Search

Located at the center of the Cantabrian coast in a sedimentary terrace currently at the sea shore, the site of Bañugues (Gozón, Asturias) is one of the key places for studying the first settlements of the Iberian North. In the present work, we show the results of the geoarchaeological study undertaken on the bay of Bañugues and on the stratigraphic sections of the site that still subsist. Likewise, we have included the palaeogeographic study of the coast from the Cape Peñas area; the OSL ages obtained; and the revision (technological and taphonomic analysis) of the archaeological materials coming from the diggings of the 1970s. The lithostratigraphic sequence of Bañugues is composed of two well differentiated units: (1) lower, on the alteration of the substrate formed by breccia and silty and sandy materials with Palaeolithic remains, deposited by solifluction; (2) upper, disconforming from the other, formed by intertidal beachlike silt and sands, with technological remains from the Mesolithic. Concerning the chronology of the lithic materials from the Middle Palaeolithic, the fact that it was part of a solifluction deposit prevents at this moment its precise comprehension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the past distribution of Aleppo pine woodlands in the Ebro Basin, Northeastern Iberia, from the Mesolithic to Modern times based on wood charcoal data. The aim is to detail the chronological timing and the drivers explaining the long-term presence of Aleppo pine woodlands and associated thermophilous flora. The available charcoal data support the early spread of Pinus halepensis during the Mesolithic (ca. 9000 cal BP) accompanied by Mediterranean trees and shrubs like Quercus sp. evergreen, Juniperus sp., Arbutus unedo, Pistacia lentiscus, Rhamnus/Phillyrea , Cistaceae, and Rosmarinus officinalis , as a local response to global climate change in the Early Holocene. During the arrival and the propagation of the Neolithic culture (ca. 7500–5500 cal BP), anthracological records, as well as regional palynological sequences, demonstrate the progressive replacement of an conifer-dominated open parkland by both Quercus sp. deciduous and evergreen woodlands in response to the Middle Holocene rise in temperature and humidity. This evidence, however, converges with the general idea that the presence and the spread of Pinus halepensis and associated scrubland have usually been attributed to the onset of landscape anthropization. The frequency of xero-thermophilous open scrubland and the use of Aleppo pine for fuel and woodcrafting progressively increased during the Bronze and Iron Ages, and especially in Ibero-Roman and Medieval/Islamic times, when the vegetation landscape in the Middle Ebro Basin was largely deforested as a consequence of increasing demographic pressure, grazing and the establishment of proto-urban centers. • We review the past distribution of Pinus halepensis in the Ebro Basin (NE Iberia) based on anthracological records. • Wood charcoal data support the early spread of Pinus halepensis during the Mesolithic. • The xero-thermophilous open scrubland and the use of Pinus halepensis as woodcrafting is attested during Metal Ages and historic times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]