A preliminary description of Solutrean occupations in El Mirón cave (Ramales de la Victoria, Cantabria)

A 2m2 sondage excavated by us opportunistically from the base of a treasure-hunters' crater at the rear of the vestibule in El Mirón Cave, has revealed a sequence of Solutrean (as well as Early Upper Paleolithic and late Middle Paleolithic) levels that underlie the long, complete sequence og Magdalenian and Azilian layers in this major site, located in the upper Asón valley of the Cantabrian Cordillera. Far poorer in artifacts and fauna, and lacking obvious features, in stark contrast to the dark brown, culturally and organically rich Initial, Lower and Middle Magdalenian levels, the eight thin, relatively poor, and lighter-sediment Solutrean-age levels or lenses are suggestive of very different kinds and intensities of human uses of this large, strategic and versatile cave during Last Glacial Maximum times than those of the Late Glacial. Dated by 14C to between 18 and 19 (and by extrapolation downward, possibly, 20) kya, these levels were formed quickly, banked up as they are against an ancient, steep, erosional, colluvial-alluvial slope. They seem to attest to short, repeated, specialized human visits to the cave at a time of severe environmental conditions-especially in this upland interior setting. These visits may have been made by small, specialized human groups (e.g., hunting parties) exploiting specific resources (e.g., ibex, red deer, salmon and other fish), perharps seasonally (summer?), from residencial base camps along the Cantabrian coast. This is suggested by the fact that the relatively small lithic artifact assemblages contain disproportionatety large numbers of Solutrean points. Almost all of these (and the few antler points) are broken (indicating that they had been used violently) and the points as a group include a wide variety of forms and flint types (and colors), suggesting that the people who were using El Mirón came from and/or traded with a number of different parts of the Vasco-Cantabrian region. Curiously, for a putative hunting/fishing camp, the Solutrean levels also yielded surprisingly large numbers of artificially or naturally perforated shells and bored red deer canines, suggestive of personal ornamentation and possibly caching or even human burial at the site. Larger exposures of the Solutrean occupation surfaces are needed to test these ideas