A middle palaeolithic wooden digging stick from Aranbaltza III, Spain
Rios Garaizar, Joseba (Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH))
López i Bultó, Josep Oriol (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Prehistòria)
Iriarte, Eneko (Universidad de Burgos. Laboratorio de Evolución Humana)
Pérez Garrido, Carlos (Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Departamento de Cristalografía y Mineralogía)
Piqué Huerta, Raquel (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Prehistòria)
Aranburu, Arantza (Universidad del País Vasco. Departamento de Mineralogía y Petrología)
Iriarte Chiapusso, María José (IKERBASQUE. Basque Foundation for Science)
Ortega Cordellat, Illuminada (INRAP. UMR 7041 Arscan/AnTet)
Bourguignon, Laurence (INRAP. UMR 7041 Arscan/AnTet)
Garate, Diego (Universidad de Cantabria. Instituto Internacional de Investigaciones Prehistóricas de Cantabria)
Libano, Iñaki (Edestiaurre Arkeologia Elkartea)

Data:	2018
Resum:	Aranbaltza is an archaeological complex formed by at least three open-air sites. Between 2014 and 2015 a test excavation carried out in Aranbaltza III revealed the presence of a sand and clay sedimentary sequence formed in floodplain environments, within which six sedimentary units have been identified. This sequence was formed between 137-50 ka, and includes several archaeological horizons, attesting to the long-term presence of Neanderthal communities in this area. One of these horizons, corresponding with Unit 4, yielded two wooden tools. One of these tools is a beveled pointed tool that was shaped through a complex operational sequence involving branch shaping, bark peeling, twig removal, shaping, polishing, thermal exposition and chopping. A use-wear analysis of the tool shows it to have traces related with digging soil so it has been interpreted as representing a digging stick. This is the first time such a tool has been identified in a European Late Middle Palaeolithic context; it also represents one of the first well-preserved Middle Palaeolithic wooden tool found in southern Europe. This artefact represents one of the few examples available of wooden tool preservation for the European Palaeolithic, allowing us to further explore the role wooden technologies played in Neanderthal communities.
Nota:	The archeological work at Aranbaltza site is financed by the Diputacio'n Foral de Bizkaia (2147/2013; 1602/2014; 2396/2015; 1518/2016; 1797/2017), the Basque Government (Gobierno Vasco: 2015/04424; 2014/03867). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Drets:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Llengua:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Matèria:	Animals ; Archaeology ; Fossils ; Humans ; Neanderthals ; Paleontology ; Spain ; Technology ; Wood
Publicat a:	PloS one, Vol. 13, núm. 3 (march 2018) , p. e0195044, ISSN 1932-6203

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0195044
PMID: 29590205

15 p, 20.5 MB

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