Second Millennium BC Plant Resources in Southern Iberia: Reconstructing Subsistence Practices

Plant resources represent one of the least studied topics in Iberian prehistory despite their potential not only to reconstruct patterns of plant exploitation, but also to understand subsistence practices, and to improve our knowledge of plant use among human communities in the past. In this paper we present the archaeobotanical data (seeds and fruits) available for the south of the Iberian Peninsula during the 2nd mill. BC. We use data already published by different colleagues including one of the authors. The focus is put on the diversity of species cultivated during this period, as well as on the exploitation of wild plants for food and other uses, trying to provide an accurate picture of Bronze Age plant subsistence in the area. Different crops such as barley and wheat (mainly free-threshing species) and several legumes have been identifi ed while a wide diversity of wild resources is also observed. Flax and poppy were likewise cultivated in the area. Although the number of sites studied is still limited, results suggest that plants were an important resource for the Bronze Age communities.