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This work is a starting point for rethinking the role of the Iberian Peninsula in the neolithisation of northern Morocco. It focuses on the similarities and divergences between the first pottery productions and their decorations in both territories. This relationship is supported by the existence of an accurate chronological gradation between the first evidence of Neolithisation in Iberian Peninsula and that of northern Morocco which suggests a north–south direction. We also present arguments on the possible links between the early ceramics from the north of Morocco and those from the south of Iberia, providing a first approach to an issue that will need to be carefully analysed in future research.

This paper focuses on the anthropic dynamics of environmental transformation and natural resource management in the specific case of the archaeological site of Tossal de la Vila in Castelló, Spain, a hillfort located at the end of the Eastern Iberian Cordillera. It presents two phases of occupation determined by multiple radiocarbon dating analyses: the first phase during the late Bronze Age (8th–7th centuries BCE) and the second at the beginning of the al-Andalus period (8th–10th centuries CE). The results of the comparison of the subsistence strategies and the biotic configuration of the natural environment in the same place at two different times have shown us that in the protohistoric period, the diversity of economic activities represented in the archaeobiological record is certainly heterogeneous, while in the al-Andalus period the complexity of these options is reduced to much less significant limits, possibly due to the different functionality of this space in both periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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There is a significant number of funerary contexts for the Early Neolithic in the Iberian Peninsula, and the body of information is much larger for the Late Neolithic. In contrast, the archaeological information available for the period in between (ca. 4800-4400/4200 cal BC) is scarce. This period, generally called Middle Neolithic, is the least well-known of the peninsular Neolithic sequence, and at present there is no specific synthesis on this topic at the peninsular scale. In 2017, an exceptional funerary context was discovered at Dehesilla Cave (Sierra de Cádiz, Southern Iberian Peninsula), providing radiocarbon dates which place it at the beginning of this little-known Middle Neolithic period, specifically between ca. 4800–4550 cal BC. Locus 2 is a deposition constituted by two adult human skulls and the skeleton of a very young sheep/goat, associated with stone structures and a hearth, and a number of pots, stone and bone tools and charred plant remains. The objectives of this paper are, firstly, to present the new archaeological context documented at Dehesilla Cave, supported by a wide range of data provided by interdisciplinary methods. The dataset is diverse in nature: stratigraphic, osteological, isotopic, zoological, artifactual, botanical and radiocarbon results are presented together. Secondly, to place this finding within the general context of the contemporaneous sites known in the Iberian Peninsula through a systematic review of the available evidence. This enables not only the formulation of explanations of the singular new context, but also to infer the possible ritual funerary behaviours and practices in the 5th millennium cal BC in the Iberian Peninsula. [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]

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]