Site catchment analysis and human behaviour during the Upper Palaeolithic in the Cantabrian Region. Coímbre cave (Asturias, Spain) as case study

Abstract

This paper analyses the territoriality and mobility of hunter-gatherer groups that inhabited Coímbre in its different occupation periods (Magdalenian and Gravettian). With the objective of developing this study a Geographic Information System was used, allowing us to get new information of Coímbre cave in relation to the lithic raw materials unearthed in the excavations developed between 2008 and 2012: we have calculated the cost of the movement in the territory, and using Least Cost Paths (LCPs) in order to calculate the distances in kilometres and hours to different outcrops of lithic raw materials and to the areas in which the archaeological record reveals the existence of movements such as, for example, the coastal area. The above-mentioned analysis provides very useful information to analyse the human behaviour in Coímbre between the Magdalenian and Gravettian.