The early neolithic flint mine of casa montero (Madrid, Spain), 5350-5220 cal BC

Abstract

We present a comprehensive and interpretative overview of the evidence recovered at the mining field of Casa Montero (Madrid, Spain). We describe the technical and social aspects of flint mining in the specific historical context of central Iberia’s Early Neolithic societies. Combination of all the evidence allows us to suggest that mining at the site was probably a generational phenomenon, where the acts of gathering in order to perform a collective action served as a basis for binding new political relations beyond each individual group. Strategic, tactical, and logistic preconditions were required for those gatherings, including the ability and capacity to convene, design, and organize an orderly set of actions such as those deployed at the flint mine. As with other Neolithic mining sites in Europe, understanding these social preconditions are important if archaeologists are to move beyond describing the formal and technical variability of the mines.