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Mesolithic groups in Mediterranean Iberia lived during a period of bioclimatic and cultural changes. Thus, their economic behaviour and the availability of plant and animal resources show some interesting variation compared to previous periods that indicate changes in mobility patterns and social connectivity networks. This paper presents information on patterns of animal exploitation of the last hunter-gatherers in this region through zooarchaeological and taphonomic analyses of faunal remains from one of the key sites of the Iberian Peninsular Mesolithic, Cocina cave. This site is located in a mountainous woodland region with a rich Late Mesolithic archaeological record. Results indicate that Iberian ibex, red deer, and rabbits were the most hunted species, but that a diversity of other taxa were also present. The comparison to other Mediterranean sites suggests that Late Mesolithic foragers had common animal exploitation patterns with an increased taxonomic diversification and a clear connection to coastal areas. We suggest these foragers practiced a logistic pattern of food procurement, combining long-term with short-term camps including hunting spots, and in some cases evidence for broad scale social interactions. We hypothesize that Cocina cave may have served as a nexus of social and subsistence activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

La Cueva de la Cocina is an important archaeological site located about 40 km from the Mediterranean Sea that includes a complete sequence relating to the Final Mesolithic, (front the beginning of the IX millennium to the middle of the VIII millennium cal BP). One of the main economic activity during the Mesolithic levels at the cavity was goat hunting. Recent research conducted in the framework of the current fieldwork has allowed to identify the presence of malacological and fishing marine remains contributing to better understand the seasonal use of the site considering innercoastal movements. In this work we present the personal ornaments elaborated from mollusks, in great part unpublished, that has been documented in the different fieldworks conducted by Lluís Pericot in the 40th of the last century. The revision of the collection in the Museu de Prehistòria de Valencia allow us to identify eight marine species (tow bivalves, five gastropods and one scaphopoda) and also one continental taxa. At this point, the main relevance corresponds to collumbella rustica with more than 300 remains. At the moment, the malacological personal ornament from Cueva de la Cocina constitutes the largest assemblage attributed to the final Mesolithic in the Mediterranean Iberia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agricultural way of life spreads throughout Europe via two main routes: the Danube corridor and the Mediterranean basin. Current archaeological literature describes the arrival to the Western Mediterranean as a rapid process which involves both demic and cultural models, and in this regard, the dispersal movement has been investigated using mathematical models, where the key factors are time and space. In this work, we have created a compilation of all available radiocarbon dates for the whole of Iberia, in order to draw a chronological series of maps to illustrate temporal and spatial patterns in the neolithisation process. The maps were prepared by calculating the calibrated 14C date probability density curves, as a proxy to show the spatial dynamics of the last hunter-gatherers and first farmers. Several scholars have pointed out problems linked with the variability of samples, such as the overrepresentation of some sites, the degree of regional research, the nature of the dated samples and above all the archaeological context, but we are confident that the selected dates, after applying some filters and statistical protocols, constitute a good way to approach settlement spatial patterns in Iberia at the time of the neolithisation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]