Morphometric and technological analysis of Acheulean large cutting tools from Porzuna (Ciudad Real, Spain) and questions of African affinities

• Published in: Journal of archaeological science, reports Vol. 27; p. 101992
• Main Authors: Arroyo, Adrián, Proffitt, Tomos, Key, Alastair
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01-10-2019
• Subjects: Early Stone Age; Handaxe; Iberian Peninsula; Large Flake Acheulean; Morphometric analysis; Large Flake Acheulean; Iberian Peninsula; Early Stone Age; Handaxe; Morphometric analysis
• ISSN: 2352-409X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.101992

The Acheulean of central Spain is well known from a handful of sites. Rarely, however, are these assemblages subject to systematic technological and morphological analyses. Numerous years of surface collection within the Porzuna area (Ciudad Real) has yielded a substantial collection of Lower-Middle Palaeolithic lithic material (with over 8000 stone tools), now housed at the Museo Provincial of Ciudad Real. It has been suggested that the LCT technology of the Spanish Acheulean may have been directly influenced by ESA African technological traditions; however, others have suggested a European origin for the technology. Here we present a techno-typological and 3D morphometric analysis of the LCT's collected at Porzuna. We compare the Porzuna artefacts to other known local assemblages from Ciudad Real as well as Acheulean LCT's from north, east and South Africa, to investigate potential technological and morphological affinities. Results of our analysis show that despite sharing technological similarities, such as the use of large flakes as blanks, significant morphological differences exist between the African and Iberian LCTs.
•A previously unreported collection of Acheulean LCTs from Porzuna (Spain) is described.•Porzuna contains the largest surface collection of Acheulean LCTs in Iberia (1000+).•Technological and morphological analyses highlight similarities with other regional LCT sites.•Porzuna's implications for a north African origin of the Iberian Acheulean are assessed.•Porzuna displays technological affinities with African LCTs, but distinct morphology.