2026-04-19T23:41:22Zhttps://riubu.ubu.es/oai/request

oai:riubu.ubu.es:10259/78652023-10-12T00:05:31Zcom_10259_6201com_10259_5086com_10259_2604col_10259_6202

00925njm 22002777a 4500 dc Santamaría Díez, Marta author Navazo Ruiz, Marta author Arnold, Lee J. . author Benito Calvo, Alfonso author Demuro, Martina . author Carbonell, Eudald author 2023-07 Hotel California is part of a network of open-air Neanderthal sites located in the Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain). In this study, we examine the technology of the lithic assemblages recovered from this site's archaeological levels 3 to 7, which are characterised by the use of local raw materials, non-hierarchical centripetal exploitation systems, systematic production of flakes and few retouched items. This type of expedient technology is repeated throughout the entire sequence, which spans Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 3 to 4. Through a comparison with the technocomplexes and occupation histories of surrounding sites – including a re-evaluation of the published chronology for the nearby site of Fuente Mudarra, which is now dated exclusively to MIS 5 – we examine whether the detected pattern is applicable to the rest of the Atapuerca Mousterian record and if this expedient behaviour has equivalents in other sites in the region. Our findings show that the lithic procurement, exploitation and configuration strategies employed at the Sierra de Atapuerca open-air sites were constant over broad time periods spanning MIS 5 to 3, in contrast to the technological sequences observed at other nearby sites on the Northern Iberian Plateau. The recurrent settlement of these open-air Neanderthal sites over tens of thousands of years and the consistent use of expedient technologies during different occupation periods is likely attributable to the rich ecological context of the Sierra de Atapuerca environs. 0267-8179 http://hdl.handle.net/10259/7865 10.1002/jqs.3501 1099-1417 Expedient technology Lithic technology Neanderthals Open‐air sites Sierra de Atapuerca Low‐cost technologies in a rich ecological context: Hotel California open‐air site at Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain