Axlor is a prehistoric archeological site in the village of Dima in

Biscay Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao. ...

in the Autonomous Basque Community of

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

, dating from the

Middle Paleolithic The Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. The term Middle Stone Age is used as an equivalent or a synonym for the Middle Paleo ...

Mousterian The Mousterian (or Mode III) is an archaeological industry of stone tools, associated primarily with the Neanderthals in Europe, and to the earliest anatomically modern humans in North Africa and West Asia. The Mousterian largely defines the ...

period.

Excavation

The shelter is the mouth of an old

cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

that has been filled up with clay from the Indusi karst. The archaeologist Jose Miguel Barandiaran discovered the site and directed the first excavations from 1967 until 1974. The results of these works were published in 1980 by Barandiaran in ''Obras Completas, T. XVIII''. Barandiaran noted the presence of 9 different layers at the site, 5 of which contained Mousterian lithic artifacts. Jose Maria Basabe studied 5 teeth from a young

Neanderthal Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. While ...

found on the site. Jesus Altuna identified faunal remains from the site, while later on, A. Baldeón studied the stone tools. Renewed excavations at Axlor took place from 2000 to 2009, under the direction of J. González Urquijo and J. Ibañez Estévez. The new excavations continue to focus on the

lithic Lithic may refer to: *Relating to stone tools **Lithic analysis, the analysis of stone tools and other chipped stone artifacts **Lithic core, the part of a stone which has had flakes removed from it **Lithic flake, the portion of a rock removed to ...

and faunal assemblages, as well as human remains, but new approaches have also been incorporated into the project: micro-faunal fossil remains (essentially, rodents), the geological context of the " Indusi karst", the

geological formation A geological formation, or simply formation, is a body of rock having a consistent set of physical characteristics (lithology) that distinguishes it from adjacent bodies of rock, and which occupies a particular position in the layers of rock expo ...

of different layers of rock,

palynology Palynology is the "study of dust" (from grc-gre, παλύνω, palynō, "strew, sprinkle" and ''-logy'') or of "particles that are strewn". A classic palynologist analyses particulate samples collected from the air, from water, or from deposits ...

(the study of

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by seed plants. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametop ...

), and

carpology Carpology is a discipline of botany devoted to the study of seeds and fruits. The German inventor Joseph Gaertner, a doctor and botanist who lived in the 18th century and dedicated his life to the study of natural history, is considered its inve ...

(the study of other plant remains), among other disciplines.

The site

Axlor has a sequence of

levels, representing the later stages of the

in the Pyrenees region. The most recent levels at Axlor are dated to approximately 42,000 years before present (using C14 radiocarbon analysis). Axlor is one of few securely-dated late Middle Palaeolithic sites in the Basque region. The Neanderthals from Axlor had long-range strategies to deal with their environment, which they changed over time – thus allowing a sort of "history" to be pieced together by archaeologists. Those investigations are changing the idea of Neanderthal being a "brute" or an "archaic hominid". The Neanderthals of Axlor made stone tools using flint from distant places (between 30 and 60 kilometers from the site). Also, each different stone-class was worked with different techniques, using those systems more appropriated to its size, density, grain and hardness. The producing techniques are quite complicated (Levallois, micro-Levallois, Quina, etc.). Those strategies of flint-working and stone-working are not repeated along the time sequence. They change between layers, probably adapted to different ethnic traditions and to the needs of the Neanderthals and the environmental constraints. Some spear-tips found in Axlor have traces of use, and they were probably used as projectiles. The Neanderthals from Axlor were really good hunters, and they killed adult

bovid The Bovidae comprise the biological family of cloven-hoofed, ruminant mammals that includes cattle, bison, buffalo, antelopes, and caprines. A member of this family is called a bovid. With 143 extant species and 300 known extinct species, ...

s and other dangerous animals. Their long-range strategies extended to the management of hunting resources, butchery, and use of animal resources.

References

Rios, J.; González, J. E. e Ibañez, J. J. (2003): La excavación en Axlor. Las formas de vida de los últimos neandertales. BOLETÍN Nº5 SEDECK. Pg. 62–83
* González Urquijo, J. ; Ibáñez Estévez, J. J.; Rios Garaizar, J. Bourguignon, L.; Castaños Ugarte, P. et Tarriño Vinagre, A. (2005): Excavaciones recientes en Axlor. Movilidad y planificación de actividades en grupos de neandertales. En: Montes, R. y Lasheras, J. A.: Actas de la Reunión científica: Neandertales Cantábricos. Estado de la cuestión. Monografías del Museo Nacional y Centro de Investigación de Altamira nº 20., pg. 527–539. {{Navbox prehistoric caves 1967 archaeological discoveries Archaeological sites in Spain Neanderthal sites Mousterian Caves of Spain Paleolithic sites Buildings and structures in Biscay