Le Paléolithique moyen de l'Abric Romaní. Comportements écosociaux des groupes néandertaliens

The Abric Romaní is one of the most important Upper Pleistocene sequence of the Iberian Peninsula, with archaeological levels belonging to the Middle Paleolithic and with one of the earliest Aurignacian samples from Western Europe. Research has been focused on the interpretation of patterns of manage and consume of natural resources and the spatial organization of the activities inside the site, and for that reason, the fieldwork strategy is lead to excavate the whole surface of the site. The results of more than 25 years of research on the Abric Romaní conclude that Neanderthal communities settled in the site forming domestic groups around hearths. Depending on the intensity of occupation, related to the length of occupation and with the number of people of these groups, this spatial domestic structure evolves forming the variability spectrum of settlement impacts in the site. In the same way, the manage of lithic and faunal resources increases its variability following the intensity of occupation, using clears technical patterns of lithic production and for catching and processing faunal preys. This variability from behaviors well established is interpreted like the way for adapting new historical and environmental situations.