A SERP exhibition shows the importance of the archaeological site in Montlleó to discover Palaeolithic communities of the Pyrenees
The Seminar on Prehistoric Studies and Research of the University of Barcelona (SERP-UB) has undergone excavations in the site of Montlleó for twenty years, in the town of Prats i Sansor, Cerdanya, under the supervision of Xavier Mangado, Marta Sánchez de la Torre, Josep M. Fullola and Oriol Mercadal. An exhibition in Puigcerdà gathers now the most important findings of these two decades and shows the importance of the archaeological site, a crossing point for Palaeolithic communities that crossed the Pyrenees 20.000 years ago, during the coldest period the planet underwent.
The Seminar on Prehistoric Studies and Research of the University of Barcelona (SERP-UB) has undergone excavations in the site of Montlleó for twenty years, in the town of Prats i Sansor, Cerdanya, under the supervision of Xavier Mangado, Marta Sánchez de la Torre, Josep M. Fullola and Oriol Mercadal. An exhibition in Puigcerdà gathers now the most important findings of these two decades and shows the importance of the archaeological site, a crossing point for Palaeolithic communities that crossed the Pyrenees 20.000 years ago, during the coldest period the planet underwent.
The opening took place on Friday, September 8, at Museu Cerdà de Puigcerdà, in an event with the participation of the UB professor Josep Maria Fullola, Director of SERP; Oriol Mercandal, Director of Museu Cerdà and Xavier Mangado, Commissioner of the exhibition. The exhibition, which can be visited until late October, includes materials from the Solutrean and Magdalenian periods (between 20.000 and 12.000 years): tips, hooks and drill tools. Most of the stones with which these tools are made come from outside the Cerdanya: quality flints are from Ebro area and the north area of the Pyrinees. “This shows that during such cold moments the path across the Pyrenees was open, through coll de la Perxa”, says Josep Maria Fullola. The exhibition also offers bone remains and some fauna such as shells and conchs that were used as accessories. Some of these accessories came from the Atlantic, which verifies the product exchange processes at this period of the Palaeolithic, even if the distance was long.
“Montelló is an exceptional opportunity to see the kind of exchange and the paths the prestigious products went through crossing the Pyrenees between 15.000 and 20.000 years ago” says Fullola. Also, over the last years some remains in lower levels of the archaeological site have been found. These belong to the Solutrian period, a time from which Catalonia has only remains in the area of Serinyà and Sant Julià de Ramis.
The funding comes from the SERP projects for excavations in the area, defrayed by Generalitat de Catalunya, and the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness for research, dating and restoration, from Museu Cerdà de Puigcerdà and the town council of Prats i Sansor.