Montlleó, Cerdanya, Pyrenees – Lithics Study

Filed under Brigantia Espania, Lithics, Palaeolithic

Contents

1 Montlleó (Cerdanya, Eastern Pyrenees) — A Gateway to Last-Ice-Age Mobility
- - 1.0.1 Research summary - Long-distance movements during the Last Glacial Maximum in the Pyrenean mountain Range: Fresh insights for Montlleo´ archaeological site (Prats i Sansor, Cerdanya, Spain). Source pdf below.
2
3 Where is Montlleó, and why does it matter?
4 Research goals & methods
5 Stratigraphy & dating
6 Lithic technology & raw-material sourcing
7 Implications for LGM hunter-gatherers
8 Quick primer on the Last Ice Age for context
- 8.1 Key takeaways
9 Importance in a Brigantian Context
10 Suggested further reading
11 Site Gallery

Montlleó (Cerdanya, Eastern Pyrenees) — A Gateway to Last-Ice-Age Mobility

Research summary - Long-distance movements during the Last Glacial Maximum in the Pyrenean mountain Range: Fresh insights for Montlleo´ archaeological site (Prats i Sansor, Cerdanya, Spain). Source pdf below.

Where is Montlleó, and why does it matter?

Montlleó sits at 1,144 m a.s.l. on a low knoll in the high, east–west Cerdanya valley of the eastern Pyrenees, a natural corridor between the Bay of Biscay and the Gulf of Lion. Excavated since 2000, the open-air site preserves a 23,000 – 17,000 cal BP occupation sequence that spans the harshest part of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) through early deglaciation. Because mountain ice in the Pyrenees retreated earlier than the global LGM, Montlleó shows that hunter-gatherers could exploit altitudes that were once thought permafrost-bound.

Research goals & methods

The project combines:

High-resolution spatial plotting of >25,000 lithics.
Archaeopetrology & LA-ICP-MS geochemistry to fingerprint chert and rhyolite sources on both sides of the Pyrenees.
Techno-typological study of diagnostic tools (Upper Solutrean notched points; Badegoulian raclettes).
Bayesian modelling of 14 C dates on bone and charcoal (IntCal20) to refine site chronology (see Table 1 in the article).

Stratigraphy & dating

Micro-spatial analysis isolates three clear cultural horizons in Sector B :

Level	Culture	Cal BP (95 % range)	Key markers
IV	Upper Solutrean	23,000 – 22,000	Notched points, wide raw-material network
III	Badegoulian	22,000 – 21,000	Raclettes, tighter southern sourcing
I	Lower Magdalenian	20,000 – 17,500	Bladelet industry with inverse retouch

A brief hiatus separates the Solutrean and Badegoulian levels, confirming a true cultural succession.

Lithic technology & raw-material sourcing

Upper Solutrean: five techno-groups of notched points reveal both classic French “Salpêtrien” traditions and local innovations; cherts and rhyolites trace to the Corbières Massif, western Pyrenees flysch, the Middle Ebro Basin and local Cadí rhyolite — evidence of long-distance (>200 km) circulation across mountain corridors.
Badegoulian: 11 raclettes show a strong preference for evaporitic Tremp-Fm cherts from the southern Pyrenees and fewer imports from Corbières and the Ebro Basin, implying a more restricted catchment than their Solutrean predecessors.
Lower Magdalenian: still under study, but preliminary data suggest renewed broad-scale mobility.

Implications for LGM hunter-gatherers

Montlleó provides the earliest secure evidence of high-altitude open-air occupation in the Pyrenees during the global cold peak, demonstrating rapid adaptation to deglaciating niches.
Contrasting procurement strategies show that territorial ranges contracted and expanded in step with climate oscillations and cultural change.
The site corroborates two trans-Pyrenean corridors used during the LGM: the Basque “crossroads” in the west and the Cerdanya valley in the east.

Quick primer on the Last Ice Age for context

Date (Ka cal BP)	Climate / culture snapshot (W. Europe)
≈115 – 30	Early–Middle Weichselian/Devensian glaciations; Neanderthal Mousterian, later transitional techno-complexes.
30 – 26	Onset of Upper Palaeolithic; Aurignacian spreads with Homo sapiens.
26 – 19 (LGM)	Global ice maxima. In W. Europe: Gravettian wanes; Solutrean (c. 24–20 ka) thrives in SW France & Iberia with heat-treated bifacial technology. Vast steppe-tundra dominates; refugia persist in northern Iberia and southern France.
22 – 20	Badegoulian emerges during cold GS1.1c; characterised by raclettes and heavy-duty flake tools; signals economic stress and territorial tightening.
19 – 14.7	Rapid warming (Bølling–Allerød); Magdalenian explosion of art and long-range exchange; re-colonisation of Northern Europe.
12.9 – 11.7	Younger Dryas cold snap; Federmesser/Azilian adaptive shift.

Key takeaways

glacial pulses repeatedly compressed human ranges into southern refugia, yet groups kept inter-regional contacts through corridors such as Cerdanya. Montlleó captures this dynamism in a single slope above today’s ski-resorts.

Importance in a Brigantian Context

Comparison point: Montlleó’s terrace-like occupation package mirrors upland open-air sites in Britain (e.g., Creswell Crags) but under far harsher conditions.
Methodological model: the integrated geochemical sourcing and micro-GIS approach offers a toolkit applicable to British flint-scatters.
Pan-European narrative: understanding Pyrenean mobility helps frame Britain’s own Late-Glacial recolonisation after c. 15 ka.