A Middle Palaeolithic wooden digging stick from Aranbaltza III, Spain

Joseba Rios-Garaizar (1) , Oriol López-Bultó (2) , Eneko Iriarte (3) , Carlos Pérez-Garrido (4) , Raquel Piqué (5) , Arantza Aranburu (6) , Maria José Iriarte-Chiapusso (7) , Illuminada Ortega-Cordellat (8, 9) , Laurence Bourguignon (8) , Diego Garate (10) , Iñaki Libano

1 CENIEH - Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana
2 Departament de Prehistòria
3 Departamento de Ciencias Historicas y Geografıa
4 Departamento de Cristalografía y Mineralogía [Madrid]
5 UAB - Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona = Autonomous University of Barcelona = Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona
6 Departamento de Mineralogía-Petrología
7 UPV/EHU - Universidad del Pais Vasco / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea [Espagne]
8 Inrap - Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives
9 HNHP - Histoire naturelle de l'Homme préhistorique
10 IIIPC - Instituto Internacional de Investigaciones Prehistóricas de Cantrabria [Santander]

Aranbaltza is an archaeological complex formed by at least three open-air sites. Between 2014 and 2015 a test excavation carried out in Aranbaltza III revealed the presence of a sand and clay sedimentary sequence formed in floodplain environments, within which six sedimentary units have been identified. This sequence was formed between 137–50 ka, and includes several archaeological horizons, attesting to the long-term presence of Nean-derthal communities in this area. One of these horizons, corresponding with Unit 4, yielded two wooden tools. One of these tools is a beveled pointed tool that was shaped through a complex operational sequence involving branch shaping, bark peeling, twig removal, shaping , polishing, thermal exposition and chopping. A use-wear analysis of the tool shows it to have traces related with digging soil so it has been interpreted as representing a digging stick. This is the first time such a tool has been identified in a European Late Middle Palaeo-lithic context; it also represents one of the first well-preserved Middle Palaeolithic wooden tool found in southern Europe. This artefact represents one of the few examples available of wooden tool preservation for the European Palaeolithic, allowing us to further explore the role wooden technologies played in Neanderthal communities.

Domaines: Archéologie et Préhistoire

Joseba Rios-Garaizar, Oriol López-Bultó, Eneko Iriarte, Carlos Pérez-Garrido, Raquel Piqué, et al.. A Middle Palaeolithic wooden digging stick from Aranbaltza III, Spain. PLoS ONE, 2018, 13 (3), pp.e0195044. ⟨10.1371/journal.pone.0195044⟩. ⟨hal-01766208⟩