Andreas Pastoors

Possible contacts between hunter-gatherers of Northern Africa and Europe via the Strait of Gibraltar during the Pleistocene are still object to discussions. In the absence of significant fossil remains, debates are mainly based on similarities and differences of singular aspects of material culture. However, a theoretical framework for these discussions was lacking. The first aim of this study thus has been the development of a theoretical base. We therein included Maslow´s pyramid of basic needs. The idea of our approach is that the presence or absence of so-called cultural tracers identify either contact or disparity. A large database on archaeological sites of Morocco and Southern Iberia dating between 160 ka and 40 ka years ago has been compiled, containing information about lithic technology and typology, lithic raw material acquisition, subsistence patterns and symbolic behaviour. We formulated three potential contact scenarios between the two regions. The presence and/ or absence of so-called cultural tracers within the data set, that covered all levels of Maslow´s pyramid, led us to conclude that – based on the present archaeological and anthropological data-no contact took place between Iberian and North African populations across the Strait of Gibraltar in the given time frame. RESUMEN Contactos entre grupos humanos del Pleistoceno superior entre África del Norte y la Península Ibérica cruzando el Estrecho de Gibraltar están siendo objeto de debates. Por la falta de fósiles humanos significativos el debate se centra básicamente en similitudes y diferencias en la cultura material. Pero todavía falta un marco metodológico para la discusión. Este trabajo intenta la presentación de una base teórica preliminar. La pirámide de Maslow con necesidades básicas forma parte de estas reflexiones. La ausencia o presencia de marcadores cul-turales indica según nuestro enfoque contactos o disparidades. En un banco de datos de yacimientos arqueológicos entre 160 ka y 40 ka de Marruecos y del sur de España hemos compilado información sobre tecnología de inventarios líticos, aprovisionamiento de materias primas, patrones de asentamiento y comportamiento simbólico. Se pueden formular tres escenarios de contacto entre ambas regiones. La aplicación de marcadores culturales in relación con la pirámide entera de Maslow indica que según la información actual no se pueden demostrar con-tactos entre ambos continentes. LABURPENA Iparraldeko Afrikaren eta Iberiar penintsularen artean, Gibraltargo itsasartea zeharkatuta, Goi-pleistozenoan giza taldeen artean izan ziren harremanak eztabaidagai bihurtu dira. Gizakiaren fosil esanguratsurik ez dagoenez, eztabaidaren gai nagusia, batez ere, kultura materialean dauden antzekotasunak eta aldeak dira. Baina oraindik eztabaidarako testuinguru metodologikoa falta da. Lan honen helburua da aurretiazko oinarri teorikoa aurkeztea. Oinarrizko beharrak dituen Maslow piramidea gogoeta horien baitan dago. Gure ustez, markatzaile kulturalik ez izateak edo halakoak izateak harremanak edo desberdintasunak adierazten ditu. Marokotik eta Espainiako hegoaldetik 160 ka eta 40 ka arteko distantziara dauden aztarnategi arkeologikoetako datu-basean, inbentario litikoen teknologiari, lehengaien hornikuntzari, finkapeneko ereduei eta portaera sinbolikoari buruzko informazioa jaso dugu. Hori guztia kontuan hartuta, bi eskualdeen arteko harremanetako hiru egoera formula ditzakegu. Gaur egun eskuragarri dugun informazioaren arabera, Maslowko piramide osoarekin lotuta kultur markatzaileak aplikatzeak bi kon-tinente horien arteko kontaktuak ezin direla egiaztatu adierazten du.

This article addresses two major challenges for an integrated analysis of socio-environmental systems, namely the diversity of contributing disciplines and the wide spectrum of temporal and spatial scales. Archaeology, the geosciences and socio-cultural anthropology provide information relating to a diversity of specific time series and spatial distribution maps in order to answer questions relating to the impact of environmental and anthropogenic factors in population growth and migration processes. A model based on the key idea of adaptive cycles as it was initially developed in resilience research can be productively employed to bridge the diversity of disciplines and to integrate the diversity of data that they provide. This article outlines first steps towards recognizing similar patterns across a wide spectrum of empirical observations. It is exploratory in its attempt to trace these patterns across different layers of understanding the complexity of human–environment interaction.The case material considered relates to (1) observable ethnographic data on forager mobility and its simulation, (2) the demography of the Central European Neolithic, (3) the palaeodemography of foragers during the Late Upper Palaeolithic, (4) the societal reorganization by Palaeolithic foragers under climate instability, (5) the palaeoenvironmental study of lake Prespa in the Balkans, and (6) environmental responses to agricultural land use practices in relation to sediment flux in hillslope systems. With reference to these cases, an adaptive cycle model is outlined, with phases of growth, conservation, distortion and reorganization. The model helps to infer internal dynamics in the diverse environmental and social domains without reducing one domain to another while still connecting evidence from a host of different sources. More generally, such a model could help in understanding features of non-linearity, multifactoral relations, scale dependency and time-lags which seem to be typical for the complex dynamics of integrated socio-environmental systems.

Due to its diverse geographic and climatic conditions, the Iberian Peninsula is well suited for studies into the relationship between climate, environment and hunter-gatherer adaptation. With focus on the archaeological record, this paper examines to what extent diachronic variations in site density on the Iberian Peninsula are related to climate variability and cultural change. Studies are based on a comprehensive record of technocomplexes that date from the late Middle Palaeolithic, early Upper Palaeolithic, Gravettian and Solutrean. The record comprises altogether 152 archaeological cave sites and rock shelters. Analysis reveals strong regional differences between Northern and Southern Iberia, both in isochronic and in diachronic perspective. This is expressed by the strongly different patterns of human presence in these regions. In particular, within both regions major cultural changes coincide with the environmental impact of North Atlantic Heinrich Events (HE). From previous studies, it is known that the human population on the Iberian Peninsula (IP) must have suffered strongly under the extremely variable climate conditions during the Late Pleistocene. Based on extensive site-mapping, the hypothesis is that during HE a major disintegration of habitats must have occurred, with various but strongly isolated patchy refugia remaining. Further, during HE, Southern Iberia could not uphold its previous function in providing a reliable refuge for humans. Not only does climatic deterioration during the different HE repeatedly lead to a near-complete breakdown of settlement patterns, but following each HE there is a major reorganization in settlement patterns on the IP.