Selection and Exploitation of Macro‐Vertebrate Resources During the Upper Palaeolithic in Northern Spain. New Evidence from Coímbre Cave (Peñamellera Alta,Asturias)

The exploitation of ungulates in the Cantabrian region during the Upper Palaeolithic is characterized by the appearance of progressively specialized hunting strategies, especially during the Magdalenian. This specialization focused on either Iberian ibex or red deer, depending on environmental or topographic features. Red deer, for instance, was hunted mostly on the plains while ibex and/or chamois was hunted in rocky and mountainous areas. Here we present new zooarchaeological and taphonomic evidence from Coímbre cave (northern Spain), a site located in the rugged region between the Picos de Europa and Sierra del Cuera (Asturias) which has evidence for specialized ibex hunting. We discuss the possible reasons for such a selective hunting pattern. While the predominance of mountain species such as Iberian ibex or chamois in the Magdalenian levels suggests prey selection based on topographic or environmental criteria, the predominance of large bovids in the Gravettian level could imply that other alternatives were available. We also provide evidence of a pattern of rabbit exploitation which is unusual by comparison with other Upper Palaeolithic sites of northern Spain, and which taphonomic evidence suggests was due to human activity.     

A HISTORY OF RESEARCH INTO CANARIAN ROCK ART: OPENING UP NEW THOUGHTS

Research into the history of Canarian rock art presents major problems, both theoretical and methodological. This paper analyses the evolution of research into Canarian rock art from a historical and diachronic perspective. It also addresses the connection established between the Canary Islands, North Africa and the Atlantic area, focusing on the theoretical models developed to explain these relationships. The analysis therefore covers a period of seven centuries (fourteenth–twentieth centuries).     

Familiar Kinship? Palaeogenetic and Isotopic Evidence from a Triple Burial of the Cogotas I Archaeological Culture (Bronze Age,Iberian Peninsula)

This paper examines the identification of kinship relations in archaeological multiple burials and advocates the application of different methods and lines of research to clarify such issues in relation to funerary practices. Recognizing family relationships – an important task in research on prehistoric societies – is especially complicated and interpretations have often been made without an adequate empirical basis. Bioarchaeological, isotopic and DNA analyses applied to the triple burial of Los Tolmos (Cogotas I archaeological culture, Iberian Bronze Age) have provided direct information on this issue. In this respect, the new results also imply the need to consider gender constructs in greater depth and to be more open‐minded towards other forms of relationship in the past beyond the traditional heteronormative nuclear family.     

Zapotec innovation in a Mexican village: Building an autonomous mobile network

In 2013, a Zapotec village in the Mexican state of Oaxaca drew international attention when its citizens successfully created an autonomous mobile phone network. Using open‐source software and with technical assistance from an NGO (non‐governmental organization), the people of Talea de Castro obtained antennae, a base station and software that enabled them to build a fully functional mobile network with global reach. This article examines theoretical questions about the nature of innovation and the conditions that might help promote it. It also places the network in broad historical and social contexts. The article reviews the political, legal and technical processes by which villagers were able to create the network. For many years, Talea has been a centre of technological creativity and experimentation. The network might be seen as the village's latest innovation in a centuries‐long process in which creative problem‐solving is integrated with indigenous patterns of mutual aid, reciprocal labour and cooperativism. The article concludes with a discussion of the challenges facing the network and its users.     

FROM HUTS TO ‘THE HOUSE’: THE SHIFT IN PERCEIVING HOME BETWEEN THE BRONZE AGE AND THE EARLY IRON AGE IN CENTRAL IBERIA (SPAIN)

This paper focuses on the domestic realm in Late Prehistory in inland Iberia. A diachronic study of living quarters reveals two organizational approaches based on very different principles. The Bronze Age societies consisted of ephemeral family units: their huts are scattered, being relocated completely and regularly about every decade. From 800 BC onward, nucleated and permanent villages are formed: they are centred around ‘the house’. This is an institution that shelters generations of a family; it is the basic cell of the social order introduced in the Iron Age when everyday domestic practices were differently organized. Dwelling places become larger and are rebuilt over earlier ones. This change in practice is due to a new emphasis on links with the ancestral past and the genealogical transmission of land rights.     

BETWEEN WARRIORS AND CHAMPIONS: WARFARE AND SOCIAL CHANGE IN THE LATER PREHISTORY OF THE NORTH‐WESTERN IBERIAN PENINSULA1

This article explores changes in the ‘art of warfare’ among societies in the north‐western Iberian Peninsula in the Late Bronze and Iron Ages. These changes are interpreted as a manifestation of the transformation experienced by societies living in the region first from ‘warrior societies’ to ‘societies with warriors’ at the end of the Bronze Age and then back to ‘warrior societies’ in the Late Iron Age. Evidence of individual combat as a manifestation of ‘societies with warriors’ is analysed in the broader context of Indo‐European and ethnographical examples. It reflects societies in which there were groups specialized in warfare and represents the establishment, in the region, of an Indo‐European warrior ideology.     

EPISCOPAL GROUPS IN HISPANIA

This study considers the most important Christian architectural complex in the Late Antique city, which at the same time came to be seen as a fundamental point of reference for the ecclesiastical structure of the surrounding territory. Taking the current state of research on episcopal groups in Hispania as its starting point, this paper aims to reach a series of conclusions as regards their location, spatial evolution and the total area they occupied, as well as their internal distribution. In addition, the continuing difficulties involved in archaeologically defining the presence of these religious complexes in the majority of episcopal sees created in Hispania during this period are discussed.