Miguel Ángel FANO MARTÍNEZ, Marian VANHAEREN et Francesco D'ERRICO : Bone industry and personal ornaments from Horno Cave (Ramales de la Victoria, Cantabria, Spain)

Horno cave is located in the Upper Asón Valley, East of Cantabria Province. Although close to other major Palaeolithic sites such as Covalanas and El Mirón, it is only in the 80's and 90's that limited archaeological information, mostly concerning ceramic shards found on the surface of the cave, were published about this site. During the 80's a trench dug by speleologists to penetrate the inner part of Horno cave disturbed the archaeological deposit, leading to the discovery of a typical flat-section, bilaterally barbed Azilian harpoon. The sections left by the speleologists' incursion were cleaned in 1999 by one of us (M. Á. Fano) and a radiocarbon dating of 11,630 ± 170 BP (GX-26410) was obtained from a bone sample recovered in the uppermost stratigraphic layer. The disturbed nature of this layer is suggested by the association of handmade prehistoric ceramic shards with a large number of stone tools which may be attributed to the late Magdalenian and to the Azilian (small endscrapers, including circular and thumbnail types, and backed bladelets). This suggests the Azilian harpoon likely comes from this layer. Probably this uppermost disturbed layer originally included late Magdalenian, Azilian and ceramic occupations, thought it is not possible to distinguish different archaeological layers in this part of the deposit, at least where the test pit has been done. In 2000 and 2001 Fano conducted a limited excavation of undisturbed deposits reaching the bedrock at a depth of 1.25m. This revealed, below the uppermost disturbed layer, the presence of three sedimentary units: a 22cm thick unit 1, composed of compact yellowish silt; a 23cm thick unit 2, brown in colour and very rich in organic matter and faunal remains; a 5 cm lower unit, made of bright yellow sand, practically sterile. Layers 1 and 2 have yielded diagnostic late Magdalenian artefacts and two statistically identical radiocarbon dates of 12,530 ± 190 BP (GX-27457) and 12,250 ± 190 BP (GX-27456) respectively (Straus et al., 2002a and 2002b).
The in situ Magdalenian layers yielded two fragments of harpoons decorated with geometric engraved patterns, one fragmented bâton de commandement, two engraved bone pieces, one decorated antler stick; three spear points made of antler as well as bone needle and awl fragments. Sixteen personal ornaments also come from these layers: four perforated red deer canines and twelve perforated Trivia, Turritella, Hinia and Nucella lapillus shells. From the disturbed layer come six antler spear points. One is engraved with a typical schematic rendition of an ibex head, another with an abstract pattern. This layer has also yielded one engraved bone, three fragments of points made of deer antler, a fragment of harpoon, a bone awl, a broken needle, and one worked horn-core fragment. Eighteen personal ornaments were found: two red deer canines, a stone pendant, and fifteen perforated Trivia, Turritella, Littorina, Dentalium and Hinia shells. Here we present results of our typological, morphometric and technological analysis of the bone industry, including some decorated objects, and of the personal ornaments. Traces of manufacture and use on bone tools and personal ornaments are analysed with optical and scanning electron microscopy. Results of this analysis are interpreted in comparison with experimentally procuded modifications. Dimensions of shell ornaments are also recorded and compared with those of shells from modern and fossil collections. The age and sex of red deer canines is established using the method proposed by d'Errico and Vanhaeren (2002), and their size compared with that of canines used as personal ornaments from French and Portugese Upper Palaeolithic contexts.

References

D'ERRICO F., VANHAEREN M. (2002) - Criteria for Identifying Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) Age and Sex from Their Canines. Application to the Study of Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Ornaments, Journal of Archaeological Science, 29, p. 211-232.

STRAUS L.G., GONZÁLEZ MORALES M.R., FANO MARTÍNEZ M.A., GARCÍA-GELABERT M.P. (2002a) - Last Glacial Human Settlement in Eastern Cantabria (Northern Spain), Journal of Archaeological Science, 29, p. 1403-1414.

STRAUS L.G., GONZÁLEZ MORALES M.R., GARCÍA-GELABERT M.P., FANO MARTÍNEZ M.A. (2002b) - The Late Quaternary Human Uses of a Natural Territory: the case of the Río Asón drainage (Eastern Cantabria province, Spain), Journal of Iberian Archaeology, 4, p. 21-61.

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