form in a semi-arid environment.

From 10,050– 9,000 BP

Phase 5: the river began to carve its path (T1b) with energetic sedimentation of gravel and sand; level XII of the El Filador shelter.

Phase 6: lower intensity, levels XI, X, and VIII-IX of the El Filador shelter.

Phase 7: flat flood area (bioturbated sandy silt) of this terrace level. This would correspond to the rest of the sequence studied in the El Filador shel-ter. The runoff processes triggered the creation of alluvial cones.

After 9,000BP

Phase 8: the river carves its path and forms ter-race T1a.

3. Archaeological sites

In this section, we will summarise the principal sites in which we have excavated in the area of the middle course of the Montsant River since 1978 and present the most significant findings.

3a. El Filador

The El Filador site is located in the munici-pality of Margalef de Montsant, to the north of the Priorato district, in the province of Tarragona (E(X):311907.8m-N(Y)4572589.3m UTM 31N/ETR S89). It is a large shelter approximately 100 m long, although the archaeological site is located in the central part. It is located 15 m above the current level of the Montsant River, on the left bank, approximately 340 masl, just opposite the town of Margalef de Montsant.

The intermittent news of El Filador given by Salvador Vilaseca were based on prospecting stud-ies prior to the Civil War and in short campaigns during the 1950s and 1960s (Vilaseca 1936; 1949; 1953; 1968; 1973). Since 1979, the University of Barcelona has been in charge of the excavations, (Fullola and García-Argüelles, 1980), directed through the SERP from 1986 to 1997.

Our stratigraphic survey (García-Argüelles et al., 2005; Fig 2) shows 11 distinct levels, charac-terised as follows:

Level 1: Thickness of approximately 15 cm; consisting of disturbed earth, with the incorpora-tion of modern materials. In fact, traces of the level remained in the northwest zone only.

Level 2: 25 cm thick, and also very localized in the northwest zone, where it covers 11 m2. On the whole, ashen grey, with characteristics of intense combustion, and consequently, significant altera-tion of its composition. This corresponds to the first archaeological level.

Level 3: Very thin, with a thickness of approxi-mately 15 cm, and located in the NW sector of the shelter, covering just 8 m2.

Level T: This torrential addition overlaid level 4 and covered the entire surface area of the site. This addition came from a lateral flow. Its thickness de-creases from one metre, in the SE sector, until it disappears on the opposite side. It also included materials belonging to level 4 in its matrix of peb-bles and gravel.

Level 4: This level already appeared through-out the entire extension of the site, 20 m2, and in some sectors presented interspersing of torrential additions, mainly in the SE sector. Thickness ap-proximately 25 cm.

Level 5-6: This is one of the double levels based on the sedimentological study, but from the archaeo-logical point of view, it was impossible to differen-


tiate it. Thickness between 10 and 20 cm; covered 8 m2 and was also concentrated in the NW sector.

Level 7: This is one of the thickest levels, 41 cm, and 27 m2 excavated. In the SE zone, this level was connected directly with level 4, and since they had the same composition, it was very difficult to distinguish between them.

Level 8-9: Had the same characteristics as level 5-6 and a thickness of 76 cm, although just 28 cm correspond to the archaeological level; the rest was made up of flood sand.

Levels 10 and 11, sterile from the archaeologi-cal point of view, and that reached the underlying terrace of the Montsant River, T1.

Figure 2: Stratigraphic diagram of the El Filador shelter, and cross-sections at metres 4 and 10 (from García-Argüelles et al., 2005: 69).



Culturally, El Filador presents a continuous se-quence from microlaminar phases, which today we tend to assimilate into a transition with the end of the Upper Palaeolithic, until the moment of Notches and Denticulates, with some ceramic remains, at the end of the occupation.

The lower levels, 8-9, are the ones that appear to correspond to the microlaminar phases, with radio-carbon dating ranging from 11,000 to 10,880 BP un-calibrated; this indicates a range between the twelfth and thirteenth millennium calBC. Backed blades (43%) and backed points (14.4%) predominate. These are followed by burins (16.7%), denticulates (5.2%), and burins (2%). There are also two large non-delineated structures of soil rubificated by fire, as well as different anthropically-contributed stone blocks and two knapping zones (Fig 3.2).

Levels 7, 4 and 3 form the largest part of the geo-metric Epipalaeolithic package. Abrupt retouching predominates, accounting for more than 80%, with few scrapers and even fewer burins. Micro-burins, a clear indicator of the geometric production, account for between 30 and 45% of the retouched elements. Segments of circles and triangles are the geometric forms present; the former predominates over the lat-ter in the initial moments, with this proportion re-

versing in level 3 (fig 3.3). There are no trapezoids. In level 7, four sandstone polishers intended for pro-ducing arrow shafts were found. There are various pebbles with traces of red paint; in one case, in level 4, up to six red lines were clearly visible (fig 4.3); in another, from level 7, a red stripe covered the en-tire perimeter; and the other examples were entirely covered in ochre, as if they had been submerged in it. An anvil stone for knapping made up of two stones appeared in level 7, in relation to two combustion structures. Other structures on level 4, in addition to ashes and rubifacted earth at the base, presented a fill which included hundreds of shells from Cepaea nemoralis. On this same level, three slate plates were found, intentionally cut in a double bevel; two of these included a palimpsest of finely engraved lines, with traces of ochre in the grooves; the most plausi-ble interpretation is that they were used as supports for cutting soft materials such as skins, which had been prepared with ochre. Level 4 also produced a bone punch, with an oval cross-section, made of a bovine metatarsal, an exceptional case of conserva-tion in soil that has very negatively affected materials of animal origin. The datings obtained for this set of levels are centred on the 10th millennium BP un-calibrated.

Figure 3. 1 –Materials from the Late Upper Palaeolithic of L’Hort de la Boquera, 2– Microlaminar materials from the Epi-palaeolithic, levels 8-9 of El Filador, 3– Materials from the geometric Epipalaeolithic, levels 4-7 of El Filador.


Levels 5-6 are interspersed between level 7 and level 4 in one part of the site, in an area of just 10 m2, in the NW sector of the shelter. Their origins indicate slow, periodic flooding, based on finer granulometry than in levels 7, 4, and 3. The occupations were, therefore much more sporadic and localized in one part of the site. Culturally, however, the representation of geometric ele-ments continues to be significant (12.5% of seg-ments and 7.5% of triangles), along with 42.5% micro-burins; backed bladelets and backed point accounted for 15%, and 12.5% endscrapers; burins are still virtually non-existent. Dated at 9,988±97 BP uncalibrated.

Level 2 of the El Filador shelter covered only 11 m2 and was located in the NW section of the site. Unlike the rest of the sedimentary package, it was grey, as a result of intense combustion.

Industrially, the high percentage of denticulates, especially notches and épines (36%) and side scrapers (13.3%), along with an increase in burins (11%) and the spectacular drop in abrupt retouching (barely 3.9%), means that this level 2 of El Filador enters into the Notches and Denticulates phase recently defined in the Ebro Valley (Alday 2006).

It is also important to highlight the presence of two conical shaped basins filled with flint, twelve fragments of ceramic that is difficult to attribute, small fragments of bone, and charcoal. These ba-sins were obviously excavated during a more re-cent time. Two carbon datings place this in the sec-ond half of the ninth millennium BP uncalibrated.

From the El Filador sequence, we can infer a series of general reflections, which are described below.

The end of the Upper Palaeolithic culture chronologically “merged” with the microlami-nar complex and makes it difficult to distinguish the technological identity of some levels or sites through the record. Some settlements are attribut-ed to the Late Upper Palaeolithic or the microlam-inar Epipalaeolithic, depending on the subjective criteria of the researchers, due to the lack of defini-tion of the industry recovered and the vagueness of its chronology. In theory, this does not affect the records of El Filador itself, but does affect other nearby sites, such as Els Colls, which we will see later in this paper, with chronologies that immedi-ately precede or coincide with it.

Emphasising that it is difficult to distinguish the oldest microlaminar sites from those of the Late Upper Palaeolithic, the microlaminar techni-cal complex probably developed fully (with pos-sible earlier roots) in the 12th millennium BP and would reach its floruit in the 11th millennium BP (depending, we repeat, on the number of absolute datings) to languish throughout the 10th millen-nium BP, a phase in which there are few datings.

The transition from the microlaminar to geo-metric complex should not be understood as a break, because the appearance of geometric ele-ments does not mean the disappearance of the microlaminar component. On the contrary, we see that the backed elements continue to be very important (24% in level 7, and 24.2% in level 4). And in fact, according to the dating table, the ge-ometric complex began at the same time as the maximum expansion of the microlaminar com-plex, in the 11th millennium BP. This could lead us to think that the technological innovation rep-resented by the appearance of Epipalaeolithic ge-ometrism would be used initially on certain occa-sions, and in certain circumstances, or to carry out specific functions, while for others, the preference would be to continue with the backed elements of the microlaminar complex. Finally, the presence of the geometric component was ultimately super-

Figure 4: 1– Tracking of naturalist figures engraved in a calcareous block, from the Late Upper Palaeolithic from L’Hort de la Boquera, 2– Tracing of the Palaeolithic engrav-ing of a deer in the Cova de la Taverna, 3– Painted pebble from level 4, geometric Epipalaeolithic, from El Filador (58 x41 x 18 mm)



imposed on the microlaminar deposits with no geometric elements, at the time of the maximum expansion of the Filador facies – which technolog-ically were Sauveterroid – in the 10th millennium BP (García-Argüelles and Nadal, 1998; García-Argüelles et al., 2013). This, in turn, is presented in some sites, with a much lower frequency, until the 9th millennium BP.

We need to contradict the assertion by other authors regarding the high percentage of denticu-lates in all levels of El Filador. This is true only in level 2, of Notches and Denticulates / Neolithic, and we would like to reassert the data: on level 8-9 we have 10 denticulate elements; on level 7, 16; on level 5-6, 1; on level 4, 9 and on level 3, 4 (5.8%). There is not a high percentage of den-ticulate tools, so El Filador cannot be used to talk about a new facies of Notches and Denticulates, located between the microlaminar and geometric, which other researchers have located in the Ebro river basin and the Central Plateau, at sites such as Forcas (Utrilla and Mazo, 1997), Mendandia, Atx-ose, Peña 14, or El Ángel (Alday, 2002).

El Filador does not have the latest facies of the geometric Epipalaeolithic of the Fortea classification, which is characterised by the presence of trapezoids and the disappearance of the micro-burin technique. In our area, we have la Balma of la Margineda (level 4) and those of the Ebro Valley (Pontet, Botiquería, Forcas) According to the datings of Balma Margin-eda, its chronology would be the 9th millennium, coinciding with the most modern, and recent datings of the Filador facies – Sauveterroid.

In addition to the lack of data for trapezoidal facies in Catalonia, the presence of a series of technical complexes that had not been attributed to the typology established by Fortea has been consolidated, and have been cited as sites with “atypical” industry. With an increasingly expand-ing record, this group has consolidated itself as the cultural model for the 9th millennium BP, which could explain the lack of sites with trapezoids. The chronologies of these sites extend to the 8th mil-lennium BP. In any case, for the time being, the evolution detected in the Ebro Valley does not ap-pear to be reproduced: Microlaminar Epipalaeo-lithic, Mesolithic with Notches and Denticulates, and Mesolithic geometric with trapezoids (Utrilla, 2002). The Catalonian record for the 8th millen-nium BP is still too poor.

At El Filador, we are missing the last two faci-es which could clarify the transition to a Neolithic

without datings and with the small quantity of ce-ramic of level 2. The southern zone of Catalonia still has a gap, as noted by Martí and Juan-Cabanilles (1997:237), despite the fact that there have already been significant new developments in the Pyrenees areas (Petit et al., 1996; Pallarès, Bordas and Mora 1997).

The technological and economic model that we observed in El Filador was successful in the area for just over two millennia. After that, there is a chronological and cultural hiatus until the ar-rival of the Neolithic. Other sites in the area such as El Auferí (Adserias et al., 1996) or L’Hort de la Boquera corroborate this coherent development and an occupation of the territory that leads to a rational exploitation of the biotic and abiotic resources in one of the few areas in which these spatial distribution studies have been able to be carried out in a geographically limited area.

3b. L’Hort de la Boquera

This is a small shelter, no more than 9 m long and 4 m deep, that has lost part of its ledge and that conserves an excavatable surface area of no more than 20 m2, half of which is below the con-served section of the ledge. It is oriented S-SE, is located on the right bank of the Montsant Riv-er, approximately 25 m above the current level, and approximately 400 masl (E(X):312108.8m-N(Y)4573254.3m UTM 31N/ETR S89).

Its stratigraphy is arranged on 4 levels, level I, which contains 2 sublevels (Ia and Ib) was formed by the processes of streams and falling blocks from the ledge. This level is archaeologi-cally sterile. Level II is made up of a sandy silt matrix. It has a thickness of 47 cm, and is the only archaeological level at the site in which dif-ferent habitation moments have been detected, as we will discuss later in this paper. The stra-tigraphy of the site is completed with level III, which is made up of fine sand that contains some flint remains, but that do not indicate stable hu-man occupation, and level IV, made up mainly of pebbles and gravel, and which rests on ter-race T2 of the Montsant Rivers, 24 m above the current level (Fullola, 1978; Bergadà, 1993:157-165; García-Argüelles et al., i.p.).

In regard to the human activity of level II, so far, more than 30,000 lithic elements have been recov-ered, mainly made of flint, but there is also a small number of elements made of slate and limestone.


2.15% of the elements have been retouched and endscrapers and backed elements predominate. Den-ticulates and truncated tools were found in smaller proportions. Burins play a smaller role, on fracture, on retouch, and dihedrals (Fig 3.1). There are also round slate plates with bevelled edges and markings that are currently being studied. In this sense, there is a large limestone block on which a figure of a bird, possibly a crane, has been engraved, surrounded by other clearer figures that can be interpreted as an-thropomorphic (García-Argüelles et al., i.p.; Fig 4.1). It appears that the presence of portable figurative art begins to be constant in the sites of the Late Upper Palaeolithic in southern Catalonia, as in the case of Molí del Salt and Sant Gregori (Falset).

Paleo-environmentally, the paleobotanical data is limited to the data provided by the anthraco-logical studies conducted by Dr. Allué. There is a significant presence of Pinus sylvestris type and some elements of Juniperus sp.. In terms of fauna, despite the deficient conservation of bone, they cannot be said to be scarce. Only the presence of Capra pyrenaica and Oryctolagus cuniculus can be cited. The group is completed by different Cepaea nemoralis, which are abundant in El Filador. The gathering of terrestrial molluscs in the Catalonian area is very frequent in the Epipaleolithic sites, but not for Palaeolithic occupations. In this sense, L’Hort de la Boquera is one of the first indicators of the expansion of the dietary spectrum in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula during the Pleis-tocene-Holocene transition.

The datings of the phases of occupations range from 12,250±60 BP to 11,850±45 BP and 11,775±45 BP, which places it, along with the cul-tural characteristics that we just mentioned, in a phase that corresponds to the Late Upper Palaeo-lithic. (Mangado et al., 2010; Fullola et al., 2012).

3c. Els Colls

This is a shelter which is more than 50 m long and between 2 and 8 m high, and up to 6 m deep in some sectors. It is oriented towards the SW and is located on the right bank of the Montsant River, 20.7 m above the current level, and approximately 400 masl (E(X):312108.8m-N(Y)4573254.3m UTM 31N/ETR S89).

Sedimentalogically, 8 levels have been identified (Bergadà, 1993:186-191); level I was formed re-cently. Level II is the most archaeologically rich, with more than 9,000 lithic elements. This occupation is

settled on fallen blocks of conglomerate (level III). During the excavation, we observed that the blocks of conglomerate were directly above level IV, whose lithic material presented, in many cases, fracturing of the pieces (Bergadà, 1998). This level IV was exca-vated in a smaller sector of the shelter, and therefore offered fewer lithic elements (1,500). Below level V, to the river terrace, the levels are sterile.

Abrupt elements predominate in level II (backed bladelets and backed points). In terms of simple retouched tools, side scrapers are most prevalent, and there are also burins, which in many cases are double burins, and on truncated elements. Fauna is not very abundant and appears to be highly fragmented; most elements belong to large mammals and are splinters whose size indi-cates intense activity for the exploitation of hunt-ing products (deer, wild goat, etc.). In many cases, the elements present evidence of combustion pro-cesses, connected with the appearance of a home on level II. There are traces of pollen, mainly from Pinus and Quercus t.ilex. Three absolute datings have been obtained, two by C14: 10,950±120 BP and 10,050±85 BP, and a third by thermolumines-cence 13,000±1,000 BP. (Fullola et al., 1993).

In the underlying level IV, we documented a predominance of simple retouching, endscrapers, and denticulates, followed by abrupt retouched tools such as backed bladelets and backed points. The study of the spatial distribution of the archae-ological material has determined the existence of an important area of knapping and a combustion structure. There are no traces of fauna.

The archaeological levels of the Els Colls shel-ter present a series of industrial characteristics that are chronologically and culturally homogeneous. The large dimensions of different backed elements could lead us to think of early phases of the Upper Palaeolithic, but the rest of the sites in the valley, the aforementioned datings, and other technologi-cal details clearly place the site in the Late Upper Palaeolithic (Rodríguez Baylach, unpublished).

3d. La Cova del Boix

The cave is an opening in a cliff on the left bank of the Montsant River. It has a single chamber approxi-mately 25 m wide by 15 m deep, open in the NE direction (E(X):313992.0m-N(Y)4573860.0 UTM 31/ETR S89) (García-Argüelles and Fullola, 2002).

It was excavated in 1982/83. The stratigraphy is inverted due to the disturbances caused by the use of



the space by carboneros (charcoal makers) who used the cave as a shelter. However, the recovered materi-als indicated that prehistoric occupation had existed. Just over one thousand lithic elements were recov-ered, of which 41 are retouched pieces; backed ele-ments clearly predominate, with some endscrapers, which outnumber the burins. There are some traces of fauna, but it is difficult to distinguish between the old elements and the modern additions. Remains from wild animals such as Cervus elaphus or Capra pyrenaica which can be attributed to prehistoric ad-ditions have been recovered.

No radiocarbon dating is available for this site, but its industrial characteristics place it closer to the cases mentioned before of Els Colls and L’Hort de la Boquera, which involves a chronological-cultural attribution to the Late Upper Palaeolith-ic with the characteristic of a higher proportion of endscrapers with respect to burins (García-Argüelles and Fullola, 2002).

3e. L’Abric de l’Auferí

This is the only site that was excavated as an emergency excavation due to the impact of the construction of the Margalef reservoir. It was exca-vated in the early 1990s under the direction of the members of our group Maria Adserias and Raül Bartolí. Once again, this is a shelter that opens in the southern direction, on the left bank of the River, approximately 22 m above the current level (E(X):315173.8m-N(Y)4574478.8m UTM 31N/ETR S89) (Adserias and Bartrolí, 2007).

In this excavation, two sectors were opened. In one, abundant ceramics were found in the first level, which was one of the few cases of Montsant sites with occupation with Neolithic chronology. The most interesting sector is the one described in sector II, which contains 5 levels. Level I corresponds to the surface level of sandy matrix, with a large quantity of gravel from 1 to 3 cm, and a significant organic com-ponent; it incorporates archaeological materials from the lower levels as a result of agricultural disturbances. Level II is located in the parts protected by the shelter ledge. Its matrix is made up of the degraded materials of the wall of the shelter and incorporates archaeo-logical material from the previous level in the contact zone. Level III, divided into two sublevels, presents, in its lower section, the true archaeological level, with many lithic elements but with no ceramic. Level IV, with a silty matrix, only presented a few lithic ele-ments incorporated from the upper level; and level

V corresponds to the terrace on which the site is set-tled, which consists mostly of river pebbles. More than 20,000 lithic elements were collected, almost all flint, of which 3.4% are retouched, with endscrap-ers predominating, followed by elements with abrupt retouching and finally, burins. Traces of fauna are very scarce and very poorly conserved; it can only be said that Capra pyrenaica, along with Cervus elaphus and Oryctolagus cuniculus predominate. There is one re-liable radiocarbon dating, which also corresponds to the base of the sequence, level V, which is sterile. The date is 12,317±114 BP, and for the reasons men-tioned regarding the location of the sample, it was not taken into consideration by the excavation directors (M.Adserias personal communication). Nevertheless, in our opinion, it gives a post quem date for the ar-chaeological package of level III and is similar to the ones obtained at other sites in the area, with signifi-cant technotypological similarities, such as L’Hort de la Boquera and Els Colls. (Adserias et al., 1996).

3f. Other sites in the middle valley of the Montsant River

Having presented the principal excavated sites, it is important to remember that, as mentioned in the introduction, that the research by S. Vilaseca and our own excavations have identified many other sites, whether caves, shelters, or outside, in the middle valley of the Montsant River. This makes this one of the areas with the highest con-centration of archaeological stations in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula.

L’ Hort d’en Marquet, located in 1980, is an area with an abundance of flint on the surface and which presents, in one of the areas in which lithic material has been found, stratigraphy that is currently very degraded due to human activi-ties during historic times. In a second level of this sequence, with a thickness of approximately 10-15 centimetres, a concentration of archaeological material was detected. This consists of retouched pieces that included scrapers, burins, and knapped dorsal elements. Without absolute dating, and with the data from the other excavated sites (Els Colls and L’Hort de la Boquera), it is very feasi-ble that the site corresponds to the Late Upper Palaeolithic. (Fullola and García-Argüelles, 1980) .

El Planot would be another one of these sites. This is a surface site, the only one located on the upper terrace of the river, more than 30 m above the current level, on the borders of the municipali-ties of Margalef de Montsant and La Bisbal de Falset.


Approximately 50 pieces were recovered, with side scrapers and denticulate tools predominating. For this reason, along with its location on the upper terrace, the site is supposed to correspond to a Mousterian chronology (Fullola and García-Argüelles, 1982-83).

4. Conclusion

After describing some of the most important sites, we feel that the archaeological importance of the Montsant Valley has been clearly explained, especially in regard to the final phases of the hunt-er-gatherer communities of the Late Upper Pal-aeolithic and the Epipalaeolithic. In this sense, be-yond this chronological margin, for now, we have just one site that could be attributed to the Middle Palaeolithic (El Planot) and two occupations that could be attributed to the Neolithic (on the upper levels of l’Auferí and El Filador). It is quite likely that the geographic and agricultural attractiveness of the area for hunter-gatherers was lost, at least in regard to agricultural potential.

The majority of the Montsant sites are very ho-mogeneous in regard to a series of characteristics, which include chronology, when reliable datings are available. Most of them are occupations in shelters located on the second terrace level of the river, at heights above the current level that range from 20 to 25 metres. They are located on both sides of the Montsant, but they all coincide at a position of convergence between the river and the end of cliffs that face it, and that mark the start of the ranges between which it runs, the Mont-sant Range on the left, and the Llena Range on the right.

The most recurrent animal species is the Capra pyrenaica. The sites normally have a single phase, with a single archaeological level (Boix, L’Auferí, L’Hort de la Boquera), or several archaeological levels that correspond to the same chronological-cultural phases (Els Colls). The predominant lithic elements are backed elements or endscrapers, which

are always more abundant than burins. Its datings range between the middle of the 8th and middle of the 12th millennia BP, which would make them coincide with the final phases of the Magdelenian. Despite this, though, they do present some specific aspects, such as the aforementioned scarcity of bu-rins and the predominance of endscrapers, the lack of bone industry (although this may be due to post-depositional biases) or in some cases, the presence of figurative portable art on lithic supports (L’Hort de la Boquera), which starts to become generalised in the Tarragona sites of this time (Molí del Salt, perhaps Sant Gregori), and that brings them closer to syn-chronic sites in the neighbouring zone of Castellón. Based on all of this, we think that it could be attrib-uted to the Late Upper Palaeolithic, coinciding with what we know as the Late Upper Magdalenian, with some regionally-specific characteristics. For now, ac-cording to the data on the lithic industry, fauna, and locations of the sites, we suppose that these sites from the Late Upper Palaeolithic in the Montsant Valley could present a similar pattern of occupation: sites close to the river, which would allow the gath-ering of flint, which was available in abundance in the river, and which were possibly exploited for food resources. They would also facilitate access from the cliffs to the higher areas of the surrounding moun-tain ranges for specialised hunting of mountain goats, or that took advantage of the intersection between cliffs and the river to wait for this prey when it de-scended from the mountains to be captured.

Finally, and although the site currently repre-sents an exception to the model explained before, we have the El Filador shelter, which, thanks to its stratigraphic sequence and its complete dat-ing series, as well as the reinterpretation of some of its levels, continues to serve as a reference for the systematization of the different facies of the Epipalaeolithic in the northeast area of the Ibe-rian Peninsula, with the presence of microlami-nar, geometric, notches and denticulates moments (García-Argüelles et al., 2005; García-Argüelles et al., 2013).

ROBERT SALA RAMOS (EDITOR)

EUDALD CARBONELL | JOSÉ MARÍA BERMÚDEZ CASTRO | JUAN LUIS ARSUAGA(COORDINATORS)

PLEISTOCENE AND HOLOCENE HUNTER-GATHERERS IN IBERIA AND THE GIBRALTAR STRAIT:THE CURRENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD

The Montsant Valley (Localities of Valle del Montsant Priorat, Tarragona), A key core region for...

Documents

Transcript of The Montsant Valley (Localities of Valle del Montsant Priorat, Tarragona), A key core region for...