Dendro-anthracological tools applied to Scots type pine forests exploitation as fuel during the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the southern central pre-Pyrenees (Spain)

This work focuses on the reconstruction of fuelwood procurement during the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the southern central Pre-Pyrenees (Spain). The study combines wood charcoal identification with the application of dendro-anthracological approaches in the archaeological sequence of Esplugón (9.4–6.8 kyr cal BP) (Sabiñanigo, Huesca). Scots type pine (Pinus sylvestris tp.) reaches in this record around 90% of exploited firewood in line with its abundance in the inner Iberia mountainous areas during the onset of the Holocene. The classification of pine wood fragments in anthraco-groups is based on the combination of different dendro-anthracological tools: i) pith location tool and wood diameter estimation based on the trigonomethric method tool (ADmodel), ii) the study of growth rate based on the annual tree-ring width measurements, and iii) a modern dendrological dataset. There are hardly any differences observed in firewood procurement between the last hunter-gatherers and the first farmers in the long sequences from rock-shelters with recurrent human occupations. First results from this site point to the exploitation of whole trees but a high use of small pine branches probably from the gathering of branch shedding

Revisiting and modelling the woodland farming system of the early Neolithic Linear Pottery Culture (LBK), 5600–4900 B.C

International audienceThis article presents the conception and the conceptual results of a modelling representation of the farming systems of the Linearbandkeramik Culture (LBK). Assuming that there were permanent fields (PF) then, we suggest four ways that support the sustainability of such a farming system over time: a generalized pollarding and coppicing of trees to increase the productivity of woodland areas for foddering more livestock, which itself can then provide more manure for the fields, a generalized use of pulses grown together with cereals during the same cropping season, thereby reducing the needs for manure. Along with assumptions limiting bias on village and family organizations, the conceptual model which we propose for human environment in the LBK aims to be sustainable for long periods and can thereby overcome doubts about the PFs hypothesis for the LBK farming system. Thanks to a reconstruction of the climate of western Europe and the consequent vegetation pattern and productivity arising from it, we propose a protocol of experiments and validation procedures for both testing the PFs hypothesis and defining its eco-geographical area