Search

Referencias bibliográficas de las publicaciones (monografías, artículos, congresos...) que han realizado en el año 2023 los miembros de las áreas de Prehistoria y Arqueología del Departamento de Ciencias de la Antigüedad de la Universidad de Zaragoza.

The continuous and reliable assessment of crop water status through water indicators enables the sustainable management of water resources, especially in arid or semi-arid climate scenarios exacerbated by climate change. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to determine and compare the sensitivity of indices derived from trunk diameter fluctuations for the accurate and automatic detection of changes in the water status of cherry trees. The water stress indicators examined are maximum daily trunk shrinkage (MDS), trunk growth rate (TGR), early daily trunk shrinkage (EDS), and late daily trunk shrinkage (LDS). During two growing seasons, ‘Lapins’ sweet cherry trees were subjected to different water stress levels: (i) a control treatment irrigated at 115% of crop evapotranspiration demand to ensure non-limiting water conditions, and (ii) a deficit irrigation treatment, with two irrigation withholding cycles. Vegetative growth was affected by water stress. Trunk daily growth rate and late daily trunk shrinkage exhibited a high variability and did not clearly show differences in plant water status. Both EDS and MDS showed a third-degree polynomial relationship with Ψstem. MDS had a lineal relationship with Ψstem of up to −1.4 MPa; however, further decreases in Ψstem did not necessarily lead to increased MDS. In contrast, EDS became non-linear at −1.8 MPa, making it a more useful plant water indicator than MDS for ‘Lapins’ sweet cherry trees when detecting severe water stress conditions. The frequencies of both MDS and EDS decreased from 85% to 35% when water stress increased. Therefore, the information provided by MDS and EDS frequencies, along with their daily values, could be useful as irrigation management tools for sweet cherry trees.

Water scarcity in arid and semi-arid areas has led to the development of regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) strategies on most species of fruit trees in order to improve water productivity. For a successful implementation, these strategies require continuous feedback of the soil and crop water status. This feedback is provided by physical indicators from the soil–plant–atmosphere continuum, as is the case of the crop canopy temperature, which can be used for the indirect estimation of crop water stress. Infrared Radiometers (IRs) are considered as the reference tool for temperature-based water status monitoring in crops. Alternatively, in this paper, we assess the performance of a low-cost thermal sensor based on thermographic imaging technology for the same purpose. The thermal sensor was tested in field conditions by performing continuous measurements on pomegranate trees (Punica granatum L. ‘Wonderful’) and was compared with a commercial IR. A strong correlation (R2 = 0.976) between the two sensors was obtained, demonstrating the suitability of the experimental thermal sensor to monitor the crop canopy temperature for irrigation management.

The combined effects of deficit irrigation and crop load level on sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) physiological and agronomic response were evaluated during the 2019 season in a commercial orchard located in southeastern Spain. Two irrigation treatments were imposed: (i) control treatment (CTL) irrigated above crop water requirements at 110% of crop evapotranspiration (ETC) and (ii) a deficit irrigation treatment (DI) irrigated at 70% ETC. Within each irrigation treatment, crop load was adjusted to three levels: 100% (natural crop load—high), 66% (medium crop load), and 33% (low crop load). The water relations results were more affected by the irrigation strategies applied than by the crop load management. The deficit irrigation strategy applied reduced soil water availability for DI trees, which led to a continuous decrease in their gas exchange and stem water potential. At harvest, the fruit water potential and osmotic potential of cherries from the DI treatment resulted in significantly lower values than those measured in cherries from CTL trees. On the other hand, both the irrigation strategies imposed and the crop load management used impacted fruit quality. Trees with the lowest level of crop load had fruits of greater size, regardless of the irrigation treatment assayed, and in the DI treatment, cherries from the trees with the lowest crop load were darker and more acidic than those from the trees with the highest crop load. Our results emphasize the different effects that rainfall before harvest has on mature cherries. Thus, cracked cherries at harvest represented 27.1% of the total yield of CTL trees while they were 8.3% of the total yield in DI trees. Cherries from CTL trees also showed a greater cracking index than those from DI trees. Moreover, a linear relationship between crop load and fruit cracked at harvest was observed, particularly for the CTL treatment; thus, the lower the crop load, the greater the proportion of cracked cherries.

Presentamos los resultados del estudio de la industria lítica del nivel d del abrigo de Peña-14 (Biel, Zaragoza). El análisis tecnológico y de materias primas efectuado permite una reconstrucción completa del sistema de producción lítica. Los resultados remiten a dinámicas tecnológicas propias del Epipaleolítico (aprovisionamiento local, simplificación tecnológica, predominancia del utillaje microlaminar…), adscribiéndose más concretamente al Sauveterriense. En este sentido, el presente trabajo ofrece nuevos datos sobre el desarrollo de este complejo en el noreste de la península ibérica, planteando nuevas cuestiones sobre su enmarque cronológico, características industriales, y su vinculación con las tradiciones previas y vecinas.

Water is a limited resource in arid and semi-arid regions, as is the case in the Mediterranean Basin, where demographic and climatic conditions make it ideal for growing fruits and vegetables, but a greater volume of water is required. Deficit irrigation strategies have proven to be successful in optimizing available water without pernicious impact on yield and harvest quality, but it is essential to control the water stress of the crop. The direct measurement of crop water status is currently performed using midday stem water potential, which is costly in terms of time and labor; therefore, indirect methods are needed for automatic monitoring of crop water stress. In this study, we present a novel approach to indirectly estimate the water stress of 15-year-old mature sweet cherry trees from a time series of soil water status and meteorological variables by using Machine Learning methods (Random Forest and Support Vector Machine). Time information was accounted for by integrating soil and meteorological measurements within arbitrary periods of 3, 6 and 10 days. Supervised binary classification and regression approaches were applied. The binary classification approach allowed for the definition of a model that alerts the farmer when a dangerous crop water stress episode is about to happen a day in advance. Performance metrics F2 and recall of up to 0.735 and 0.769, respectively, were obtained. With the regression approach a R2 of up to 0.817 was achieved.

The present work evaluates the main adaptive mechanisms developed by young sweet cherry trees (Prunus avium L.) to cope with drought. For this purpose, the young trees were subjected to two drought cycles with different water stress intensities followed by a recovery period. Three irrigation treatments were applied: control treatment (CTL) irrigated to ensure non-limiting soil water conditions; moderate water stress (MS) subjected to two drying cycles whose duration was dependent on the time elapsed until the trees reached values of midday stem water potential (Ψstem) of −1.3 and −1.7 MPa for the first and second cycle, respectively; and severe water stress (SS) similar to MS, but with reference values of −1.6 and −2.5 MPa. In-between drought cycles, MS and SS trees were irrigated daily as the CTL trees until reaching Ψstem values similar to those of CTL trees. The MS and SS trees showed an important stomatal regulation and lower vegetative growth. The decreasing leaf turgor potential (Ψturgor) during the drought periods accounted for 40–100% of the reduction in leaf water potential at midday (Ψmd). The minimum osmotic potential for mature leaves was about 0.35 MPa lower than in well-irrigated trees. The occasional osmotic adjustment observed in MS and SS trees was not sufficient to maintain Ψturgor values similar to the CTL trees or to increase the specific leaf weight (SLW). The leaf insertion angle increased as the water stress level increased. Severe water stress (Ψstem < −2.0 MPa) resulted in clear early defoliation as a further step in water conservation.

The application of deficit irrigation techniques is essential in arid or semi-arid areas of the southeast of Spain, where water is a scarce and very costly resource. However, to apply these techniques, it is necessary to carry out preliminary tests on the specific crop in order to develop the models that allow the optimization of water use while achieving acceptable yields. The system proposed in this article demonstrates the feasibility of using wireless technologies available in most facilities (Wireless Fidelity) to deploy a high-density network of nodes with a variety of heterogeneous sensors to collect data from the soil, plant, and atmosphere. The data are sent and stored in a cloud server for real-time visualization from any mobile device and further analysis. The nodes have been developed using low-cost processors and are equipped with batteries and solar panels, allowing their autonomy to be virtually unlimited, as shown by the consumption studies and tests carried out.

In recent years, allusions to exploitation of a so-called “Monegros-type” chert have been a commonplace in archaeological literature, mostly in Iberia but also in southern France. It has been also a routine that these references did not include a true petrographic characterization, being mere de visu descriptions of those products. This work presents, for the first time, macro and microscopic characterizations of some of the most outstanding chert outcrops located in the Middle Ebro Basin. There, tertiary limestone sediments that form the top part of the flat plateau reliefs hold great quantities of chert nodules. The noteworthy erosive processes that have affected this area have facilitated the gathering of those cherts: they are easy to find either in their original location, still embedded in the limestone layers, or in secondary position along the enormous glacis that connect those flat reliefs to the river terraces. Two main flint varieties have been defined: Monegros and Evaporitic of Ebro. Both were originated in continental lacustrine environments. They are fine-grained and offer excellent knapping possibilities; hence its common use since prehistoric times to recent semi-industrial exploitations related to 18th century gunflint productions. This paper offers a preliminary study that will be developed in a forthcoming PhD dissertation, but we also include examples of its prehistoric exploitation in the Ebro Basin and abroad.

The upper Arba de Biel Basin hosts an interesting archaeological ensemble composed by five sites that were repeatedly occupied by human groups from the Upper Magdalenian until the Chalcolithic (between ca. 15,000 and 4,500 years calBP). This work presents the first results of the petrographic study of the local chert (Las Lezas), as well as a dissection of the different strategies concerning its gathering, management and exploitation in every occupation period. The implications derived from the different contribution of local and exogenous raw materials are exposed in the final section of our work.

Infrared thermography has been introduced as an affordable tool for plant water status monitoring, especially in regions where water availability is the main limiting factor in agricultural production. This paper outlines the potential applications of low-cost thermal imaging devices to evaluate the water status of young and mature sweet cherry trees (Prunus avium L.) submitted to water stress. Two treatments per plot were assayed: (i) a control treatment irrigated to ensure non-limiting soil water conditions; and (ii) a water-stress treatment. The seasonal evolution of the temperature of the canopy (Tc) and the difference between Tc and air temperature (ΔT) were compared and three thermal indices were calculated: crop water stress index (CWSI), degrees above control treatment (DAC) and degrees above non-water-stressed baseline (DANS). Midday stem water potential (Ψstem) was used as the reference indicator of water stress and linear relationships of Tc, ΔT, CWSI, DAC and DANS with Ψstem were discussed in order to assess their sensitivity to quantify water stress. CWSI and DANS exhibited strong relationships with Ψstem and two regression lines to young and mature trees were found. The promising results obtained highlight that using low-cost infrared thermal devices can be used to determine the plant water status in sweet cherry trees.

The present work aims to assess the usefulness of five vegetation indices (VI) derived from multispectral UAS imagery to capture the effects of deficit irrigation on the canopy structure of sweet cherry trees (Prunus avium L.) in southeastern Spain. Three irrigation treatments were assayed, a control treatment and two regulated deficit irrigation treatments. Four airborne flights were carried out during two consecutive seasons; to compare the results of the remote sensing VI, the conventional and continuous water status indicators commonly used to manage sweet cherry tree irrigation were measured, including midday stem water potential (Ψs) and maximum daily shrinkage (MDS). Simple regression between individual VIs and Ψs or MDS found stronger relationships in postharvest than in preharvest. Thus, the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), resulted in the strongest relationship with Ψs (r2 = 0.67) and MDS (r2 = 0.45), followed by the normalized difference red edge (NDRE). The sensitivity analysis identified the optimal soil adjusted vegetation index (OSAVI) as the VI with the highest coefficient of variation in postharvest and the difference vegetation index (DVI) in preharvest. A new index is proposed, the transformed red range vegetation index (TRRVI), which was the only VI able to statistically identify a slight water deficit applied in preharvest. The combination of the VIs studied was used in two machine learning models, decision tree and artificial neural networks, to estimate the extra labor needed for harvesting and the sweet cherry yield.

Automatic irrigation scheduling systems are highly demanded in the agricultural sector due to their ability to both save water and manage deficit irrigation strategies. Elaborating a functional and efficient automatic irrigation system is a very complex task due to the high number of factors that the technician considers when managing irrigation in an optimal way. Automatic learning systems propose an alternative to traditional irrigation management by means of the automatic elaboration of predictions based on the learning of an agronomist (DSS). The aim of this paper is the study of several learning techniques in order to determine the goodness and error relative to expert decision. Nine orchards were tested during 2018 using linear regression (LR), random forest regression (RFR), and support vector regression (SVR) methods as engines of the irrigation decision support system (IDSS) proposed. The results obtained by the learning methods in three of these orchards have been compared with the decisions made by the agronomist over an entire year. The prediction model errors determined the best fitting regression model. The results obtained lead to the conclusion that these methods are valid engines to develop automatic irrigation scheduling systems.

The reproductive response of fifteen year old sweet cherry trees (Prunus avium L.) combination ‘Prime Giant’/SL64 under Mediterranean climate to deficit irrigation was studied in a commercial orchard in south-eastern Spain for four seasons. Three irrigation treatments were assayed: (i) control treatment, irrigated without restrictions at 110% of seasonal crop evapotranspiration; (ii) sustained deficit irrigation treatment, irrigated at 85% ETc during pre-harvest and post-harvest periods, and at 100% ETc during floral differentiation, and (iii) regulated deficit irrigation treatment, irrigated at 100% ETc during pre-harvest and floral differentiation and at 55% ETc during post-harvest. The duration and intensity of the phenological phases of sweet cherry trees, including cold accumulation, flowering, fruit set or fruit and vegetative growth, were assessed to ascertain whether the different irrigation strategies imposed affect the trees’ reproductive response (fruit yield, fruit size, leaf area, fruit physiological disturbances, and starch and soluble carbohydrates stock) in the same season or have a negative effect in the next season. Deficit irrigation did not advance, enhance or penalize flowering, fruit set or fruit growth. Neither did it diminish carbohydrate concentration in roots or cause an increase in the number of double fruits, which was more linked to high temperatures after harvest. However, deficit irrigation decreased vegetative growth and consequently the leaf area/fruit ratio, which, when it fell below 180 cm2 fruit−1, affected cherry size.

Two experiments were conducted on a commercial farm of late ‘Fortune’ mandarin trees in order to know the response of regulated deficit irrigation (RDI), mainly applied during the most harmful ripening stages, on plant water relations, yield and fruit quality at harvest and after cold storage at different temperatures. Control trees were irrigated to satisfy maximum crop evapotranspiration, while RDI-1 and RDI- 2 represented a 20% and 40% reduction, respectively, in the water applied. Total yield and fruit quality at harvest were not significantly affected by either treatment. Late stage II of fruit growth was the most sensitive period to water stress, while deficit irrigation applied during flowering and stage I of fruit growth resulted in a significantly higher number of fruits per tree and an improvement in irrigation water productivity compared with the Control treatment. In both experiments, skin chroma decreased during cold storage, at the same time as titratable acidity fell. Fruit quality (titratable acidity, skin C* and ascorbic and glutamic acids) were more affected by cold storage than by differences between the RDI treatments. The use of trunk diameter fluctuation was useful for restoring the RDI irrigation to levels of the Control at the end of early stage II. From a quality point of view, any difference between treatments found at harvest tended to diminish during the subsequent shelf-life after cold storage. Quality traits (titratable acidity, ascorbic and glutamic acid) could be used as chilling biomarkers.

Se presenta un avance del estudio de las esquirlas óseas recuperadas en los trabajos iniciales del nuevo yacimiento musteriense de Roca San Miguel (Arén, Huesca). En uno de los sondeos efectuados (cata intermedia) abundan los restos de fauna en un estado de fragmentación extremo y en distintos grados de combustión. Se analizan sus características y se proponen explicaciones para esa acumulación: consumo intensivo, uso como combustible...

In 2012, during a field survey to locate primary outcrops of cherts in the Carrodilla Mountain Range (Huesca, Spain), abundant remains of chert-knapping were found next to nodular cherts in primary and sub-primary position from the Garumnian limestones. Chert knapping evidences were discovered in Tozal de la Mesa mount, near the town of Alins del Monte (Huesca, Spain), in the first prepyrenean foothills of the province of Huesca. In order to define the features of the workshop and to determine their limits, in 2015 we conducted a field survey. Due to these works, it has been possible to define the perimeter of the chert workshop as well as to collect abundant lithic remains of chert and other rocks (e.g., ophites) that may have been directly related to chert exploitation. In this paper we are going to present the results obtained after the textural, micropaleontological, petrographic and mineralogical characterization of these cherts as well as the results of the techno-typological and traceological analyses. Moreover, we will define the features of the chert workshop and its functionality. The first approach to contextualize the recovered materials of Tozal de la Mesa workshop area has allowed determining an exploitation of the Garumnian cherts that has lasted until the late nineteenth century according to some recovered products (e.g., pottery) and to oral sources.

En el artículo se presentan una serie de hallazgos aislados y conjuntos de superficie que permiten rastrear la consolidación del poblamiento prehistórico de economía agropecuaria (neolíticos y calcolíticos) en la Hoya de Huesca.

Se presentan los resultados de la prospección arqueológica realizada en el término municipal de La Muela (Zaragoza) durante 2008. La riqueza arqueológica y patrimonial del territorio queda atestiguada por el hallazgo de más de 100 yacimientos o hallazgos aislados de filiaciones crono-culturales prehistóricas diversas (Neolítico Antiguo, Edad del Bronce, Edad del Hierro) e históricas (época romana, medieval, andalusí, moderna y contem- poránea).

El yacimiento de Ángel 2 es una pequeña ocupación prehistórica en abrigo en las cercanías del Arenal de Fonseca, junto al río Guadalope, en la comarca turolense del Maestrazgo. Nuestro equipo de investigación había trabajado con anterioridad durante varias campañas a comienzos de la década de los 2000, encontrando una secuencia arqueológica basada en dos niveles principales, el 2a (Mesolítico con microlitos geométricos) y el 2b (Epipaleolítico con piezas macrolíticas, perteneciente al 9o milenio BP). Durante las excavaciones de 2009 hemos localizado en la zona sur del yacimiento un nuevo nivel más moderno, que podría datarse en el Neolítico y que ha entregado algunos microlitos de doble bisel y una exigua cantidad de cerámica.

Se da cuenta de las campañas de excavación realizadas durante el verano de 2009 en dos yacimientos postpaleolíticos situados en la zona de Biel: Valcervera y Rambla de Legunova. Los resultados parecen apuntar a la mayor antigüedad de Valcervera, sin cerámicas y con geométricos y microburiles, y al carácter neolítico de Rambla de Legunova, con una posterior intrusión funeraria bien datada en el Neolítico final.

Las siguientes líneas presentan el reestudio de tres abrigos con arte rupestre, tanto levantino como esquemático, de la comarca del Matarraña, los de Roca dels Moros, Els Gascons y La Fenellosa. Esta revisión ha comprendido tanto la excavación al pie de los paneles decorados como la elaboración de nuevos calcos después de que se haya procedido a la limpieza y restauración de las pinturas, lo que ha permitido dar a conocer dos motivos hasta el momento desconocidos así como recuperar otros que se consideraban perdidos.

Se exponen los resultados de la excavación de urgencia realizada en la Plaza Biscós de Jaca en el otoño-invierno de 2005-2006. Toda la plaza estaba ocupada por el Cementerio Mayor de la Ciudad, en uso desde comienzos del s. XII hasta comienzos del s. XVI. Se localizaron casi 900 tumbas de diferentes tipologías; entre ellas una veintena alojaban peregrinos que retornaban de Compostela. Los únicos restos arqueológicos aparte del cementerio corresponden al Templete de Santa Orosia existente desde comienzos del s. XX hasta los años 60 y secciones muy mal conservadas de la muralla medieval de Jaca.

Se da cuenta de trabajos arqueológicos durante el año 2003 en el Prepirineo aragonés.

Este artículo presenta los resultados del análisis funcional llevado a cabo sobre los microlitos geométricos de tres de los yacimientos clásicos del Epipaleolítico y Neolítico del Bajo Aragón: el de Costalena en Maella (Zaragoza) y los de Botiquería dels Moros y Secans en Mazaleón (Teruel). Se han analizado más de 200 microlitos geométricos, de los cuales 121 son de Botiquería, 66 de Costalena y 35 de Secans. La mayor parte de las huellas localizadas son de uso como elemento de proyectil, existiendo otras utilizaciones residuales (vegetales no leñosos, piel). Por último, se comparan los resultados obtenidos de este análisis con los procedentes de otros yacimientos, resultando similares en tipos de utilización y en índices de presencia de huellas.

Se da cuenta de la tercera campaña de excavaciones del equipo UNIZAR en los abrigos de Ángel 1 y Ángel 2 en el Arenal de Fonseca (Ladruñán, Castellote, Teruel).

Se da cuenta de trabajos arqueológicos sobre la Prehistoria del Prepirineo aragonés.

Se estudian dos asentamientos magdalenienses localizados en “La Peña del Diablo” en Cetina (Zaragoza) situados a orillas del río Henar próximo a su desembocadura en el Jalón a 500 m. de la Autovía de Aragón. Se ubica, por tanto, en un lugar natural de paso a la Meseta Sur (el corredor del Jalón) en una zona donde afloran las aguas termales que se explotan en el balneario de Alhama. Un posible microclima templado podría explicar la presencia de gentes magdalenienses a 700 m.s.n.m. en las épocas más frías del Tardiglaciar: Dryas Reciente para Peña del Diablo 2; Dryas Inferior para los abrigos Vergara y Alexandre en la vecina localidad de Deza (Soria), también en el Henar.

Se da cuenta de las dos primeras campañas de excavación en los yacimientos de Ángel 1 y Ángel 2, en el Arenal de Fonseca (Ladruñán, Castellote, Teruel)

Se da cuenta de las primeras campañas de prospección, sondeo y excavación en yacimientos prehistóricos del Prepirineo aragonés.

En este articulo se efectúa una revisión historiográfica de las principales investigaciones efectuadas en el campo de la experimentación con armas prehistóricas tanto con puntas óseas como con puntas líticas. Se analizan en detalle las ventajas e inconvenientes de orden práctico de cada uno de esos tipos a partir de los datos obtenidos en numerosos programas experimentales.