Exploratory Research: Towards a Social Geography of the Pyrenees Magdalenian

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9313703 Conkey With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Margaret Conkey and her collaborators will conduct a survey to locate Magdalenian archaeological sites in the Pyrenee Mountains of the Ariege region of France. The group has selected a 45 km. stretch between 600 and 900 meters above sea level and will walk this region in a systematic manner to look both for potential caves and rock shelters which may contain archaeological remains and also to examine fields and other open areas where materials may be exposed on the surface. They will make collect exposed material and, if permission can be obtained, excavate small test trenches to determine if in situ deposits are present. The project will be conducted in collaboration with a French geomorphologist with the goal of setting the cultural component into a broader environmental context. Samples for palynological (pollen) and sedimentological analysis will be collected. On this basis one can determine when these upland areas first became ice-free at the end of the Pleistocene (Ice Age) and how vegetation communities developed. The term "Magdalenian" refers to a culture which flourished in Western Europe at the end of the Pleistocene ca 14,000 years ago. The level of Magdalenian achievement is marked by painted caves such as Lascaux and Altimera, by highly developed bone industry and by a intensive subsistence specializations on minor highly seasonal resources such as migrating salmon. It is likely that the stage was set during this period of the domestication of plants and animals. The research proposed by Dr. Conkey is important because it examines the level of Magdalenian technical competence. While several caves with paintings are known from the Pyrenees region, it is unclear whether Magdalenian peoples had the ability to occupy this difficult mountainous terrain on a long term basis. Very little is known about the archaeology of the region and this project will provide the groundwork for future resear ch. This work is important for several reasons. It will provide data of interest to many archaeologists. It will also shed new light on human-environmental interactions and the development of human competence. Finally, the knowledge gained will provide the base for a larger long term research project.