Of stones and bones: Interpreting site function in the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic of Western Europe

Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic excavations have usually yielded both artifacts and faunal remains in a variety of environmental settings across a latitudinal range from Belgium to Portugal. In some cases there seem to be functional relationships within levels between ungulate species and skeletal elements on the one hand and associated lithic and osseous artifacts on the other. In other cases—perhaps because of their nature as occupational and depositional palimpsests—the relationships are murkier. Examples examined here include La Riera and El Mirón caves (coastal and montane Cantabrian Spain, respectively), Dufaure rockshelter (Pyrenean lowland France), Magrite cave, Pape rockshelter, and Bois Laiterie cave and the Huccorgne open-air site (Ardennes upland, transitional zone, and central plateau of Belgium, respectively), and the Vidigal shell midden (coastal southern Portugal). The interpretation of site function (e.g., multi-purpose residential site, specialized logistical camp, or transit bivouac) is a matter of pragmatic, interdisciplinary, situation-specific analyses, and parsimony.