INTRODUCTION ON SHELTER'S LEDGE: HISTORIES, THEORIES, AND METHODS OF ROCKSHELTER RESEARCH

MARCEL KORNFELD; SERGEY VASIL?EV; LAURA MIOTTI

BAR. International Series. ON SHELTER'S LEDGE: HISTORIES, THEORIES, AND METHODS OF ROCKSHELTER RESEARCH

Archaeopress, England

Lugar: London; Año: 2007; p. 9 - 15

Rock shelters have played a significant role in the history of archeology; from being mines for artifacts, especially of perishable materials to being thought of as a panacea for developing chronologies. Rock shelters became significant sources of prehistoric data commensurate with the development of archaeology as a discipline in the nineteenth century. Few would argue that Neandertal (Feldhofer Cave), Krapina, La Madeleine, or Laugerie-Haute, were not major sources of data about early human history. Rock shelters are unique features of the landscape in that they offer naturally produced shelter lasting innumerable generations. However, shelters vary among themselves nearly as much as they vary from other (notable open air) archaeological manifestations. For these and other reasons rockshelters have always held a special place in archaeology, with the Perigordian shelters providing a catalyst for developing special analytical and interpretive techniques for maximizing the information potential from their investigations. The purpose of this session is to provide a global assessment of today rockshelter studies. In particularly the participants are asked to address: 1) The history and synthesis of rock shelters research in their region; 2) The theoretical perspectives of the role of rockshelters in prehistory; and 3) The field, analytical, and interpretive methods specific to rock shelter investigations. Leaving apart important problems connected with multidisciplinary studies, we wish to concentrate on the archaeological methodology, especially those issues as matching the stratigraphic excavations with spatial analysis, techniques for artifact plotting, functional interpretation of inhabited space, perspectives for identification of domestic structures in rockshelters, etc. Although we wish to begin with a historical perspective we encourage the participants to move quickly to cutting edge theoretical and methodological issues facing them in rock shelter studies today.  This session provides a global view on variability of rock shelter formation, deposition, and evolution.  This is a particularly significant aspect of the colloquium as it is currently unclear how rock shelters vary globally and how this variability affected their prehistoric use and today investigative approaches.