Cova de l'Hort de Cortés-Volcán del Faro (Cullera, Ribera Baixa, País Valenciano). Data for the discussion of pre-Solutrean occupations

Abstract

The excavation of the Volcán del Faro site (Cullera, Valencia) did not live up to the expectations created after the discovery of the perforated staff. The prospect of a new Palaeolithic sequence, close to that of Parpalló (Gandia, Valencia), brought with it the possibility of obtaining new palaeoenvironmental, chronostratigraphic and archaeological data. However, the results of excavations carried out between 1968 and 1984 only identified Solutrean, Magdalenian and Neolithic - Chalcolithic materials. No chronostratigraphic data were obtained and the description of lithic and osseous industries was based on subjective considerations. Therefore, the repeated mention of Solutrean morphotypes, which were of Magdalenian chronology according to their excavator, could not be compared with any other site. Likewise, it was not possible to obtain any radiocarbon dates, largely due to poor collagen conservation, or lithostratigraphic data or a description of lithic and osseous industries that could be compared at a regional level. The only palaeoenvironmental and palaeoeconomic data were incorporated into the study of mammalian fauna carried out by I. Davidson, a reference work in studies of the Palaeolithic economy in the Spanish Mediterranean region. Solutrean, Badegoulian and Magdalenian materials were identified from a critical reading of the excavation report, which was published in 2003, suggesting the possibility of earlier, possibly Gravettian occupations. However, this hypothesis was not based on lithostratigraphic or radiocarbon data. In 2018, further work was undertaken at the site as part of a project seeking to gain information from the stratigraphic sections of the old excavations. The data obtained from the outermost area (posterior frontal cross-section, O4 square) provide some initial points for discussion regarding the existence of pre-Solutrean levels at HC-VF, but this time based on geoarchaeological, chronological and archaeological data. At the same time, the topographic position of the data obtained in relation to the old excavations presents a number of alternatives regarding the formation and preservation of the remains, representing a starting point for understanding this complex site.