Search

This paper presents the archaeobotanical and archaeozoological data of the 6th to 4th millennia cal BC sequence recently documented at Dehesilla Cave, and puts forward an interdisciplinary approach to the significant ecological patterns from this key archaeological site in the Southern Iberian Peninsula throughout the entire Neolithic period. indicate an ecological scenario characterised mainly by oak and wild olive forests, and human populations with agricultural practices and herds of mainly sheep and goats. However, this general panorama must have undergone several remarkable fluctuations. The first Neolithic populations of Dehesilla Cave, dated around the mid-6th millennium cal BC and linked to the Mediterranean impressa pottery complex, do not yet display evidences of agriculture, while all of the subsequent Early Neolithic levels indicate a model of small-scale populations with a mixed economy but still with a greater component of livestock. The second quarter of the 5th millennium cal BC shows a marked accentuation of the monoculture of naked wheats, which could have been related to the transition from an intensive to an extensive farming system. This may have entailed a selective pressure on the environment, leading to a large deforestation spanning the second half of the 5th millennium cal BC and the constitution of relatively open thermo-Mediterranean forests with a physiognomy similar to that of the dehesa. These ecological patterns are discussed within a review of the current state of the art of the use of plant and animal resources by the Neolithic human populations in the southern regions of the Iberian Peninsula. • A multidisciplinary archaeobotanical and archaeozoological approach is carried out. • A key Neolithic site in the Southern Iberian Peninsula is excavated and examined. • The first local Neolithic populations show evidence of livestock without agriculture. • A monoculture based on naked wheats was successful during 4800-4500 cal BC. • Human pressure on ecosystems led to the spread of open thermo-Mediterranean forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the types of intestinal parasites that infected people living in Islamic period southern Iberia (al-Andalus), and compare with other regions of Europe. Four cesspits from 10th–11th century CE Córdoba (Spain), and two from 12th–13th century Mértola (Portugal). Sediment from each cesspit was analyzed using digital light microscopy and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Analysis revealed eggs of roundworm (Ascaris lumbricoides) in every cesspit analyzed, but no evidence of other species of helminth or protozoal parasites. Differences were noted between parasite species found in Mediterranean Europe and northern Europe, where a range of zoonotic parasites were endemic alongside sanitation-related parasites. We suggest that the scarcity of zoonotic parasites in southern Europe in the medieval period may reflect contrasts in climate between northern and southern Europe. The repeated identification of roundworm eggs suggests that al-Andalus was less hygienic than historically depicted. We did not note a difference between parasites found in Muslim and Christian regions of Iberia, and the predominance of parasites spread by fecal contamination of food is consistent with past research. The eggs of some species of parasite are fragile, so may theoretically have been present in the population but did not survive for us to identify them. To further investigate the role of climate upon the parasites that affected past human populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper presents an overview of the current state of research on Roman, Late Antique and medieval agriculture in the Iberian Peninsula through the study of archaeobotanical samples (seeds and fruits) collected on a large number of rural and urban sites spread throughout Iberia's geography. It includes published and unpublished data. The plant taxa of economic interest are grouped into various categories: cereals, cereal chaff, legumes, domesticated fruits, oil/fibre plants, condiments and spices, and wild species. According to the data, naked wheats and hulled barley are the dominant cereal species throughout the Iberian Peninsula. There are, nonetheless, particularities like the prevalence of hulled wheats (mainly emmer and spelt) in the North-west. Cultivated fruits also show a great diversity, and new species such as Morus nigra or Prunus armeniaca appear for the first time in the archaeobotanical record. There are also novelties regarding herbs and spices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture was introduced in the Iberian Peninsula in the mid-6th millennium cal BC. The first Iberian farmer communities grew seven different cereal species (hulled and free-threshing wheats and hulled and naked barley), seven legumes (broad beans, lentils, peas, grass/red pea, common vetch and bitter vetch) and two oil crops (flax and poppy). The distinct agricultural diversity from area to area gave way to a complex mosaic of regional variability. This paper aims at exploring not only the main features characterising Neolithic agriculture in Iberia, but also at delineating its variability and the underlying causes linked to numerous factors including environmental constraints, economic and social issues, and cultural traditions and their demographic movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the new macro-botanical evidence of South-Western Asian cultivated plants from northern Moroccan Neolithic sites. Due to the reduced presence of plant remains from previous excavations in the region, archaeological evidence of agriculture is rare and the arrival of domesticated plants and the role of farming in the Early Neolithic of North Africa are still poorly understood. Here we present results of the analysis carried out in three sites recently excavated: Kaf Taht el-Ghar, Khil, and Ifri Oudadane. Charred seeds of domesticated cereals ( Triticum dicoccum , Triticum monococcum/dicoccum , Triticum durum , Triticum aestivum/durum , Hordeum vulgare , Hordeum vulgare var. nudum ) and pulses ( Lens culinaris , Pisum sativum , Vicia faba ) have been recorded in all sites analyzed. Radiocarbon dating of crop seeds indicates that farming, along animal herding and pottery, was most probably introduced in the region at the interval between 5500 and 5000 cal. BC. Absence of evidence for Neolithic farming in other regions of North-Western Africa suggests that the first crops arrived into Morocco through a maritime route, more likely from the Central or Northern Mediterranean shores. Similarities in both radiocarbon dates and crop assemblages from early Neolithic sites in Northern Morocco and the south of the Iberian Peninsula point to an almost simultaneous East to West maritime spread of agriculture along both shores of the Western Mediterranean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The multiple archaeobotanical studies from the east Iberian Peninsula from 2800 cal.BC to 200 BC have provided around twenty wild fruit taxa of varying importance. The aim of this work is to present these taxa and analyse the most important wild fruits, some of them being cultivated since the First Iron Age. Considering sites with comparable sampling methods, a quantitative difference is not observed between wild species exploited in the several life zones represented in this synthesis: Thermo-, Meso-, Supra- and Montane-Mediterranean zones. Three taxa are common in the three life zones considered: Quercus sp., Sambucus sp. and Rubus sp. More thermophilic taxa, Ficus carica and Olea europaea , are present in the two lower zones, although their values decrease to the north we go and with height, in contrast to what happens with Vitis vinifera . The exploitation of wild resources as a food supplement, in addition to other uses, developed during the 2600 years with several differences. These differences are explained in part by the plants that grow in each of the territories and in part by the organization of the human groups and the forms of land exploitation. Protohistoric human groups would have exploited nearby resources as in the previous periods, and all data confirm the continuity of this fundamental activity. However, gathering seems to have had a fairly small economic importance when considering the low rates of ubiquity of these plants in contrast to those of staple crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a holistic analysis of the occupation sequence at the rock shelter of Zacatín (Gualchos-Castell de Ferro, Granada, Spain), a site in the cliffs along Andalusia's Mediterranean coastline. Despite being disturbed by cave-ins and erosion, it offers valuable information on the transition between the Mesolithic hunter-gatherers and the first Neolithic farming communities in southern Iberia. The study adopted an approach combining stratigraphical and radiocarbon analyses with typological, archaeozoological and archaeobotanical classifications. The stratigraphical sequence comprises four main phases. The uppermost level (Phase 4) yielded a combination of modern and displaced prehistoric elements. Intermediate Phases 3 and 2 correspond to Early Neolithic layers ranging between the mid-6th to the beginning of the 5th millennium cal BC. The Neolithic finds consist of incised and impressed potsherds, stone tools, ornaments (perforated shells and discoidal beads) as well as domestic animals (caprines) and plant (cereals) species. Although the older Mesolithic horizon (Phase 1) yielded few characteristic artifacts, radiocarbon datings place it in the 7th millennium cal BC. In any case, an original aspect of the site is the key role played by marine resources throughout both its Mesolithic and Neolithic phases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a refined Mesolithic chronocultural sequence as a result of matching data provided by the set of archaeological research conducted at Cueva de la Cocina (Valencia, Spain) in the 20th and 21st centuries and the new radiocarbon dates record. Because available data are of different quality, we apply a methodological framework based on Bayesian modelling approaches. To do this, we systematically order each one of the archaeological registers and then combine the information in a unitary general chronology. Our novel approach introduces Bayesian modelling from a double analytical procedure: using Bayesian chronological models applied to the stratigraphic sequence of Pericot's excavation in Cocina cave we build a general phase model using data from multiple years of archaeological fieldwork. One the most reliable layers have been defined, we use this information to define the rest of the sequence through a Predictive Bayesian approach. This approach sheds light on evolutionary questions from a macroscale regarding the socioecological dynamics of the last hunter-gatherers and their role for explaining the subsequent agricultural spread. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is an overview of the state of research on the process of neolithisation of the northwestern corner of Morocco. Particularly noteworthy are the recent findings of a Spanish-Moroccan team in the framework of the AGRIWESTMED project carried out between 2011 and 2013 for the most part at the caves of Magharat el-Khil (Tangier), Kaf Taht el-Ghar (Tétouan) and Ifri n'Amr or Moussa (Khemisset). These excavations brought to light occupations from the Moroccan Early Neolithic Impressed-Cardial ware complex, levels that correspond to the earliest horizon of agricultural and animal husbandry practices in the northwestern corner of Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of the first excavation campaign of the Artusia rock shelter in Unzué, Navarre, Spain. Chronocultural and archaeobiological analyses revealed five different occupation phases (Artusia I–V) within the regional Mesolithic timeline, specifically in the Mesolithic of Notches and Denticulates (Artusia I and II) and the Geometric Mesolithic (Artusia III, IV, and V). In addition, the study of the sedimentological and palaeoenvironmental evolution in the entire record helped to clearly define several climatic events which developed around 6550 cal BC–8500 cal BP and 6250 cal BC–8200 cal BP. Here, we present a description of these events and their (pre)historical interpretation with the aim of recognizing how they influenced the Mesolithic hunter–gatherer groups living in the Ebro Basin of the Iberian Peninsula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]