El Portalón y la Galería del Sílex (Cueva Mayor)

RECENT PREHISTORY IN THE SIERRA DE ATAPUERCA

Introduction

The establishment of the Neolithic in the northern Meseta was a slow process and was brought about through colonization of the region by people who arrived from the south, settling on its southern and eastern borders and using the caves as living areas. They also used them as places of collective burial in the face of the advancing Megalithic cultures from the Atlantic region of the Iberian Peninsula. The intensification of the economy during the Copper Age produced the first attempts at establishing nuclei of stable populations. This sedentarization process implies large changes in the economy, with agriculture and livestock becoming increasingly important, as well as in technology, material culture and demography. In the far east of the Cuenca del Duero, where we find the Sierra de Atapuerca, this process maintained a continuity with the Neolithic population. Later, an internal renovation toward a hierarchical society would occur, with the consolidation of individual tombs and the appearance of objects of prestige among the household items.

The Bronze Age in the Meseta, like the rest of the peninsula, is characterized by an increase in archaeological sites which document a predominantly sedentary lifeway, are situated in defensive locations, and in which the raising of livestock and agricultural production increase with the population size. We are witnessing a society which is becoming increasingly socially hierarchical, while maintaining a certain continuity with previous traditions. Caves also continue to be used as living areas, funeral places and sanctuaries with artistic representations on the walls.

The Sierra de Atapuerca, and Cueva Mayor in particular, is an excellent example which combines all these functions. The Portalón, the entrance to Cueva Mayor, was a living area where ritual sacrifices have also been documented in the “Horse Deposit” from level 71. The Galería del Sílex constitutes a genuine Sanctuary, and funerary rituals, cave art and a large quantity of items which speak to symbolic celebrations during the Bronze Age have been recovered. The rest of the galleries in Cueva Mayor (Galería de las Estatuas, Galería Baja and Galería del Silo) preserve, in addition to funerary elements and cave art, abundant storage silos which give a functional and economic character to this setting. The end of this period, some 2,800 years ago, represents a definitive rupture with the cultural traditions initiated during the Neolithic, finally abandoning caves as living areas and everything else associated with them.

The Portalón of Cueva Mayor

The Sierra de Atapuerca is world famous for its Pleistocene sites, but it also contains more recent treasures. The Portalón of Cueva Mayor is a cave entrance situated some 1,040 meters (about 3,100 feet) above sea level and has been incompletely filled by external sediments.

G. A. Clark, an archaeologist from the University of Arizona who was interested in prospecting the Upper Paleolithic sites in the northern Meseta, undertook a small excavation in the Portalón in 1972, unearthing an important stratigraphic sequence more than two meters deep. Clark’s interest in the site, lead J. Mª Apellániz, of the Universidad de Deusto, to develop a research project in Cueva Mayor during which he carried out 11 field seasons of systematic excavations in the Portalón (between 1972-1983), the results of which are currently under study.

The archaeological site is formed of Holocene (10,000 years ago- present day) sediments and could have functioned as an occupation area throughout the Upper Pleistocene (128,000-10,000 years ago). Geophysical studies have demonstrated a sedimentary potential of at least nine meters in depth. The archaeological sequence documented so far corresponds to cultural phases which run from the Eneolithic to the Roman period. The Bronze Age is well-documented at this site, but the archaeological record for this time period in the northern Meseta is weak, which makes its excavation and study in the Portalón all the more significant. Beginning with the most modern levels and proceeding to the oldest, the following archaeological sequence has been documented:

* An occupation during the Lower Roman Empire which reaches a thickness of 30 cm (about a foot) whose archaeological remains would date to the fourth century AD.

* Beneath this, the Final Bronze Age occupations were long and the thickness of the level oscillates around 60 cm (about two feet) with dates that are between 900 BC ± 50 years for the most modern phases and around 1,220 BC ± 130 years for the older phases. It is characterized by the presence of pottery decorated with the Boquique technique.

* Further below, the Middle Bronze Age occupations are also of long duration but less intense, and the only date we have is 1,450 BC ± 50 years. During this time both smooth pottery and pottery ornamented with external surface decorations stand out. From these levels we should emphasize the presence of an important deposit of horse remains, which suggests sacrificial rituals.

* Below this are the Early Bronze Age occupations, and this level is very thin, with a reduction in the intensity of the occupation. Carenated pottery, often undecorated, as well as sharp burins and Brújula type punches made from metal and bone have been recovered from this level. These occupations date to 1,690 BC ± 50 years. At the base of the sequence, the presence of fragments of campaniform vessels predicts a more intense Eneolithic occupation below.

The Portalón opens to the south in the high part of the Sierra and the valley of the Arlanzón River is easily dominated from here. It was nearly 4,000 years ago when Bronze Age peoples began to occupy the cave, remaining there during nearly 800 years and leaving behind a remarkable record of their activities. They were magnificent artisans and artists who richly decorated their pottery, using burins and spatulas made from bone or bronze. Their economy was based on tending their animal flocks, agriculture and, to a lesser degree, hunting. Arrow points, buttons, necklace beads and diverse tools of varying sizes made from bone, antler or ivory have been recovered at the site. There are also abundant faunal remains representing both domesticated and wild species (horse, deer, cow, goat, boar, beaver and a few birds).

The Portalón is also a site of the future. During the Upper Pleistocene the two most famous human species established themselves in Europe, the Neandertals (Homo neanderthalensis) which occupied Europe and the Middle East, and the Cro-Magnons (Homo sapiens), who originated in Africa. We know the Neandertals were present near the Sierra de Atapuerca, since they occupied other caves in the province of Burgos (Cueva Millán, La Ermita, Valdegoba and La Blanca). The site of Portalón is an ideal place to search for traces of their possible presence in Atapuerca, since it was habitable during the Upper Pleistocene. The Neandertals lived in the region during this entire time period, only disappearing some 30,000 years ago, coinciding with the arrival of modern humans. We might also find traces of them at Atapuerca, but to reach them we first have to excavate many meters of more modern sediments. In beginning the excavation of our personal time tunnel, we hope the Portalón of Cueva Mayor can reveal some of the pages of human history that still remain hidden in the heart of the Sierra de Atapuerca.

The Galería del Sílex and prehistoric cave art in the Sierra de Atapuerca

As it was mentioned above, Cueva Mayor, and in particular the Galería del Sílex, contains an important collection of prehistoric paintings and engravings which the Atapuerca Research Team has been prospecting, documenting and studying since 1997.

The entrance to the Galería del Sílex was sealed by a collapse at the end of the Bronze Age (2,800-2,700 years ago). In 1972, the Grupo Edelweiss de Burgos discovered a narrow passage between the blocks sealing the entrance, which provides access to the cave. Access to the Galería del Sílex is difficult but worth the effort. The spectacular stalagmitic formations preserved in pristine condition confer a peculiar beauty on the cave. The sealing of the original entrance during the Final Bronze Age means that the anthropological and archaeological record, at least for the most recent activities carried out in the cave, are still conserved in situ on the surface of the floor and are in an exceptional state of preservation.

Work carried out in the 1970's and 80's documented an incredibly rich material culture as well as the presence of human remains. Among the lithic materials were hammer stones, flint nodules (which derive from a flint source deep inside the cave at the very end of the gallery) leaf points and small flakes used in sickles. Bone points were also present, as well as bone fragments of both domestic animals (horses, sheep, goats, cows, pigs and dogs) and wild species (deer, wild boars, bears, foxes, wildcats, rabbits and hares). Further, the remains of at least 25 individuals, including eight adults, five juveniles and twelve infants, were also found, as were nine stone circles, and three silos. A large structure made from clay and broken stalagmites was apparently constructed to store water, since it is associated with an area of water filtration and dripping. Finally, the ceramic collection from the site shows decorations and forms which document a continuous occupation of the Galería del Sílex from Neolithic times (6,500-6,300 years ago) to the end of the Bronze Age (2,800-2,700 years ago).

A large collection of iconographic images (nearly 400 motifs on 53 different panels) is preserved on the walls of the Galería del Sílex, consisting mainly of engravings, but with black and red drawings also represented. Generally these consist of abstract linear and geometric forms, including both simple grids and some with lateral appendages, simple lines, rows of dots, tree shapes, sun shapes, comb shapes, zigzags and wavy forms, among others. Anthropomorphic forms and, in lower numbers, representations of humans and schematic animal forms are also present.

Based on stylistic similarities with some of the pottery recovered at the site, radiometric dates of the figures drawn in carbon and the typology of the motifs, these artistic representations in the Galería del Sílex were created over a wide time period, related to the successive occupations of the site, and run from Neolithic times to the end of the Bronze Age.

The association and spatial distribution of the lithic, osseous, paleontological, ceramic and anthropological remains as well as the artistic representations in the Galería del Sílex clearly indicate an archaeological record which is unrelated to economic activities. The makeup of this collection of material is not similar to the pattern typically found in a living area. The fact that fragments of the same ceramic vessel were found at dispersed points within the cave indicates that the spatial distribution of the pottery at the site is the result of deliberate breakage and placement of the vessels and their fragments by humans. The distribution of the human remains in small groups also indicates a secondary placement of the bodies. Some of these groups were formed of incomplete skeletons of several individuals, and one of the skulls shows scrape marks which demonstrate a prior treatment of the bodies before their final placement in the interior of the cave. All of these phenomena point to extensive funerary practices in which collective burials and ritual, as witnessed by the ceramic destruction and artistic representations, must have played an important role. In this sense, the archaeological record from the Galería del Sílex clearly indicates that this site represented a genuine Sanctuary for Bronze Age humans.

In brief, comparing the archaeological finds from the Galería del Sílex with those made in other sectors of the Cueva Mayor cave system can help us interpret the activities carried out at this site. The Portalón, at the entrance to the cave system, was clearly a living area, and both current and previous excavations have documented a rich material culture. A series of subterranean galleries (Galería de las Estatuas, Galería Baja y Galería del Silo) preserve numerous excavated pits interpreted as storage silos, a limited sample of graphic representations and a poor and unevenly distributed material record. In general, the graphic representations are located in the same areas as the excavated pits, and this association differs from that found in the Galería del Sílex. Although we don’t know the precise significance of this association in the galleries of Cueva Mayor, it suggests a different meaning for the anthropic activities carried out here. In the Galería del Sílex, the ceramic collection, the iconographic representations and the human remains, some of which were burials, clearly stand out.

Neolithic Dolmens in the Sierra de Atapuerca

Finally, at the base of the slopes of the Sierra de Atapuerca two Neolithic dolmens are still preserved, one of which has been excavated, although there are references to the existence of a set of three or four. One of these was excavated and announced by J. L. Uribarri in the early 1970's, who left three tombstones of the main chamber exposed. In the 1990's, G. Delibes, M. Rojo and J. Palomino continued this work, discovering the entire chamber as well as the passageway that led to it. Like most of the dolmens in this area, this was an authentic funerary monument made up of a burial mound some 25 meters (75 feet) in diameter and nearly two meters (6 feet) tall. A passageway leads to the center of the circle, where the funeral chamber is located and the dead were laid to rest with various grave offerings, including flint knives and arrowheads, smooth pottery and, sometimes, necklace beads or lithic or bone elements of personal adornment.