SESSION 4 - Use-wear analyses - signs of usage on stone tools (a.k.a. traceology)
Tool function and human behaviour in Fuente del Trucho (Huesca, Spain)

Fuente del Trucho is a major site in the Central Pre-Pyrenees that exhibits fine examples of rock art (Utrilla et al., 2014) as well as very interesting archaeological levels with both Neanderthal and modern human occupations (Mir and Salas, 2000; Montes et al., 2006).
The possibilities offered by the succession within a single site and environment of different human groups with similar necessities provides an ideal opportunity to trace these supposedly behavioural peculiarities. Both groups of prehistoric people shared a common landscape, with the same access to raw material and resources and likewise they faced similar climatic conditions. We can therefore assume that they shared common basic needs that they tried to overcome by their own means. The different human responses to these similar challenges can be read in terms of cultural traditions that are partly represented by their toolkit management. Functional analysis of lithic tools should offer a good image of the behavioural differences between Neanderthals and modern humans. Fuente del Trucho, with a limited but representative lithic assemblage of both chronocultural periods, offers a good opportunity to test these ideas.