The first men that inhabited the Basque Country, of whom there are remains that have been recovered from different Basque caves (Axlor, Lexetxiki, Olha, Arrillor and Gatzarria among others), were the Neanderthals that lived in our lands between the years 100,000 and 35,.000 B.C. However, a new species will arise among the hominids: the Homo sapiens sapiens (to whom the present humanity belongs), whose European manifestation receives the denomination of Cro-Magnon man. They replaced the European Neanderthals from the Upper Paleolithic onwards.

There are more than seventy sites in the Basque Country, in which there is evidence of human occupation during the western Upper Paleolithic (from 35,0000 to 8,000 B.C.). Most of them were low-lying caves that were close to the coast, the most important of which are the following ones: Altxerri (Guipúzcoa), Santimamiñe (Biscay), Ekain Franco-Cantabrian civilization. Cave paintigs from the cave of Altamira. Santillana del Mar (Cantabria, Spain)(Guipúzcoa) and Isturitz (Lower Navarre). The people that inhabited those caves were hunters that practised watching, stalking and capturing of the animals as a group to get meat, furs and hides, as well as bones and antlers. Their preferential kills were the deer (or reindeer under colder climatic conditions) or other animals like the mountain goats in steep areas, and horses, bisons and aurochs from the meadows and open areas. The groups of hunters travelled several times a year from their usual campsites (in the most suitable caves) to nearby territories in order to stock up on other resources.

The man draws figures of animals, any reference to the human being and a wide collection of geometrical drawings, the meaning of which are still unknown for us: paintings and engravings on the walls of the caves (cave art), as well as engravings or reliefs on smaller supports (portable art), which were performed over pieces of stone, bone, antler or ivory. The highest number of sites that show this prehistoric art is located to southwest of Europe (Dordogne, Pyrenees and the Cantabric coast), what is commonly called Franco-Cantabrian civilization. The peak of this culture took place from middle to late Magdalenian and is considered by some anthropologists and historians as the predecessor of the current Basque culture. The cave paintings of Altxerri (Guipúzcoa) date back 39,000 years and are the oldest of Europe. The recent works on paleogenetics point towards a Proto-Basque expansion which spread to northern areas up to Russia and southwards up to Tunisia during the Magdalenian period.

Franco-Cantabrian civilization. Cave paintings from the cave of Santimamiñe. Kortezubi (Biscay, Western Basque Country, Spain)The climate became warmer and moister at the end of the last Ice Age, and the progress of the current Holocene climate caused a significant transformation of the vegetal cover and the fauna. A succession of cultures took place over three millennia: early Epipaleolithic (from 8,500 / 8,200 to 6,800 B.C.) and middle Epipaleolithic or Mesolithic (from 6,800 to 5,500 B.C.). The changes of the animal species require the development of new hunting techniques as well as an equipment of effective weapons (there arose the use of arrows thrown by means of a bow). There was also an increase of food resources from deciduous forests (chestnuts, hazelnuts, beechnuts and acorns), estuaries and coastal marshes. The leftovers, as well as fish scrap and the accumulation of shells in the corners of the caves were usual during the Epipaleolithic and Mesolithic periods. For instance, it is notable the shell midden of the cave of Santimamiñe (Biscay), which consists mainly of oyster shells, although there also are shells of baby clams, mussels, limpets and winkles. Regarding fishing and shellfish farming, there were used nets, bone hooks and stone picks to detach the shells from the rocks

The early Epipaleolithic saw the development of the Azilian and the Laminar Post-Azilian cultures, which extended and finished the preceding Magdalenian. At that time, the people lived in many of the caves that were inhabited during the Upper Paleolithic and they used similar systems of hunting with their instruments, although the beautiful art that characterized that period came to an end. The Azilian industry (from 8,500 to 7,500 / 7,000 B.C.) is well represented by the caves of Santimamiñe and Bolinkoba (Biscay), Lezetxiki, Urtiaga and Ekain (Guipúzcoa), as well as Isturitz (Lower Navarre). On the other hand, the caves of Montico de Txarratu (Álava) and the Navarrese caves of Berroberria and Zatoia are good examples of the Post-Azilian industry.

The use of geometric tools, which are characterised by a sophisticated group of small geometric arrowheads (trapeziums, triangles and circular segments) arose during the Mesolithic. Those findings are dated shortly before the seventh millennium B.C., and their strata are already intermingled in many caves with the ones from the Franco-Cantabrian civilization. Cave paintings of Lascaux (Périgord, France)Neolithic. The living space in the ancient Basque Country increased during that period and for the first time, the humans inhabited caves and rock shelters that were located quite far from the coast and at middle mountain altitude. The sites of Fuente Hoz (Álava), La Peña, Padre Areso and Aizpea (Navarre) are examples of this. In the late Mesolithic, laminar and geometric industries coexisted with a gradual incorporation of some Neolithic novelties.

In the Atlantic period (from 5,500 to 3,000 / 2,500 B.C.) it was reached the 'climate optimum', which was warmer and moister than the current climate. The Mesolithic continued to develop and the novelties of the Neolithic began to spread.

 

 

 

 

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The History of the Basque Country continues on the following page >> The Neolithic