Micromorphological Study of Site Formation Processes at El Sidrón Cave (Asturias, Northern Spain): Encrustations over Neanderthal Bones
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://hdl.handle.net/10045/118537
Title: | Micromorphological Study of Site Formation Processes at El Sidrón Cave (Asturias, Northern Spain): Encrustations over Neanderthal Bones |
---|---|
Authors: | Cañaveras, Juan C. | Sánchez Moral, Sergio | Duarte, Elsa | Santos-Delgado, Gabriel | Silva, Pablo Gabriel | Cuezva Robleño, Soledad | Fernández Cortés, Ángel | Lario, Javier | Muñoz Cervera, María Concepción | Rasilla, Marco de la |
Research Group/s: | Petrología Aplicada |
Center, Department or Service: | Universidad de Alicante. Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra y del Medio Ambiente |
Keywords: | Cave sediment | Karst | Geoarchaeology | Palaeoanthropology | Middle Palaeolithic | Mousterian | Iberian Peninsula |
Knowledge Area: | Petrología y Geoquímica |
Issue Date: | 3-Oct-2021 |
Publisher: | MDPI |
Citation: | Cañaveras JC, Sánchez-Moral S, Duarte E, Santos-Delgado G, Silva PG, Cuezva S, Fernández-Cortés Á, Lario J, Muñoz-Cervera MC, Rasilla Mdl. Micromorphological Study of Site Formation Processes at El Sidrón Cave (Asturias, Northern Spain): Encrustations over Neanderthal Bones. Geosciences. 2021; 11(10):413. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences11100413 |
Abstract: | El Sidrón Cave is an archaeological and anthropological reference site of the Neanderthal world. It shows singular activity related to cannibalisation, and all existing processes are relevant to explain the specific behaviour of the concerned individuals. This paper presents geoarchaeological data, primarily based on mineralogical and petrographic techniques, from an investigation of the nature of the encrustations or hard coatings that affect a large part of the Neanderthal bone remains and their relationship with the depositional and post-depositional processes at the archaeological site. Crusts and patina were found to be numerous and diverse, mainly composed of calcite and siliciclastic grains, with different proportions and textures. The analysis indicated different origins and scenarios from their initial post-mortem accumulation to the final deposit recovered during the archaeological work. The presence of micromorphological features, such as clotted-peloidal micrite, needle-fibre calcite (NFC) aggregates, clay coatings, iron–manganese impregnation, and/or adhered aeolian dust may indicate that a significant proportion of the remains were affected by subaerial conditions in a relatively short period of time in a shelter, cave entrance, or shallower level of the karstic system, prior to their accumulation in the Ossuary Gallery. |
Sponsor: | This work has been supported since 1999 through different research contracts between the Government of the Principality of Asturias, the University of Oviedo, the University of Alicante, the National Museum of Natural Sciences (CSIC, Madrid), and the University of Salamanca. |
URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/10045/118537 |
ISSN: | 2076-3263 |
DOI: | 10.3390/geosciences11100413 |
Language: | eng |
Type: | info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
Rights: | © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
Peer Review: | si |
Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences11100413 |
Appears in Collections: | INV - PETRA - Artículos de Revistas |
Files in This Item:
File | Description | Size | Format | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Canaveras_etal_2021_Geosciences.pdf | 7,87 MB | Adobe PDF | Open Preview | |
This item is licensed under a Creative Commons License