Non-utilitarian Wears

Non-utilitarian wears (e.g. hafting, transportation, technological wears, etc.) are poorly represented at Cueva Chaves. Indeed, post-depositional and post-excavation alterations have at times affected their preservation, thus making it difficult to recognize them. The only non-utilitarian wear which I have detected is that associated with traces possibly related to hafting tools (n. 8; 2.3%). Hafting wears are mainly represented by bright spots of polish caused by the friction between tool and handle. Such spots are often associated with edge rounding and/or striations. These types of traces are often located on the high points of lithic surfaces, such as dorsal ridges, and on the percussion bulb, on the ventral face. Indirect information on ways of hafting tools also comes from the distribution of use-wears and edge fractures. This is the case with sickle blades, endscrapers, or borers.

Other types of non-utilitarian wears, such as transportation wears, have not been detected, a fact that is probably due to the presence of post-excavation wears that actually resemble the ones here concerned.

3.5. Discussion

The use-wear analysis of a large sample of lithic implements from Cueva de Chaves’

Level 1.b has brought to ascertain a variety of production processes carried out inside the cave or in its surroundings. It has been possible to advance a reconstruction of the lithic production sequence, type of tools that were produced, and their functional destination (Tab.

3.7). All this data has contributed to the reconstruction of site function and economic activities carried out at Chaves.

Obtained results indicate that almost the entire lithic production took place inside the cave. The main raw material, a good-quality chert, the outcrops of which are located a few kilometres from the site, was probably taken to the site in form of unmodified nodules. The large presence of fully-cortical elements suggests that core-preparation phases took place at the site. The exploitation of other lithologies available in the region, within a range of about 10-50 km, was marginal. However, the objective of the lithic production was always the same, irrespective of the chert material that was flaked, namely, obtaining narrow and thin blades. Sizes are 26-46 x 10-14 x 2-4 mm on average, however longer blades up to 90 mm in length have been recovered as well. Cores show a prevalence of blade making; cores at

Cueva de Chaves

different stages of exploitation have been found, from elements with still largely exploitable surfaces with a debitage of over 70 mm in length, to almost exhausted cores with a flaking-front of 30-20 mm in length. The abundance of tablets and other core-rejuvenation flakes indicates that all the phases of core reduction and maintenance took place on site.

In a functional respect, one can stress on some considerable aspects. Most of the blade blanks were employed to work vegetable substances and, in particular, for cutting herbaceous plants. Within this category, several activities are grouped, amongst which agricultural works like cereal harvesting practices. The number of sickle blades is not very high if one compares Chaves with other sites of the same time situated in the NE of the Iberian Peninsula, such as for example La Draga (Gibaja 2010). However, it is highly probable that sickles were brought to the cave exclusively for their maintenance. Most of the recovered sickle blades are fragmentary, probably discarded while resharpening the sickles, being the used blades replaced by new ones. This behaviour appears consistent with the existence of cultivation fields at a certain distance from the site. Sickles would have been taken back to the site only occasionally for their maintenance, therefore their number is probably underrepresented at the site. A similar scenario is suggested by pollen analysis. Cereal pollen was not detected in Level I.b, so indicating that cultivation fields were settled at a considerable distance from the settlement (Lopéz-García 1992; Lopéz-García & López-Sáez 2000; López-Sáez et al. 2006).

Plant materials appear to have been gathered for several uses, not exclusively for food producing. The presence of tools associated with cutting plants to ground level indicates that not only inflorescences, but also straws were collected. In addition, several blades appear to be associated to wild grasses cutting, generally gathered when still green, differently from cereals. Straw and grasses could be used for basketry, as building materials for huts or roofing structures, as combustible for ignition, or for creating bedding and draining floors. The presence of compacted layers of plant remains in caves and rock-shelters has been documented in several Neolithic sites of the Western Mediterranean area, not only in relation to animal stables. In many cases, wild herbaceous plants appear to have intentionally been gathered and used as both combustible and bedding/construction materials (Juan et al. 1996;

Angelucci et al. 2009; Lancelotti et al. 2013). About plants gathered for fodder production, there is not enough data to support such a hypothesis. Fodder production has been proposed for the site of Arene Candide, in Liguria, aiming at providing alternative and additional sources for animal feed (Maggi & Nisbet 2000). All the same, at Arene Candide, fodder usually appears to have been foliage and brushwood and not straws or grasses. Micro-morphological analyses of Arene Candide sediments and coprolites support this hypothesis, showing that a significant part of animal fodder derived from thin branches, twigs, and leaves (Macphail et al. 1997). In this case, the use of lithic tools is of little help since trees and shrubs were probably directly and spontaneously grazed by livestock (Papanastasis et al.

2006).

The rest of the blades were employed for diverse manufacturing processes, amongst them: ceramic production, leather working, bone/antler working, and butchering activities.

However, for none of these processes blades were the only tools used; also flakes with edges of similar thickness were largely employed. Actually, edge thickness and morphology (e.g.

thin rectilinear edges, sharp parts, tips, etc.) seem to have been the main criteria in the selection of blanks. Retouching was often applied to shape the active part before its use, in order to obtain the desired angle or strengthen the edge.

An exception is represented by projectile inserts, which were almost exclusively made out of blade blanks. Geometric tools were used as arrowheads or lateral barbs. They probably account for hunting practices. The most attested game species at Chaves are wild ungulates,

Cueva de Chaves

amongst which red deer, wild goat, roe deer, and wild boar. However, hunting probably represented a marginal activity at Cueva de Chaves. One can hypothesize the existence of a foraging strategy with unspecialized, occasional hunting of the main species available in the surroundings of the site.

The other tools that were mainly made on blade blanks are borers; also specimens out of flakes have been recognized; however, they represent a lower percentage. Borers, which are one of the most representative types of Early Neolithic lithic assemblages (Cava 2000), featured in diverse production processes. Several tools were used to make holes into the walls of broken vessels, presumably for repairing them. Besides, borers were also used to drill bones, antler and teeth, suggesting their employment in ornaments and beads manufacturing.

Finally, hide perforation has been recognized too, probably in relation to leather craft, for producing either clothes or bags.

Flakes were used in a variety of domestic and craft activities. They were mainly knapping by-products; indeed, at Chaves, no flake-oriented production has emerged. Debitage and platform rejuvenation flakes were intensively used, as well as cortical and, to a lesser extent, elongated flakes. Their dimensions vary from very thick and large tools to small thin flakes.

They were generally used for one activity only, with just one active edge. They were rarely retouched or resharpened and so they can be considered disposable tools.

Amongst the activities in which flakes were employed, those related to animal substances prevail: butchering activities, rawhide and hide working and, to a lesser extent, bone and antler working. Larger flakes mainly served the purpose of making rawhide: endscrapers were made on thick-core trimming elements, frontally retouched to form a thick front for scraping green skin. Smaller flakes show a greater variability, having being used for both cutting and scraping, with a wider range of forms and shapes. Besides, flake tools were also availed of in many other craft activities, amongst which vegetable substances gathering and processing —either non-ligneous or ligneous plants—, ceramic vessels manufacturing and repairing, as well as for working other indeterminable materials.

The functional analysis of the lithic assemblage has revealed the existence of a domestic space characterized by a great diversity of economic processes. Activities related to food procurement, processing, and probably storing were practised inside the cave and in its surroundings, as well as manufacturing processes for the production and maintenance of tools, vessels, and ornaments. Production processes appears to have been composed of several phases of tasks and operations: from the obtaining of raw-material to its preparation and further elaboration and, finally, maintenance and repairing activities. A large part of these phases was probably carried out inside the cave, except for raw-material procurement that, in most cases, took place outside the site.

One can take as example the production cycle associated to domestic animal resources.

Cueva de Chaves is characterized by an abundant faunal assemblage, which attests the existence of large domestic flocks: the estimated minimum number of individuals indicates the existence of 120 sheep/goats, 41 domestic pigs, and 14 cattle. Pollen analysis indicates a certain deterioration of the environment around the site, with a strong decrease in arboreal pollen and the appearance of taxa associated with human activity. The appearance of Asphodelus albus indicates the use of fire by people to open grassland areas, while the presence of Plantago lanceolata is another well-known anthropogenic indicator favoured by extensive grazing (Lopéz-García 1992; Lopéz-García & López-Sáez 2000; López-Sáez et al. 2006). All of this data suggests that pastoral practices were carried out, at least in part, in the surroundings of the site.

Slaughter activities took place entirely within the site. The ascertained kill-off pattern,

Cueva de Chaves

with a high proportion of young individuals, suggests that husbandry was mainly oriented towards meat production, even if possibly also other by-products were exploited (Castaños 2004). Lithic tools featured in butchering activities, for meat extraction and preparation.

Moreover, animals were skinned and their skins stripped of flesh and scraped. Finished leather was cut, perforated, and, later, possibly worked for making clothes, containers, strings, etc. Similarly, also bone and other hard animal materials were exploited for the production of tools (e.g. bone punches) and ornaments (bone beads or other pendants).

A similar production cycle probably took place for vegetable materials, too. Grasses, straw, and seeds were collected outside in the cultivation fields and then brought to the cave. In case of cereals, straw were successively trashed to strip the ears off the stalks. While cereal grains were alternatively consumed and stored, grasses and straw could be used as combustible or building materials.

In conclusion, this data confirms that the inhabitants of Cueva de Chaves practised a varied production economy, focused on the exploitation of both animal and vegetable resources. Both of them were gathered as food resources and, at the same time, they provided raw materials for manufacturing and crafting processes. As a whole, the economic model adopted at Chaves appears to have been a mixed, largely self-sufficient, economy based on the exploitation of a variety of resources that were procured or produced locally.

3.6. Final Remarks

Cueva de Chaves has often been mentioned in literature as one of the most paradigmatic Neolithic sites of the Iberian Peninsula (Jiménez-Guijarro 2010: 76). The size of the cave, the abundance and variety of the archaeological record, the presence of burials and artworks, all are factors that have contributed to create the image of Chaves being a prototype of

«Neolithic» stable settlement (Baldellou 1987: 39; 1994: 36; Utrilla 1998: 184).

Nevertheless, in spite of the undeniable importance of the site, little attention has been paid to the settlement's economic organization. Until now, many assumptions on the type of activities carried out inside the cave have not relied on empirical data. Only some aspects have been studied in detail (e.g. pollen analysis; faunal remains; geometric-tools’ function), while other questions have only been superficially or preliminarily addressed.

The objective of this study was to propose a general reconstruction of the activities carried out at the site by the analysis of chipped stone assemblages. Use-wear analysis has allowed tasks and activities to be ascertained, which could not otherwise have emerged from the archaeological records. Moreover, it has resulted in proving a wide range of economic activities, which involved different types of resources and materials.

The assumptions and observations made in previous studies of the site have largely been confirmed by this analysis. Cueva de Chaves appears to have been a self-sufficient settlement, whose economy was based on the exploitation of a variety of biotic and abiotic resources.

Food was produced by both animal and vegetable farming, whilst several craft processes were carried out within the site. The manufacture of goods seems to have been varied and unspecialized and it was probably mainly oriented towards a domestic consumption. This reconstruction of the production processes carried out at Cueva de Chaves sheds new light on the site’s technological and economic organization, thus bringing empirical data to the discussion on what may feature in a ‘Neolithic economy’ or a ‘Neolithic site’.

Cueva de Chaves

  ^{PHASE SG PR PO TOT}

1.b N. 242 53 95 390

% phase 61,5% 13,5% 24,2% 100,0%

Tab. 3.4. Interpretability of both the use-wears and non-utilitarian traces identified among the Cueva de Chaves lithic assemblage. SG: clear use, traces are fully interpretable; PR: probable use, traces are partial-ly interpretable; PO: possible use, the interpretation is considered dubious.

Tab. 3.5. Composition of use-wear traces identified among the Cueva de Chaves lithic assemblage. Ind. is an abbreviation for ‘indeterminable’.

Tab. 3.6. Cross-tab between Movement and Worked Materials. LO: Longitudinal movement; TR: Transversal movement; PO/GR: Pounding/Grinding movement; IMP: Projectile impact; CIRC: Drilling move-ment; Mov is the abbreviation for Movement. Mat is the abbreviation for Worked Material; HP: Herbaceous plants; WP: Woody plants; VG: Indeterminable Vegetal substances; BU: Soft Animal Substances; HI:

Hide; BA: Bone/Antler materials; CC: Clay/ceramic; MI: Indeterminable Mineral Substances; PY: Pro-jectile tools; IS: Indeterminable Substances.

Cueva de Chaves

HP WP VG BU HI BA CC MI PY IS TOT

Blade

N 15 1 1 9 14 4 5 6 6 18 79

% Blank 19,0% 1,3% 1,3% 11,4% 17,7% 5,1% 6,3% 7,6% 7,6% 22,8% 100,0

% Mat 12,4% 11,1% 9,1% 40,9% 24,1% 22,2% 27,8% 15,0% 22,2% 30,5% 20,6%

Flake

N 94 3 8 9 13 9 5 17 21 29 208

% Blank 45,2% 1,4% 3,8% 4,3% 6,3% 4,3% 2,4% 8,2% 10,1% 13,9% 100,0

% Mat 77,7% 33,3% 72,7% 40,9% 22,4% 50,0% 27,8% 42,5% 77,8% 49,2% 54,3%

Core Trim.

N 11 5 2 4 31 5 7 12 0 12 89

% Blank 12,4% 5,6% 2,2% 4,5% 34,8% 5,6% 7,9% 13,5% 0,0% 13,5% 100,0

% Mat 9,1% 55,6% 18,2% 18,2% 53,4% 27,8% 38,9% 30,0% 0,0% 20,3% 23,2%

Other

N 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 0 0 7

% Blank 14,3% 0,0% 0,0% 0,0% 0,0% 0,0% 14,3% 71,4% 0,0% 0,0% 100,0

% Mat 0,8% 0,0% 0,0% 0,0% 0,0% 0,0% 5,6% 12,5% 0,0% 0,0% 1,8%

Tot N 121 9 11 22 58 18 18 40 27 59 383

% Blank 31,6% 2,3% 2,9% 5,7% 15,1% 4,7% 4,7% 10,4% 7,0% 15,4% 100,0

Tab. 3.7. Cross-tab between Blank type and Worked Materials. Within the category of «Other» are included cores and rejuvenation flakes. Mat is the abbreviation for Worked Material; HP: Herbaceous plants; WP:

Woody plants; VG: Indeterminable Vegetal substances; BU: Soft Animal Substances; HI: Hide; BA:

Bone/Antler materials; CC: Clay/ceramic; MI: Indeterminable Mineral Substances; PY: Projectile tools;

IS: Indeterminable Substances.