Harvest time: Crop-reaping technologies and the Neolithisation of the Central Mediterranean

Neolithic societies were defined by the development of agricultural economies not only because part of their diet was obtained from cultivated plants, but also because crophusbandry practices strongly affected people’s lifestyles in a variety of ways. It is therefore unsurprising that the development and diffusion of agriculture can be studied from diverse perspectives and with different approaches, by analysing, for example, the macro- and micro-botanical remains of fruits and grains for morphometric and taxonomic variation (Colledge & Conolly 2007) and genetic history (Mascher et al. 2016). Conversely, agriculture can be indirectly assessed through its impact on the environment and subsequent landscape modifications (Zanchetta et al. 2013; Mercuri 2014). Yet another approach explores crop-husbandry practices as reflected in changing technology. New agricultural tasks required the adaptation of existing technologies and the adoption of new tools and practices, including querns, millstones and other grain-grinding equipment, as well as artefacts and structures for grain storage, cooking and processing. The most evident innovation in flaked stone technology associated with the Neolithisation phenomenon concerns the so-called ‘glossy blades’. Early experimental and use-wear studies of these blades fed debate about the mechanisms responsible for polish formation (Anderson 1982; Unger-Hamilton 1984). More recently, however, renewed attention towards these tools and their technological, functional and geographic variability (Ibáñez et al. 2008; Maeda et al. 2016) has considered their significance in relation to economic organisation, cultural boundaries and processes of technological innovation

School dropout, problem behaviour and poor academic achievement : a longitudinal view of portuguese male offenders

This study examines school drop outs from the perspective of male adults themselves through interviews with offenders currently serving sentences. Participants were 10 Portuguese male inmates, between the ages of 19 and 46 years of age, incarcerated in two prison facilities of the Azores. Qualitative and interpretative methods were carried out using a semi-structured in-depth individual interview that was audiorecorded and conducted on the basis of a list of topics. Interview transcripts and thematic analysis were used in data treatment and analysis. The findings primarily indicate that poor academic achievement and emotional and behavioural difficulties of participants played a particular role in early school drop out. The trajectories these individuals followed within the education system presented problem behaviour, learning disabilities, and/or foster care interventions. While school drop out circumstances were apparently various, analysis showed that they were underpinned by three distinct sets of conditions generally not addressed by the education system. The analysis of the triggering factors and the maintenance dynamics of school drop outs indicated three distinct types: retention/absenteeism, life turning points and positive resolution. Implications for secondary prevention and screening practices are discussed.FCT (SFRH/ BD/ 44245/ 2008)CIEC - unidade de investigação 317 da FC

New insights into the neolithisation process in southwest Europe according to spatial density analysis from calibrated radiocarbon dates

The agricultural way of life spreads throughout Europe via two main routes: the Danube corridor and the Mediterranean basin. Current archaeological literature describes the arrival to the Western Mediterranean as a rapid process which involves both demic and cultural models, and in this regard, the dispersal movement has been investigated using mathematical models, where the key factors are time and space. In this work, we have created a compilation of all available radiocarbon dates for the whole of Iberia, in order to draw a chronological series of maps to illustrate temporal and spatial patterns in the neolithisation process. The maps were prepared by calculating the calibrated 14C date probability density curves, as a proxy to show the spatial dynamics of the last hunter-gatherers and first farmers. Several scholars have pointed out problems linked with the variability of samples, such as the overrepresentation of some sites, the degree of regional research, the nature of the dated samples and above all the archaeological context, but we are confident that the selected dates, after applying some filters and statistical protocols, constitute a good way to approach settlement spatial patterns in Iberia at the time of the neolithisation process

Delle frecce, per far cosa?

The Early Neolithic site at Su Carroppu is distinguished by a remarkable incidence of obsidian geometric pieces showing a high rate of impact fractures. Yet, a low number and ratio of wild fauna remains occur in the site, all belonging exclusively to small game. Therefore we wondered what kind of target shooting these projectile tips were used for. Thus, we compared the Su Carroppu data with other coming both from several sites in Sardinia, Corsica, southern France, and from the ethnographic record as well. Finally, we advanced some hypothesis as for the functional, economic, territorial and ideological meaning of this set of geometric pieces

Microlithic use in the Western Mediterranean

Geometric microliths have been often considered as an important cultural and chronological marker for the study of lithic assemblages, especially for European Mesolithic and Neolithic. However, systematic studies on microlith function are still lacking. In this paper we present a synthesis of microwear analysis realized on a number of sites, in Western Mediterranean, dated between the VI-V millennium. Our objective is to investigate the significance and the recurrence of those instruments within a spectrum of different contexts. Results indicate that, within a global tendency for microliths use as hunting weapons, there is a certain degree of variability on the basis of environmental, economical and cultural factors that strongly influence their production and mode of use

Between Sardinia and Catalonia: contacts and relationships during the Neolithic

Contacts must have existed between Neolithic farming communities settled on the North-Western edge of the Mediterranean basin, from the Island of Sardinia to the north-east Iberian Peninsula. This review of the current state of research examines first the sources and distribution areas of certain mineral raw materials and second the morphological similarities in human representations and the form/construction of certain tombs (the hypogeans)

Use-Wear and Residue Analysis in Archeology : 41-58 (2015)

Since the onset of use-wear studies of lithic assemblages, many researchers have focused their analyses on flint tools mainly because: 1. Within archaeological Iithic assemblages tlint is the most represented raw material, mostly from Middle and Upper Palaeolithic contexts; 2. Flint lithology is the most studied Iithic raw material by specialists; 3. Wear alterations in flint elements are most diagnostic since modifications occur in very different traces and within few minutes of work. Fortunately, during recent years researchers started looking at other raw materials such as obsidian, quartz, quartzite, etc. (Clemente et al. this volume). Since the origins of the use-wear analysis discipline, methodological questions were always one of the most important issues for researchers, for which huge improvements have been made in technical advances in the fie ld of computer science, microscopy technology and photographic record. Parallel to these technological advances, continuous improvements have been made on the identification of wear trace diversity, such as postdeposition processes, using severa] experimental blind tests.Most of the tapies presented here occurred from projects financed by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (HAR2011-23149) and the European Research Council (ERC) funded through an Advaoced Grant (ERC-AdG-230561 ).Peer reviewe

Use-Wear Analysis on Flint Tools. Beyond the Methodological Issues

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