In this episode we talk with Alejandro Prieto about the use of quartzite in Europe during the Palaeolithic. We also discuss topics such as the societies who inhabited the Cantabrian Region during the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic and the methods used in petroarchaeology.

Episode notes are available on the ArchaeoCafé website.

http://archaeocafe.kvasirpublishing.com/archaeocafe-podcast-ep-217-prieto

About Alejandro Prieto

Dr. Prieto is a researcher at the University of the Basque Country and the University of Salamanca. His research focuses on the Palaeolithic period in Cantabria (northern Spain) and the Rhine Valley, quarrying processes in the Palaeolithic (particularly at Troisdorf-Ravensberg, German), and the use of quartzite as a knappable material. His research is aimed at understanding past raw material acquisition, distribution and management mechanisms in the Rhine Valley and places in Cantabria. He often makes use of petrographic methods to characterise raw materials and artefacts. Alejandro is an editor of the Journal of Lithic Studies and Revista Arkeogazte.

Web:

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alejandro-Prieto-4

https://ehu.academia.edu/AlejandroPrieto

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=75T1duQAAAAJ

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3853-525X

Some useful terminology and links

Middle Palaeolithic

The second subdivision of the Palaeolithic. During this period, archaic humans including Homo sapiens neanderthalensis appeared and flourished all over the world. As with many general categories of ancient history, the exact dates of the period vary by region.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Paleolithic

Upper Palaeolithic

The third and last subdivision of the Palaeolithic - preceded by the Middle Palaeolithic and followed by the Mesolithic and Neolithic. According to some theories this period coincided with the appearance or widespread occurrence of many modern behavioural characteristics of modern humans - for example, art, burials, extensive long distance trade, composite tools.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_Paleolithic

quartzite

A hard, non-foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone. Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts.

https://www.mindat.org/min-51087.html

Selected reading and other media

Lithic raw material in the Cantabrian region: Dialectical relationship between flint and quartzite in the Palaeolithic record

by Alejandro Prieto, Alvaro Arrizabalaga, and Iñaki Yusta

Journal of Lithic Studies, 2021, Vol. 8(1), 32 p.

https://doi.org/10.2218/jls.4334

Defining and Characterizing Archaeological Quartzite: Sedimentary and Metamorphic Processes in the Lithic Assemblages of El Habario and El Arteu (Cantabrian Mountains, Northern Spain)

by Alejandro Prieto, Iñaki Yusta, Alvaro Arrizabalaga

Archaeometry, 2019, Vol. 61(1), p. 14-40.

https://doi.org/10.1111/arcm.12397

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