Search

The main goal of this paper is to approach the techno-cultural behaviour of the Gravettian groups in NE Iberia through the study of the shell ornaments. Here we present the archaeo-malacological assemblage recovered at the Early Upper Palaeolithic sequence of Foradada Cave (Calafell, Tarragona). Recent excavations have uncovered a stratigraphic sequence formed by three main layers corresponding to the Late Pleistocene. The patterns of the archaeological record points to short and ephemeral human occupations, while most of the time the cave is occupied by medium and large size carnivores. The techno-typology and the first chronological approaches place these occupations along the Middle-to-Upper Palaeolithic transition, from the Chatelperronian to the Gravettian. The uppermost of these layers has provided a malacological assemblage composed of more than 160 shell beads that were mostly recovered in less than 1m2. A ?first direct AMS C14 age on a single Homalopoma sanguineum specimen date this layer ca.31 kyr cal BP, consistent with an attribution to the Early Gravettian. Traditionally the studies of perforation technology of shell beads have been based on subjective methods, like the typological characterization of their morphologies. Trying to overcome this, we have developed a 2D outline characterization of the perforations through an Elliptical Fourier Analysis. This test allows the preliminary evaluation of the shape differences between the species and their diferential technological management. To semi-automatically process the large amount data generated, the software package SHAPE has been used. The perforation techniques and suspension systems (as well as the use-wear traces) have been analysed first by digital microscopy equipment, allowing to create 3D models of the perforations. Later Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (ESEM) was used to identify polished areas and wear features. Most of the ornaments are smeared in red ochre. The residue analysis was performed first visually with the digital microscope, and then complemented with the ESEM Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The further development of this work will allow to understand the role of shell beads as a group identity marker in the NE Iberia coastline during the Early Upper Palaeolithic.