The site of Galería contained what are called human occupation floors: dirt layers that were once the floor of a cave where humans carried out their activities. Each of these floors represented a “photograph” of how the cave was left by these humans after using it, probably during only a very brief period of time. When they left, after for example consuming the flesh of a dead animal, they left behind them the bare bones and the tools used to dismember the carcasses. The remains were later covered by mud and rock transported by water, preserving not just the stone tools and bones, but the living space.
This is how the concept of anthropic impact was developed: a space used by human beings for their own convenience and a layer of sediment that preserves associated bones and stone tools that are more or less contemporaneous. Based on the remains found at Galería, it was believed that the humans entered the site to scavenge from time to time and maybe to consume game hunted in the vicinity. They didn’t stay long, since bones with cutmarks and intentional fractures are not abundant. Galería functioned as a natural trap. That is, that the cave was visited from time to time by groups of hunters, whenever they saw carcasses inside, and they didn’t return for a long time after the feast.
