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Mineralogical and geochemical results derived from analyses of the pottery ensemble documented in the Cave of Los Gitanos (Castro Urdiales, Spain) are presented in this paper. This site contains an archaeological deposit formed in the mid‐fifth millennium cal bc, which has yielded one of the oldest pottery assemblages in northern Spain. The analysis of the pottery remains has focused on both petrographic (thin‐section and XRD) and geochemical characterization (SEM–EDS) of samples selected after a macroscopic study. The mineralogical analysis has revealed procurement of raw materials from different sources, as well as different manufacturing processes. In addition, the petrographic analysis has shown different methods of manufacture, such as pottery tempered with calcite, limestone, ophite (ophitic dolerite) and grog, and fabrics with non‐modified clays. Variations observed between the oldest assemblage (Sub‐levels A4 and A3) and the most recent one (Sub‐level A2) suggest a modification in pottery‐making practices between the fifth and the third millennia cal bc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shellfish metrical data are a source of information about the exploitation of marine resources in the past. In this study, we propose a methodological approach based on the size structures of different rocky intertidal gastropod species. Three limpet species ( Patella vulgata, Patella intermedia and Patella ulyssiponensis) and the toothed topshell Osilinus lineatus are studied from two sites in Cantabrian Spain: La Garma A and Los Gitanos caves over a period of 10 000 years, covering the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. Data are also supplied about a further sea snail species, the periwinkle Littorina littorea (Upper Magdalenian). A reduction in size can be seen, between the upper Magdalenian and the late Neolithic, in the case of the first four species. The explanation for this decline is probably related to the climate change that occurred in the transition between the Late Pleistocene and the Holocene, but it is possible that human impact might also have influenced shell sizes in the Mesolithic and Neolithic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]