A Arrizabalaga
Biographic Data
| ID | 28124 |
|---|---|
| NAME | A Arrizabalaga |
| GIVEN NAMES | A |
| FAMILY NAME | Arrizabalaga |
| SIGNATURE | ARRIZABALAGA A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of the Basque Country |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6127-2972 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 61 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 430 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 61 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2002 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 10 |
Archaeological Lithotheques of Siliceous Rocks in Spain
The use of lithotheques, libraries or collections of rocks is relatively recent in archaeological research in Spain. These collections have mostly been formed through isolated initiatives in different institutions, without any scientific strategy to guide their development and growth. The perspective in the last few years has changed substantially as these infrastructures are now regarded as a scientific resource of great interest and potential i…
Gravettians in the Altmühl Valley”? Comprehensive Reassessment and New Data from the Sequence from the Abri I im Dorf (Neuessing, Bavaria, Germany)
Due to the high density of cave and rock shelter sites, the Altmühl Valley is one of the most essential regions of southern German Palaeolithic research. The site presented in this paper, the Abri I im Dorf, lies within the main concentration of Palaeolithic sites found in this valley, extending along its lowest stretch between Riedenburg and its confluence into the Danube in Kelheim. We present the results achieved in reassessing the archaeo-str…
Revaluation of the Portable Art of Northern Iberia
A decorated ulna of a gannet ( Morus bassanus ) was found in 1966 during the exploration of the archaeological site of Torre cave (Gipuzkoa, northern Iberian Peninsula). The present study offers a new appraisal of this truly outstanding art object through a technological and stylistic analysis enriched by more recent finds. What makes this object extraordinary is the fact that it is one of the most complete specimens in the Iberian Peninsula. Mor…
Application of parabolic cracks in determining handedness in archaeological remains. The case study of the Axlor site (Bizkaia, Iberian Peninsula)
Lithic artefacts are a potential source of information for the study of handedness in different human species. In flint flakes, a system of fractures is developed (parabolic cracks) around the point of percussion in connection with the cone of percussion and the conical fracture of the flint. The orientation of these fractures is linked to the direction of percussion, and therefore to the knapper's handedness. The archaeological remains from Leve…
Quartzite procurement, not only in fluvial deposits
The consideration of quartzite as a secondary raw material has relegated in-depth research of this raw material in favour of such other rocks as flint or obsidian. The latter two are the most researched raw materials because of the information derived from their study: long-distance transport of rocks and mobility of people. In contrast, information obtained from research into quartzite generally supported near-site procurement areas mainly relat…
Annual Report on the Journal Munibe Antropologia-Arkeologia 2021
Looking for the most suitable method for the study of entheseal changes
The study of entheseal changes (ECs), that is, osseous changes that occur at muscle attachment sites, has increased in recent years because they have been considered one of the most promising markers of activity in the human skeleton. Their aetiology is highly questioned because several factors unrelated to mechanical stress may be involved in their occurrence. Here, we test the validity of some methods created on different bases for the study of…
Annual Report on the Journal Munibe Antropologia-Arkeologia 2022
Technical and conceptual behaviours of bone and antler exploitation of last hunter-gatherers in Northern Iberia. The osseous industry from the Magdalenian layers of Ekain cave (Basque Country, Spain)
Paleoenvironments and human adaptations during the Last Glacial Maximum in the Iberian Peninsula
Lithic raw material in the Cantabrian region
The increase, in quantitative and qualitative terms, of research attending to the geological nature of rocks found in archaeological contexts is changing our perspectives about social and economic territories articulated by Palaeolithic societies in the Cantabrian Region. Practically the only raw material researched in a solid geoarchaeological approach in this area is flint. This paper addresses how the near absence of in-depth geoarchaeological…
Lost in the Quest for Flint
Five decades ago, Usategi Cave (Basque Country) yielded a small Gravettian series that included an Isturitz‐type bone point. This paper presents the first 14 C dates for the assemblage and new data obtained by the study of the lithic raw materials, a high proportion of which came from north of the Pyrenees. The discussion of this new information leads to the hypothesis that the occupants of the cave were a group that travelled from the continenta…
A Great Step Forward. Lithic Raw Material Procurement and Management among Palaeolithic Hunter-Gatherers in the Basque Crossroads
This paper is divided into three sections. The first section describes the historiographic evolution of the study of prehistoric lithic raw materials in the Basque Crossroads (in the north of the Iberian Peninsula) during the last three decades. The second section explains the currently available information about geological outcrops of flint in the eastern end of the Cantabrian Mountain range (the Basque-Cantabrian Basin), the upper Ebro valley …
Quartzite procurement in conglomerates and deposits
Raw material characterization in Paleolithic archaeology has widened our knowledge of Middle Paleolithic societies. Procurement of raw material, specifically flint, has allowed the tracing of the mobility of both stones and people, as well as selective processes to obtain specific types or even extraction activities. The analysis of quartzite has also developed in recent years, providing an opportunity to better understand prehistoric societies. …
Mousterian Industry Tradition
Las varillas decoradas magdalenienses de Ezkuzta (País Vasco)
En la excavacin de la cueva de Ezkuzta (Azpeitia/Guipzcoa; al nordeste del corredor cantbrico) se hallaron tres varillas aplanadas hechas en asta de crvido (reno?). Dos de ellas estn casi completas; se conservan fragmentos de una tercera. Sus frmulas de decoracin se corresponden con algunas de Isturitz y de otros sitios del Pirineo francs: son surcos espiraliformes o curvilneos en dos de ellas e incisiones agrupadas en haces en la otra. Se consid…
Quaternary research in Spain
Gravettian and Solutrean in the Basque Crossroads
Annual Report on the Journal Munibe Antropologia-Arkeologia
Piecing together a new mosaic
To palliate the current scarcity of information about lithic raw materials in the Western Pyrenees during the Gravettian, the study of ten assemblages has explored the flint procurement patterns and economic organisation of the territory. The study was based on the macro- and microscopic analysis of the different lithic remains. A wide range of flint varieties were used, including some excellent rocks for knapping and others of poorer quality. Th…
From petrographic analysis to stereomicroscopic characterisation
Several isolated studies have tried to understand quartzite from an archaeological perspective by applying two different methodological approaches. The first one is based on non-destructive characterisation, aiming to understand human procurement and management of quartzite, without solid geoarchaeological criteria. The second characterised the material from archaeological sites using only petrographic or geochemical perspectives of a limited sam…
Lagomorph exploitation during the Upper Palaeolithic in the Northern Iberian Peninsula. New evidence from Coímbre Cave (Asturias, Spain)
Just before sewing needles. A functional hypothesis for Gravettian Noailles-type burins from Isturitz cave (Basque Country, southwestern France)
Relationship between size and precision of flake technology in the Middle Paleolithic. An experimental study
Defining and Characterizing Archaeological Quartzite
Quartzite was the second most‐often used lithic raw material in Europe in the Palaeolithic. However, this rock has not been characterized fully from the geo‐archaeological point of view. This study characterizes, defines and determines types of quartzite in northern Spain through a methodology that integrates petrography, digital image processing and X‐ray fluorescence. As a methodological foundation for the characterization of the material, it a…
The chronology of the earliest Upper Palaeolithic in northern Iberia
Current issues in late Middle Palaeolithic chronology
New evidence of bones used as fuel in the Gravettian level at Coímbre cave, northern Iberian Peninsula
Where to and What For
Although it may seem paradoxical, the mobility patterns of nomadic Paleolithic hunter-gatherer groups are usually discerned based on the study of a single, static site. By statistically analysing patterns of lithic procurement at the Gravettian camp of Ametzagaina (Basque Country), we attempt to interpret how different raw material types influenced mobility and technological preferences. In order to overcome the static view created by analyzing a…
The Initial Upper Paleolithic in Northern Iberia
The First Human Occupation of the Basque Crossroads
From petrographic analysis to stereomicroscopic characterisation
Several isolated studies have tried to understand quartzite from an archaeological perspective by applying two different methodological approaches. The first one is based on non-destructive characterisation, aiming to understand human procurement and management of quartzite, without solid geoarchaeological criteria. The second characterised the material from archaeological sites using only petrographic or geochemical perspectives of a limited sam…
Relationship between size and precision of flake technology in the Middle Paleolithic. An experimental study
The Magdalenian sequence at Coímbre cave (Asturias, Northern Iberian Peninsula)
Quartzite procurement in conglomerates and deposits
Raw material characterization in Paleolithic archaeology has widened our knowledge of Middle Paleolithic societies. Procurement of raw material, specifically flint, has allowed the tracing of the mobility of both stones and people, as well as selective processes to obtain specific types or even extraction activities. The analysis of quartzite has also developed in recent years, providing an opportunity to better understand prehistoric societies. …
Defining and Characterizing Archaeological Quartzite
Quartzite was the second most‐often used lithic raw material in Europe in the Palaeolithic. However, this rock has not been characterized fully from the geo‐archaeological point of view. This study characterizes, defines and determines types of quartzite in northern Spain through a methodology that integrates petrography, digital image processing and X‐ray fluorescence. As a methodological foundation for the characterization of the material, it a…
Lithic raw material in the Cantabrian region
The increase, in quantitative and qualitative terms, of research attending to the geological nature of rocks found in archaeological contexts is changing our perspectives about social and economic territories articulated by Palaeolithic societies in the Cantabrian Region. Practically the only raw material researched in a solid geoarchaeological approach in this area is flint. This paper addresses how the near absence of in-depth geoarchaeological…
Piecing together a new mosaic
To palliate the current scarcity of information about lithic raw materials in the Western Pyrenees during the Gravettian, the study of ten assemblages has explored the flint procurement patterns and economic organisation of the territory. The study was based on the macro- and microscopic analysis of the different lithic remains. A wide range of flint varieties were used, including some excellent rocks for knapping and others of poorer quality. Th…
Palaeoenvironmental dynamics in the Cantabrian Region during Greenland stadial 2 approached through pollen and micromammal records
First evidence of Macaca sylvanus (Primates, Cercopithecidae) from the Late Pleistocene of Lezetxiki II cave (Basque Country, Spain)
Anthropic resource exploitation and use of the territory at the onset of social complexity in the Neolithic-Chalcolithic Western Pyrenees
Carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) stable isotope analyses from bone collagen provide information about the dietary protein input, while strontium isotopes (87Sr/86Sr) from tooth enamel give us data about provenance and potential territorial mobility of past populations. To date, isotopic results on the prehistory of the Western Pyrenees are scarce. In this article, we report human and faunal values of the mentioned isotopes from the Early-Middle …
The vegetational and climatic contexts of the Lower Magdalenian human burial in El Mirón Cave (Cantabria, Spain)
Lost in the Quest for Flint
Five decades ago, Usategi Cave (Basque Country) yielded a small Gravettian series that included an Isturitz‐type bone point. This paper presents the first 14 C dates for the assemblage and new data obtained by the study of the lithic raw materials, a high proportion of which came from north of the Pyrenees. The discussion of this new information leads to the hypothesis that the occupants of the cave were a group that travelled from the continenta…
Chronostratigraphic data about the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic cultural change in Iberian Peninsula
A Great Step Forward. Lithic Raw Material Procurement and Management among Palaeolithic Hunter-Gatherers in the Basque Crossroads
This paper is divided into three sections. The first section describes the historiographic evolution of the study of prehistoric lithic raw materials in the Basque Crossroads (in the north of the Iberian Peninsula) during the last three decades. The second section explains the currently available information about geological outcrops of flint in the eastern end of the Cantabrian Mountain range (the Basque-Cantabrian Basin), the upper Ebro valley …
Gravettian and Solutrean in the Basque Crossroads
Gravettian Figurative Art in the Western Pyrenees
The timing and nature of the emergence of art in human evolution has been one of the more debated subjects in palaeoanthropology in the last few years, and one of the areas where archaeology has made impressive advances. Here, we discuss the first evidence of figurative art on portable materials in the north of Spain. After analysis of the stratigraphic contexts of all examples potentially of this age, which eliminated those of uncertain provenan…
Flint knapping and determination of human handedness. Methodological proposal with quantifiable results
Biometric analysis of the stalked barnacle Pollicipes pollicipes , at a Holocene archaeological site in Jaizkibel (Basque Country, northern Spain)
In recent decades the biometric analysis of shellfish resources (mainly marine mollusc shells) has been used by many researchers to support the hypothesis of their more intensive human use and to estimate the increase in human populations. This paper studies the plates of the crustacean Pollicipes pollicipes found in three Holocene archaeological levels at the Jaizkibel 3 shell-midden (Gipuzkoa, Basque Country, Northern Spain). First, by analysin…
Revaluation of the Portable Art of Northern Iberia
A decorated ulna of a gannet ( Morus bassanus ) was found in 1966 during the exploration of the archaeological site of Torre cave (Gipuzkoa, northern Iberian Peninsula). The present study offers a new appraisal of this truly outstanding art object through a technological and stylistic analysis enriched by more recent finds. What makes this object extraordinary is the fact that it is one of the most complete specimens in the Iberian Peninsula. Mor…
La industria lítica del yacimiento del Paleolítico superior inicial de Labeko Koba (País Vasco)
En esta comunicación se presentarán, de modo resumido, las principales líneas evolutivas de los tecnocomplejos líticos de Labeko Koba (comprendiendo una secuencia con Castelperroniense, Protoauriñaciense y Auriñaciense antiguo), ya publicados en extenso (Arrizabalaga, en Arrizabalaga y Altuna, 2000). Además de por su propia naturaleza, la secuencia de Labeko Koba puede resultar útil para reinterpretar el vecino yacimiento de Lezetxiki, que incluy…
The Initial Upper Paleolithic in Northern Iberia
La Transición Paleolítica medio-superior en la región centro-oriental de la Córnisa Cantábrica
Con este trabajo, en homenaje al profesor Eduardo Ripoll Perelló, queremos presentar algunos de los datos más recientes sobre la transición entre el Paleolítico medio y el superior en la región centro-oriental de la cornisa cantábrica. Para ello, tomamos como referencia las investigaciones de cuevas como El Castillo y Cueva Morín en Cantabria y Lezetxiki y Labeko Koba en el País Vasco. Por último, presentamos una serie de reflexiones en relación …
Le Gravettien des Pyrénées
Les auteurs présentent un panorama général sur le Gravettien des Pyrénées. L’espace géographique retenu pour cette étude a été découpé en trois zones principales : le Pays Basque ibérique, les Pyrénées atlantiques et centrales, les Pyrénées orientales. La synthèse proposée se structure autour des quatre thèmes suivants :- histoire des recherches et contexte chrono-stratigraphique ;- culture matérielle : industrie lithique et osseuse ;- témoignage…
Through the Looking-Glass. The Most Recent Years of Cantabrian Research in the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic Transition
Current issues in late Middle Palaeolithic chronology
First evidence of Macaca sylvanus (Primates, Cercopithecidae) from the Late Pleistocene of Lezetxiki II cave (Basque Country, Spain)
Haltes de chasse du Châtelperronien de la Péninsule Ibérique
The First Human Occupation of the Basque Crossroads
Aproximación Al Debate Sobre La Transición Solutrense-Magdaleniense en La Cornisa Cantábrica
En este trabajo realizamos un análisis historiográfico del horizonte transicional Solutrense-Magdaleniense en la región cantábrica (España), contextualizando el debate cantábrico en el contexto sobre la misma problemática en la región francesa. El objetivo principal es efectuar una exposición del estado actual de la investigación sobre el final del Solutrense en el norte de la Península Ibérica. The main aim of this paper is to analyze, from a hi…
Biometric analysis of the stalked barnacle Pollicipes pollicipes , at a Holocene archaeological site in Jaizkibel (Basque Country, northern Spain)
In recent decades the biometric analysis of shellfish resources (mainly marine mollusc shells) has been used by many researchers to support the hypothesis of their more intensive human use and to estimate the increase in human populations. This paper studies the plates of the crustacean Pollicipes pollicipes found in three Holocene archaeological levels at the Jaizkibel 3 shell-midden (Gipuzkoa, Basque Country, Northern Spain). First, by analysin…
Identifying the Signs
The lithic record, together with archaeozoological remains, makes up the most abundant assemblages at European Palaeolithic sites. During many decades in the twentieth century, the classical typological analysis (the Bordesian paradigm) has been used to articulate the sequencing of the different cultural and chronostratigraphic units. At the same time, since the 1960s an alternative methodology known as Analytical Typology, proposed by Georges La…
The chronology of the earliest Upper Palaeolithic in northern Iberia
Where to and What For
Although it may seem paradoxical, the mobility patterns of nomadic Paleolithic hunter-gatherer groups are usually discerned based on the study of a single, static site. By statistically analysing patterns of lithic procurement at the Gravettian camp of Ametzagaina (Basque Country), we attempt to interpret how different raw material types influenced mobility and technological preferences. In order to overcome the static view created by analyzing a…
Provenance study of endokarst fine sediments through mineralogical and geochemical data (Lezetxiki II cave, northern Iberia)
The past is out there
Flint knapping and determination of human handedness. Methodological proposal with quantifiable results
The vegetational and climatic contexts of the Lower Magdalenian human burial in El Mirón Cave (Cantabria, Spain)
The Magdalenian sequence at Coímbre cave (Asturias, Northern Iberian Peninsula)
Munibe Antropologia-Arkeologia Journal
Crónica de la revista Munibe Antropologia-Arkeologia 2016
En la ruta occidental del poblamiento de la Península Ibérica
Tradicionalmente, viene considerndose que el paso de los grupos humanos por los Pirineos resulta dificultoso durante el Paleoltico y existen, efectivamente, datos que contradicen este planteamiento. Incluso podemos valorar como verosmil la existencia de una regin paleoltica pirenaica, con rasgos culturales especficos y una serie de yacimientos implicados, especialmente durante el Magdaleniense. La existencia de rutas de trnsito a travs de los tra…
Lithic cultural variability during the Gravettian in the Cantabrian Region and the western Pyrenees
The contribution of open-air sites to the environmental reconstruction of the Gravettian at the “Basque Crossroads” (North Iberia)
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 …
Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (48 works) · Geography (44 works) · Archaeology (41 works) · Geology (31 works) · Archaeological and Geological Studies (30 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (30 works) · Paleontology (25 works) · Cave (22 works) · Peninsula (15 works) · Art (14 works)