Microstratigraphic analysis of level J deposits: A dual paleoenvironmental-paleoethnographic contribution to paleolithic archeology at the Abric Romaní

Abstract

Our microstratigraphic study, based on microfacies analyses of large thin sections, aims to improve our perception of level J deposits obtained by field observations during its extensive excavation. The refined understanding of pedo-sedimentary processes is at first expected to decipher the mineralogical homogeneity of carbonate sedimentary facies as a suite of depositional episodes controlled by distinctive changes in climate-linked factors (hydrology, thermal regime, vegetation) in a karstic setting. Estimating the magnitude, timing and duration of these processes at the finest level of resolution helps to sketch an image of the changing environmental setting of human occupation in this rockshelter. It provides a paleoecological reconstruction, which offers a framework for the paleoethnographic analysis of microfacies and contributes to the multidisciplinary prehistoric archaeological project undertaken at the Abric Romaní.