How they did it: Gravettian quartzite flakes from western Iberia

Abstract

Western Iberia is a regíon rich in flint characterized by the important use of quartz and quartzite during the whole Palaeolithic. Quartzite was exploited mostly to obtain flakes by the knapping of non-prepared pebbles. This fact leads to the idea that its use was just for specific and rare applications, including that of flint economy. Modern excavations reveal inventories where quartzite represents up to 50% of the assemblages, even in areas rlch in flint, and intensive refitting shows that reduction sequences using this raw material were quite complex. Thus, a detailed understanding of its exploitation is of utmost importance, even more so because some sites are primarily marked by a macrolithic component that can rarely be dated. Our study focuses on 36 contexts from central and southern Portugal, based on attribute analysis, typological classification, intensive refitting, and some use-wear analyses. Results suggest that selection and exploitation of each raw material followed different synchronic strategies, changing through time, and differing between the Gravettian, Solutrean and Magdalenian. During the Gravettian, exploitation can be distinguished by the almost complete absence of prismatic reduction and elongated blanks, a predominance of stepped and centripetal strategies for obtaining flakes with similar length and width, a fraction of big cobbles to create several cores, and the production of large and thick flakes used as cores.