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This study aimed to reconstruct the environmental conditions and the crop management practices and plant characteristics when agriculture appeared in western Europe. We analyzed oak charcoal and a large number of cereal caryopsides recovered from La Draga (Girona, Spain), an early (5300 to 4800 cal. BC) agricultural site from the Iberian Peninsula. The carbon isotope discrimination (Δ13C) values of oak, the dominant forest species in the region, indicates prevalence of a wet climate at the site. Further, we reconstructed crop management conditions, achievable yield, and crop characteristics through the analysis of Δ13C, nitrogen isotope composition (d15N), nitrogen content, and the reconstructed weight of wheat and barley caryopsides, following protocols developed by our team [Araus et al., Nat. Commun. 5, 3953 (2014)] and comparison of these parameters with present-day organic agriculture in the region. In parallel, a regional perspective was achieved through the study of wheat and barley grains of seventeen Neolithic sites from the western Mediterranean. The results suggest that rather than small-garden cultivation, a more extensive agriculture was practiced under good water availability and moderate manuring. Moreover, results from La Draga evidence that grain weight and spike morphology were comparable to contemporary cereals. Growing conditions and the prevalence of improved crop traits indicate that agriculture was fairly consolidated at the time it reached the western edge of Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on the chronostratigraphic sequence of the Cave of Kaf Taht el-Ghar (Dar Ben Karrich, Tétouan, Morocco) excavated in 2012 in the framework of the AGRIWESTMED research project. The broad sequence reveals a series of occupations ranging from the Pleistocene (Moroccan Aterian) to recent historical times. Our research identifies a rich Early Neolithic phase (sixth millennium cal BC) containing the earliest pottery and domesticated animal and plant remains in the western Maghreb. However, this Early Neolithic level is not an immediate successor of the last traces of the Epipalaeolithic hunter-gatherer occupation, which started at the end of the Younger Dryas (10,900–9700 cal BC). An abandonment phase, spanning more than a millennium, separated them. This hiatus appears to originate from a cold climatic event that began in the late seventh millennium cal BC (ca. 6200 BC) and ended around the mid-sixth millennium cal BC. [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 work presents the anthracological and archeopalynological results obtained within the project AGRIWESTMED (ERC AdG 230561), which has involved a comprehensive retrieval of archeobiological remains based on a systematic sampling strategy, beyond the recovery of the usual archeological materials. These surveys were conducted on three sites located in the North of Morocco: the cave of Kaf Taht-el-Ghar, 8 km southeast from Tetuan, and two caves within the El Khil complex, close to Tanger. Both plant micro- and macro-remains (charred wood) were studied through palynological and anthracological analyses, respectively. Our goal was to assess the vegetation composition of the area as well as the impact of human activities on the landscape. In Kaf Taht-el-Ghar the dynamics of vegetation and land use is recorded over the Paleolithic, Epipaleolithic, Neolithic and Historic times. Clear changes such as the demise of ancient Paleolithic pine and juniper woods during the Epipaleolithic and the subsequent spread of grasslands are shown. Other conifers like Abies pinsapo , Cedrus atlantica and Taxus baccata also disappeared from the pollen and charred wood records. In the palynological study, cereal and broad beans (Vicia faba) are already detected in the Early Neolithic, as well as a lowering of grazing pressure. Both cereal and broad beans, along with the development of grazing activities are also documented around El Khil caves since the Early Neolithic. Throughout the whole pollen and anthracological sequences a progressive retreat of the tree cover and an extensive spread of grasslands could be set as the main features of the vegetation dynamics in this area. • Pollen and charred wood analyses depict land cover changes in Northern Morocco. • First evidence of pre-Holocene of Cedrus and Abies pollen in lowland areas. • Conifer forests declined during the Epipaleolithic. • The main environmental change is detected with the onset of the Early Neolithic. • From this date onwards, the forest cover shows a progressive retreat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: 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., Materials: Four cesspits from 10 th -11 th century CE Córdoba (Spain), and two from 12 th -13 th century Mértola (Portugal)., Methods: Sediment from each cesspit was analyzed using digital light microscopy and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)., Results: Analysis revealed eggs of roundworm (Ascaris lumbricoides) in every cesspit analyzed, but no evidence of other species of helminth or protozoal parasites., Conclusion: 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., Significance: 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., Limitations: 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., Suggestions for Further Research: To further investigate the role of climate upon the parasites that affected past human populations., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)