Ana Cordeiro de Sousa Gomes Abrunhosa

Behavior and cognitive abilities of prehistoric groups are analyzed through typological, technological and lithic raw material procurement studies. The Iberian Peninsula is a privileged region to study the behavior of Neanderthal populations because of the quantity and quality of preserved sites located mainly in coastal areas. Pinilla del Valle sites are located in central Iberian Guadarrama mountain range (Madrid, Spain) and has a Neanderthal occupation that so far provided more than 20.000 Mousterian lithics of a high variety of raw materials. The study of their sources of exploitation will allow to understand the use and the impact available resources from their ecological niche have on the technology used. There are a variety of factors that can influence the technology used such as resource availability, physical properties of the rocks, knappers skill and cognitive abilities, and tradition. We aim to understand why Pinilla del Valle Neanderthals preferred some lithic raw materials over others. To accomplish this objective there is the need to do geological surveys of different radius from the site to collect rock samples in primary (i.e. rock outcrop) and secondary positions (i.e. fluvial or slope deposits). The samples will be used to construct a collection of the available resources to compare in the near future with lithic tools collected on the archaeological excavations through archaeometric techniques.