Sedimentological and archaeological fabrics in Palaeolithic levels of the South-Eastern Pyrenees: Cova Gran and Roca dels Bous Sites (Lleida, Spain)

Alfonso Benito-Calvo, Jorge Martínez-Moreno, Jesús F. Jordá Pardo, Ignacio de la Torre, Rafael Mora Torcal

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44 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The comparative study of sedimentary fabrics in relation to archaeological fabrics in various levels of the sites of Cova Gran de Santa Linya (Middle and Early Upper Palaeolithic) and the Roca dels Bous (Middle Palaeolithic) has made it possible to analyse the formation dynamics of the deposits and determine the extent of disturbance of the archaeological levels by natural processes. To achieve this, diagrams and two- and three-dimensional indices were calculated from the azimuth and dip angle of natural clasts and artefacts. The results indicate that the sedimentary levels were formed mainly by planar fabric shape gravitational processes (low depositional angles), which differ notably from the archaeological fabrics they contain, characterised by a greater degree of isotropy. This difference in the fabrics would reflect human activity and indicates that the archaeological levels both in Cova Gran and Roca dels Bous have not been subject to significant natural modifications, and are preserved in situ. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2566-2577
JournalJournal of Archaeological Science
Volume36
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2009

Keywords

  • Archaeological fabrics
  • Cova Gran
  • Middle and Early Upper Palaeolithic
  • Roca dels Bous
  • Sedimentary fabrics
  • Site formation processes
  • Upper Pleistocene

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