Photo report from
H.O.GAnnual Congress 2003
Introduction by Link
Paleolithic Arts in North Spain
Hugo Obermaier Gesellshaft
45th Annual Congress
held in Santander, Spain, April 22-26
in cooperation with the Group of Prehistory of the Univ. of Cantabria

Reported by Takeo Fukazawa / Texnai

The 45th annual congress of a German archeological society "Hugo Obermaier Gesellshaft(H.O.G)" (President Prof.Dr.Ludwig Reisch of the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg) was held in Santander, Spain from April 22 to 26 in cooperation with the group of Prehistory of the University of Cantabria and aprroximately 150 participants that include peoples from Gemany, Spain, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, etc. joined the congress and excursions.

Hugo Obermaier is a German archeologist of the begginig of 20th centry and known as one of the pioneer who established the paleolithic archeology in Europe, and especially in Spain, well known for his excavations and researches of Paleolithic caves in Northern Spain such as Castillo and Altamira.

The Hugo Obermaier Gesellshaft was founded in Regensburg, Hugo Obermaier's home town in Germany in 1951 for the purpose of cultivating and representing the interests and concerns of Quaternarian studies, with a special focus on the Stone Age cultures and their environment. Currently, it is said that the Society has about 250 individual and corporate members from different areas such as prehistory, geology, geography, palaeontology, palaeobotany, palaeoclimatology, anthropology and ethnology. Membership is open to individuals, institutions and corporate bodies as well.

The congress was executed over 5 days inluding academical presentations, discussions and excursions to a couple of archeological sites near Santander. In this congress were partipated various kinds of people that include many young students and even mothers and children, I enjoied its very friendly and homely atmosphere as well as its high level presentations. This is a photographic report of the 5 days.

[photo above] Opening of the congress at Escuela Superior de la Marina Civil, Univ. of Cantabria, Santander.

April 22 (Tuesday)

Opening of the congress
Photo album is here.
  • Welcome addresses by Prof. Dr. Pablo ARIAS CABAL, Group of Prehistory of the Universidad de Cantabria
  • Exmo. y Magnífico Sr. D. Federico GUTIÉRREZ-SOLANA, Rector of the Universidad de Cantabria
  • Exmo. Sr. D. José Antonio CAGIGAS, Consejero de Cultura, Turismo y Deporte del Gobierno de Cantabria
  • Opening of the congress by the President of the Society, Prof. Dr. Ludwig REISCH, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg
Section 1:Rock Art of the Upper Paleolithic in Europe
  • César GONZÁLEZ SAINZ, Santander:
    Novelles recherches sur l'art pariétal paléolithique dans la région Cantabrique
  • Pablo ARIAS CABAL, Santander:
    The Program of Archaeological Research at La Garma(1996-2002)
  • Javier ALCOLEA GONZALEZ, Rodrigo de BALBÍN BEHRMANN, Alcalá de Henares:
    14C et style. La chronologie de l'art paléolithique à l'actualité
  • Mario MENÉNDEZ FERNANDEZ, Eduardo GARCÍA, José M. QUESADA, Madrid:
    El Paléolithico superior de la Cueva de la Güelga (Cangas de Onís, Asturias, España)
  • Diego GÁRATE MAIDAGAN, Santander:
    Nouvelles recherches sur l'art pariétal paléolithique à la Grotte d'Arenaza (Galdames, Biscay, Espagne)
  • Pedro CANTALEJO DUARTE, Ardales, José RAMOS MUÑOZ, María del Mar ESPEJO HERRERÍAS, Rafael MAURA MIJARES, Cádiz:
    Thèmes, techniques et formes d'exécution de l'art rupestre paléolithique de la Grotte de Ardales (Málaga)
  • Luis C. TEIRA, Roberto ONTAÑÓN, Santander:
    Use of CAD techniques for the study of prehistoric art
  • Pawel Valde-Nowak, Kraków:
    Oblazowa Cave, new light on Gargas hands?
Presentation of the database
  • César GONZÁLEZ SAÏNZ, Roberto CACHO TOCA -Santander, Takeo FUKAZAWA - Tokyo:
    Palaeolithic art in northern Spain. Photo VR Multimedia
Inauguration of the poster exhibition

Reception by the mayer of Santander at the Palacio de la Magdalena
April 23(Wednesday):

Section 2: Settlement patterns and economical strategies of the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic.
Photo album is here.
  • Sabine GAUDZINSKI, Sylvie BERGMANN, Olaf JÖRIS, Jšrg HOLZKÄMPER, Martina SENSBURG, Martin STREET, Elaine TURNER, Neuwied:
    Late Upper Palaeolithic dwellings reconsidered
  • Jürgen VOLLBRECHT, Reichwalde, Ilse BOEREN, Stuttgart-Hohenheim:
    Spatial patterns in an Late Palaeolithic site in Reichwalde, Saxony, Germany
  • Adriana Mabel Chauvin, Santander:
    The lithic assemblages of layers 7 and 8 of La Garma A cave (Cantabria, Spain): a preliminary analysis
  • Pilar UTRILLA, Carlos MAZO, Rafael DOMINGO MARTÍNEZ, Zaragoza:
    Une carte géographique datée de 11.700 BP dans le Magdalénien du bassin de lĠEbre
  • Thomas TERBERGER, Greifswald:
    Refugia and recolonisation - the Last Glacial Maximum reconsidered
  • Stephan HOLDERMANN, Dieter Schäfer, INNSBRUCK:
    "Early postglacial Europeans": aspects of transalpine relationships of Mesolithic in Tyrol
  • Claus-Joachim KIND, Stuttgart:
    The Mesolithic open air site Siebenlinden 4, South West Germany: recent discoveries
Visiting the copy of the Altamira Cave and of the Altamira Museum

Section 3: Hugo Obermaier and the history of research / Altamira Museum
Photo album is here.
  • Christian ZÜCHNER, Erlangen:
    Hugo Obermaier and the Hugo Obermaier Society
  • Jordí ESTÉVEZ, Assumpció VILA, Barcelona:
    Obermaier and the construction of the Spanish Palaeolithic: a view from the 21st century
  • Oscar MORO ABADÍA, Santander:
    Nouvelles perspectives de l'histoire de l'archéologie: Le temps dans l'Archéologie Préhistorique Française pendant la seconde moitié du 19ème siècle
Annual meeting / Altamira Museum

Visit of Santillana del Mar and dinner

April 24 (Thursday)

Section 4: Research into Lower and Middle Palaeolithic
Photo album is here.
  • Ludwig REISCH, Erlangen:
    Hunas near Hartmannshof, Lkr. Nürnberger Land, Bavaria. A Cave Site from the Upper Middle Pleistocene
  • Alvaro ARRIZABALAGA, María José IRIARTE, Mónica RUIZ-ALONSO, Vitoria:
    Le gisement archéologique de Irikaitz (Zestoa, Pays Basque)
  • Salvador DOMÍNGUEZ-BELLA, José Ramos MUÑOZ, Vicente CASTAÑEDA, Cádiz:
    Raw materials and provenance areas of the lithic industry from the lower paleolithic open air settlement of Río Iro and Arroyo de la Cueva (Chiclana, Cádiz, Spain)
  • José RAMOS MUÑOZ, Vicente CASTAÑEDA FERNÁNDEZ, Darío BERNAL CASASOLA, Cádiz , Juán José DURÁN VALSERO, Madrid, Nuria HERRERO LAPAZ, Salvador DOMÍNGUEZ-BELLA, Cádiz:
    La Cabililla de Benzœ (Ceuta). Avance des études stratigraphiques, de la séquence et de la technologie lithique d'un gisement africain du Pleistocène Moyen et Supérieur dans l'environnement du Détroit de Gibraltar
  • Thomas WEBER, Magdeburg:
    Menschenwerk und Affenarbeit, Überlegungen zur Unterscheidung altpaläolithischer Inventare von schimpansoiden "Nussknackerartefakten"
Section5: The transition of Middle to Upper Palaeolithic

  • Manuel GONZÁLEZ MORALES, Santander:
    Los inicios del Paleolítico Superior en la Región Cantábrica
  • Victoria CABRERA, Madrid, Federico BERNALDO DE QUIRÓS, León:
    Hundred years at El Castillo cave: the end of the Neanderthals
  • María Dolores GARRALDA, Madrid:
    Hugo Obermaier et les hommes du paléolithique dans la région cantabrique
  • Javier BAENA, Madrid:
    The El Esquilleu Cave: a new Middle Paleolithic sequence in the western area of Cantabria
  • Ramón MONTES BARQUÍN, Emilio MUÑOZ FERNÁNDEZ, Altamira:
    Variability of the archaeological record of the Middle Palaeolithic in the central sector of Cantabrian Spain: the reality beyond the Bordesian facies
  • Nicholas CONARD, Tübingen:
    New Research on the Middle and Upper Paleolithic in Swabia
  • Michael BOLUS, Tübingen:
    The importance of the Swabian Aurignacian for the studies of the early Upper Paleolithic in Europe
  • Harald FLOSS, Tübingen:
    Des nouveaux résultats sur le Châtelperronien, l'Aurignacien et le Gravettien dans l'est de la France, les exemples d'Azé et de Germolles en Saône-et-Loire Rafael MORA, Jorge MARTÍNEZ MORENO, Ignacio de la TORRE, Barcelona:
    La Roca dels Bous and the end of the Middle Paleolithic in the Northeast of Iberia
Section 6: Hunting strategies and ecology of the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic

  • Susanne MÜNZEL, Tübingen:
    Subsistence patterns in the Upper and Middle Palaeolithic layers of Geissenklšsterle, (Ach valley, Swabian Jura, South western Germany)
  • Jorge MARTÍNEZ MORENO, Barcelona:
    Neanderthal behaviour and Middle Palaeolithic fauna
  • Raquel FERNÁNDEZ, Santander:
    Les premiers pcheurs dans la région cantabrique
  • Werner MÜLLER, Neuchâtel:
    Small-game exploitation in Upper Palaeolithic context, only for the taste of it ?
  • Lydia ZAPATA PEÑA, Vitoria:
    The human ecology of the Upper Paleolithic in Southwestern Europe: The fine vegetation picture.
Closing of the congress

April 25 (Friday)

Excursion I Visit of the most important Palaeolithic cave sanctuaries of Asturias:
Photo album is here.

  • EL PINDAL
  • TITO BUSTILLO in Ribadesella
  • Palaeolithic sites of CUETO DE LA MINA
  • LA RIERA near Posada de Llanes
  • Mesolithic shell middens (concheros) of EL PENICIAL and CUEVAS DEL MAR near Nueva
  • "IDOLO DE PEÑA TÚ", a famous rock art site and monument of the late Copper Age
Photo album is here.
April 26 (Saturday)

Excursion II

Visit of the most important Palaeolithic cave sanctuaries of Cantabria:
Photo album is here.
  • EL CASTILLO, Puente Viesgo
  • LAS MONEDAS, Puente Viesgo
  • COVALANAS, Ramales
  • EL MIRÓN, Ramales Ê
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