The ‘Asturian’ and its neighbours in the twentyfirst century: Recent perspectives on the Mesolithic of northern Spain

  1. Pablo Arias
  2. Esteban Álvarez-Fernández
  3. Miriam Cubas
  4. Miguel Ángel Fano
  5. María J. Iriarte-Chiapusso
  6. Mercedes Pérez Bartolomé
  7. Jesús Tapia
Proceedings:
International conference on the Mesolithic in Europe (9. 2015. Belgrado)

ISBN: 978-86-80094-15-1 978-86-80094-16-8

Year of publication: 2021

Volume: 1

Pages: 281-288

Type: Conference paper

Abstract

For one hundred years the Asturian has been the main reference point for the Mesolithic of northern Spainat both national and international levels. However, from the very beginning of research, some Basquecounterparts to the eastern Asturian shell middens were added to the list and were very soon studied by T.de Aranzadi, J. M. de Barandiaran, and E. de Eguren. This research history resulted in a dual research tradition,with a poor definition of the Cantabria Mesolithic, which acted as a firebreak between the two areas. In recentyears, a significant amount of research has been carried out in this region. Therefore, it has become possibleto compare the Mesolithic in different areas of Cantabrian Spain and to address the issue of the degree ofcontinuity. Can we speak of a northern Spanish Mesolithic; or should we rather define several discrete areas?This paper presents the results of field and laboratory investigations conducted over the last five years, andprovides an updated view on the last hunter-gatherers in this part of the Iberian Peninsula.