@article{10902/35668,
year = {2024},
month = {6},
url = {https://hdl.handle.net/10902/35668},
abstract = {The creation of rock art in the deep areas of caves was one of the most unique symbolic activities of Magdalenian societies in southwestern Europe between 13.5 and 21 thousand years ago. Previous research has suggested that these works of art were not placed in caves at random but rather their location corresponds to a pre-established structure. However, despite the suggestive idea of pre-planning the decoration of the endokarst, it is challenging to demonstrate the relationship between different works and between them and their immediate spatial context due to the lack of common objective criteria. In this study, we have examined the iconographic and spatial characteristics of 500 Magdalenian graphic units in nine caves in the Cantabrian and Pyrenees mountain ranges (southwestern Europe) to identify patterns of graphic construction based on their cave location. We designed a workflow that includes geomorphological analysis for a virtual reconstruction of the state of the caves during the Magdalenian, analysis of graphic units (GU) through geographic information systems (GIS) using a Python script, and multivariate statistical study of the spatial and iconographic parameters of these figures. This has allowed us to identify different groups of figures: some were specifically created to be seen, using various techniques and selecting locations with good visibility, accessibility, or capacity to accommodate people, while others sought the opposite. There is also a correlation between the techniques used and their location in caves, perhaps aiming for resource  conomization. These data support the existence of different uses for the deep sectors of caves during the Magdalenian period.},
organization = {This research was carried out in the framework of the projects PID2019-107262 GB-100 “Before art: social investment in symbolic expressions during the Upper Palaeolithic in the Iberian Peninsula”, PDC2022-133124-I00 “Scientific virtual reality for the study and dissemination of the scenarios of artistic creation in Palaeolithic caves” (PI Diego Garate), and PID2021-125166OB-I00 “(ArtMindHuman): Creación y percepción en los Humanos Anatómicamente Modernos: análisis de las capacidades biológicas, cognitivas y sociales ligadas a la producción del arte Paleolítico” (PI Olivia Rivero), funded by MCIN/ AEI /10.13039/501100011033 (Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities); the IT1678-22 research team (PI Iñaki Antiguedad), funded by Department of Culture and Linguist Politics of the Basque Government; and the project “Ilunpetako sekretuak argiztatzen” (PI Iñaki Intxaurbe) funded with the grant “Barandiaran 2022” by the J. M. de Barandiaran Foundation. I. Intxaurbe’s PhD research is funded by the grant PIF 19/196 (2019) at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). Thanks to O. Spaey, S. Salazar and E. Palacio for the figure of the context in the sector Tréfonds in El Castillo cave (Cantabria, Spain).
Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature.},
publisher = {Springer Nature},
publisher = {Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2024, 16(104), 1-24},
title = {Drawing in the depths: spatial organization patterns related to Magdalenian cave art},
author = {Intxaurbe Alberdi, Iñaki and Garate Maidagan, Diego and Arriolabengoa, Martin},
}