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Earlier Palaeolithic Settlement Patterns: Landscape Archaeology on the River Duero Basin Plateaus (Castilla y León, Spain)

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Journal of World Prehistory Aims and scope

Abstract

This paper is based on a landscape archaeology project, ongoing since 1996, that is being conducted on the Tertiary limestone plateaus of the Northern Spanish Meseta. The study aims to document the abundant Palaeolithic archaeology of these tablelands adjacent to the river Duero, and to interpret its territorial implications. We provide a synthesis of the chronological context of the discoveries, the extent of the forces of post-depositional disturbance involved in the formation of the various archaeological aggregations, the technological description of the lithic collections, the environmental reconstruction of the locales selected by Palaeolithic human groups in this region and their mobility patterns, based on the intensive field research carried out to date.

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Acknowledgements

We wish particularly to acknowledge here Manuel Moratinos, who pioneered research on the Palaeolithic sites of the Duero plateaus from 1987 onward. FDM wants to thank Moratinos’ generosity, support and encouragement during the earliest phases of this Project. We are indebted to the students of Prehistory and Archaeology at the University of Valladolid who have enthusiastically participated in the 1997–2005 field seasons: Pelayo Antoraz, Águeda Galende, Benito Gutiérrez, José Luis Diez, Ana Belén Pérez, Javier Varea, and Luz Marina Vinagre. We are also very thankful to Timothy Taylor and Sarah Wright for their enormous help with the earlier draft of this paper and for their kindness and support. We also thank the three anonymous reviewers for their comments. Funding for this research (FDM and DGR) and for fieldwork was provided by Junta de Castilla y León and Gobierno Vasco/Eusko Jaurlaritza.

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  1. Departamento de Prehistoria y Arqueología, Universidad de Valladolid, Pza. del Campus, s/n, 47011, Valladolid, Spain

    Fernando Diez-Martín, Policarpo Sánchez-Yustos & Diana Gómez de la Rúa

  2. Instituto Meteorológico de Castilla y León, 47620, Villanubla, Valladolid, Spain

    José Ángel Gómez-González

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  1. Fernando Diez-Martín
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Correspondence to Fernando Diez-Martín.

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Diez-Martín, F., Sánchez-Yustos, P., Gómez-González, J.Á. et al. Earlier Palaeolithic Settlement Patterns: Landscape Archaeology on the River Duero Basin Plateaus (Castilla y León, Spain). J World Prehist 21, 103–137 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10963-008-9012-0

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