Los rodetes del Magdaleniense Medio cántabro-pirenaicoanálisis tecnológico y nuevas evidencias de la Cueva de Las Caldas (Asturias, España)

Resum

This paper presents the findings regarding a broad collection of perforated bone disk fragments made over scapula, from the Magdalenian period of the Las Caldas Cave (Asturias, Spain). Along with them a possible prototype of perforated disk in sandstone was found. The series studied covers the entire Magdalenian sequence of the cave, with examples from the old Middle Magdalenian (levels IX, VIII, and VII), evolved Middle Magdalenian (levels V and IV) and from the transition to the Upper Magdalenian (level III). The three typical pieces found on level III fill the gap in the extant documentation regarding the survival of perforated bone disks in Cantabrian sites at the beginning of the Magdalenian with typical harpoons. The perforated bone disks, until recently very scarce along the Cantabrian coast, have broad parallels in the Pyrenean sites and those in southwest France, where their chronology extends from the Middle to the Upper-Final Magdalenian. The new pieces found in the Las Caldas Cave extend the time bracket assigned to these objects in the Cantabrian region, extending it from the old Middle Magdalenian to the Upper Magdalenian. The pieces recovered have been studied from the point of view of technical operating chains, using microscopic analysis, since these bone disks offer evidence of all the stages of the fabrication process. Several fragments in the course of development were recovered, which show the process of cutting the bone; others show perforations and line decorations at different stages of development. Finally, one piece has perforation, line decoration and incisions along the edge, along with a figurative representation. The Las Caldas collection has also been analysed from the point of view of its relation to other findings in the Cantabrian and Pyrenean Upper Magdalenian, particularly with the site of Isturitz (Pyrénées Atlantiques), which enables us to contextualize the data obtained and highlight the relations between these two regions between 14500 and 13000 BP.