Variability and temporality of lithic production in Epipaleolithic to Early Neolithic occupations at Cova del Vidre (Catalonia, Spain)

Abstract

Cova del Vidre (Roquetes, Tarragona, Spain), strategically located in El Port massif, a high-altitude mountain range contrasting with the lower course of the Ebro River, has an interrupted sequence of occupations from the beginning of the Holocene until the establishment of the first Neolithic groups (c. 10,800–5000 cal. BC). It is currently the site with the most complete sequence detected in the lower Ebro valley. The comprehensive analysis of the knapped lithic industry from the four phases identified during excavations in the 1950s–1960s and 1992 (Microlaminar Epipaleolithic, Sauveterrian, Late Mesolithic, and Early Cardial Neolithic) reveals significant evolution in the management and exploitation of chipped stone raw materials, their technology, and the formalization of tools in the four occupation phases. Furthermore, the chronological determination of the Sauveterrian phase by radiocarbon dating (14C) allows us to integrate the largest assemblage in the sequence within the regional productive dynamics. It also enables us to establish the temporal sequence of the detected occupations together with the previously published radiocarbon dates.