Rediscovering Cova de la Sarsa (València, Spain): a Multidisciplinary Approach to One of the Key Early Neolithic Sites in the Western Mediterranean

Cova de la Sarsa (València, Spain) is one of the most important Neolithic impressed ware culture archaeological sites in the Western Mediterranean. It has been widely referenced since it was excavated in the 1920s, due partly to the relatively early excavation and publication of the site, and partly to the qualitative and quantitative importance of its archaeological remains. Unfortunately, as it was an older excavation and lacked present-day rigorous methodological approaches, this important site has been somewhat relegated to the background in the reviews about the Neolithic at the end of the 20th century. However, during the last few years, both the site itself and its archaeological remains have been the object of new studies that hopefully will return the site to the forefront of discussions about the Mediterranean Neolithic. We here present the most relevant results of the research carried out by our group (i.e., pottery study, radiocarbon dating, and isotope analysis), and contextualize them within the dense research history of the cave and the studies carried out by other colleagues with the purpose of revisiting its materials and increasing the knowledge available from the site. Radiocarbon dates on human remains show that the cave was used during prehistoric times as a funerary space longer than expected, and also sporadically afterwards. The characterization of the pottery assemblage concludes that most materials belong to the Early Neolithic. Isotopic analysis portrays an overall similar diet based on terrestrial C3 resources throughout prehistoric times, with a possible varied dietary protein input between individuals during the Early Neolithic

Diet at the onset of the Neolithic in northeastern Iberia : an isotope-plant microremain combined study from Cova Bonica (Vallirana, Catalonia)

The emergence of Neolithic societies was transformative, impacting many aspects of life, particularly diet. The process of Neolithization in Iberia is increasingly understood as the arrival of new people from the Central Mediterranean, who dispersed along the Iberian coasts introducing cereal production, herding, and Cardial pottery and associated material culture. Although research has clarified aspects of the cultigen-dominated economy of these new people, questions remain due to the limitations of conventional archaeobotanical and archaeozoological methods that tend to produce indirect evidence. The extent to which these early farmers adopted Mesolithic staples, which are often difficult to detect with other methods, remains unclear. Furthermore, questions surround the nature of methods of food preparation Cardial Neolithic people used when incorporating grains into their diet. In this study, we examined direct evidence of the diet from the Iberian Cardial Neolithic site of Cova Bonica (Vallirana, Baix Llobregat, Catalonia) using CN stable isotopes on bone and plant microremains trapped in dental calculus from six human individuals and associated fauna. Isotopes show a diet based on terrestrial C3 resources, with no isotopic evidence of aquatic or C4 resource consumption. Plant microremains (starches and phytoliths) provide evidence of cereal use, as well as of other plant foods. However, perhaps due to Bonica's early farmers' choice of grain variety, their grain processing methods, or due to specific dental calculus formation factors, the grain assemblages are rather limited and provide scarce information on food preparation

Dataciones radiocarbónicas de la Cova de la Sarsa (Bocairent, València)

La revisión de los materiales arqueológicos recuperados en la Cova de la Sarsa nos ha llevado a establecer una serie de propuestas sobre sus diferente

Effect Of Nb And Cu On The Crystallization Behavior Of Understoichiometric Nd–Fe–B Alloys

In this work, we present a complete study of the influence of Nb and Cu addition on the crystallization behavior of Nd-lean Nd-Fe-B melt-spun alloys. Alloys with compositions Nd10-x-yFe84B6NbxCuy (x = 1, y = 0 and x = 0.5, y = 0.5) were melt-spun at different wheel speeds (15-40 m s(-1)) to obtain samples in amorphous, highly disordered and nanocrystalline structures. The crystallization process, induced by different heat treatments, was studied by means of differential thermal analysis and x-ray powder thermodiffraction. Magnetic properties of as-made and heat-treated ribbons were measured by magnetometry. The as-made amorphous samples showed a crystallization to the 2: 14: 1 hard magnetic phase at T-1 similar to 350 degrees C. Doping with Nb results in an increase of T1, and addition of Cu lowers T1. This behavior is explained in terms of an inhibition of grain growth by Nb and a nucleation enhancement by Cu additions. During the crystallization process, a secondary phase (identified as a bcc-Fe-rich phase) is formed. The amount of such a phase increases with the annealing temperature. Coercivity increases upon annealing reaching maxima at 700-750 degrees C. This can be explained in terms of competition between the two phases formed: the 2: 14: 1 hard phase and the soft bcc-Fe-rich phase. The highest coercivity of the Nd-lean samples is observed when the microstructure is appropriate and both phases are exchange-coupled.This work has received funding from the DOE BES-DE-FG02-90ER45413 and the European Union MSCA grant agreement No 691235 (INAPEM). Technical and human support provided by SGIker (UPV/EHU, GV/EJ and ESF) is gratefully acknowledged

Microremains from El Mirón Cave human dental calculus suggest a mixed plant/animal subsistence economy during the Magdalenian in Northern Iberia

Despite more than a century of detailed investigation of the Magdalenian period in Northern Iberia, our understanding of the diets during this period is limited. Methodologies for the reconstruction of Late Glacial subsistence strategies have overwhelmingly targeted animal exploitation, thus revealing only a portion of the dietary spectrum. Retrieving food debris from calculus offers a means to provide missing information on other components of diet.We undertook analysis of human dental calculus samples from Magdalenian individuals (including the ¿Red Lady¿) at El Mir on Cave (Cantabria, Spain), as well as several control samples, to better understand the less visible dietary components. Dental calculus yielded a diverse assemblage of microremains from plant, fungal, animal and mineral sources that may provide data on diet and environment. The types of microremains show that the individuals at El Mir on consumed a variety of plants, including seeds and underground storage organs, as well as other foods, including possibly bolete mushrooms. These findings suggest that plant and plant-like foods were parts of her diet, supplementing staples derived from animal foods. As faunal evidence suggests that the Magdalenian Cantabrian diet included a large proportion of animal foods, we argue here for a mixed subsistence pattern

Paleopathology and paleogenetics in the settlement of Les Llometes (Alcoy, Alicante) during the III millennium B.C.

Los restos humanos de Les Llometes (Alcoi, Alicant) corresponden a 17 hombres, 11 mujeres y un individuo infantil de unos 8 años. Las dataciones C14 de los restos muestran un uso del espacio funerario (Gruta y Grieta) durante el III milenio a. C. Destaca una prevalencia elevada de hiperostosis porótica (60 % en hombres y 30 % en mujeres). Los datos paleogenéticos explican una gran diversidad poblacional y dos mujeres que presentan vínculos familiares.Les restes humanes de Les Llometes (Alcoi, Alacant) corresponen a 17 homes, 11 dones i un individu infantil d’uns 8 anys. Les datacions C14 de les restes mostren un ús de l’espai funerari (Gruta i Clivella) durant el III mil·lenni aC. Destaca una prevalença elevada d’hiperostosi poròtica (60% en homes i 30% en dones). Les dades paleogenètiques expliquen una gran diversitat poblacional i dues dones que presenten vincles familiars.The human remains from Les Llometes (Alcoy, Alicante) belong to 17 males, 11 females and one child of about 8 years of age. Carbon 14 dating technology of skeletal remains indicate the use of a funerary area (Grotto and Crack) during the III millennium B.C. The prevalence of porotic hyperostosis is noticeable (60% for males and 30% for females). Paleogenetics data point out a great population diversity as well as two females showing family ties

Neanderthal diets in central and southeastern Mediterranean Iberia

During recent decades, Neanderthal diet has been a major research topic in palaeoanthropology. This has been accelerated by the maturation of different techniques, which have produced a plethora of new information. However, this proliferation of data has led to confusing and contradictory results. Furthermore, most of the ecological dietary studies have been carried out on specimens drawn from different time periods and regions, almost exclusively those characterized by cold, open environmental conditions. Subsistence models based on these fragmentary data have been applied to Neanderthals living in a variety of different regions and environments, even though their dietary strategies may have been as variable as regions they inhabited. In this paper we integrate different dietary approaches (studies of the zooarchaeology, stable isotopes and plant remains) from the central and southeastern Mediterranean coast of Iberia in order to develop a broader and more complex picture of Neanderthal diet in different Mediterranean environmental conditions. Our results suggest that there may have been some minor dietary variation due to climatic or environmental differences, but that Neanderthal diet focussed on large terrestrial game, supplemented by plant foods when these were available

Back to the bases: Building a terrestrial water δ18O baseline for archaeological studies in North Patagonia (Argentina)

Archaeology has been using stable oxygen as an isotopic tracer linked with water consumption for decades, and it has been demonstrated to be a powerful tool to assess paleomobility in bioarchaeology. Central-eastern North Patagonia (Argentina) is an especially appropriate region to apply it since it presents a high density of huntergatherer burials, it was a nodal zone criss-crossed by an extensive network of important routes, and it is characterized by a high environmental fragmentation due to the scarcity of fresh water sources. The aim of this paper is to build an empirical stable oxygen isotope baseline of terrestrial surface waters to assess the potentiality of tracing past human movement. We analyzed 46 water samples from 13 locations with permanent sources (rivers, springs, streams), compared it with predictions of precipitation and evaluated it considering seasonal variation, altitude and distance from the coast. Our results show that different post-precipitation processes change the isotopic signal from the sources with respect to the local precipitation, and highlight the relevance of analyzing terrestrial water sources. According to their oxygen isotope values we defined five hydrologic zones: Colorado River, Negro River, Closed Basins and Plains, Eastern and Western Somuncurá Foothills. Their identification shows the potential to address past human movement using stable oxygen water baselines in central-eastern North Patagonia.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Muse

Dental calculus indicates widespread plant use within the stable Neanderthal dietary niche

The ecology of Neanderthals is a pressing question in the study of hominin evolution. Diet appears to have played a prominent role in their adaptation to Eurasia. Based on isotope and zoo archaeological studies, Neanderthal diet has been reconstructed as heavily meat-based and generally similar across different environments. This image persists, despite recent studies suggesting more plant use and more variation. However, we have only a fragmentary picture of their dietary ecology, and how it may have varied among habitats, because we lack broad and environmentally representative information about their use of plants and other foods. To address the problem, we examined the plant micro remains in Neanderthal dental calculus from five archaeological sites representing a variety of environments from the northern Balkans, and the western, central and eastern Mediterranean. The recovered micro remains revealed the consumption of a variety of non-animal foods, including starchy plants. Using a modeling approach, we explored the relationships among microremains and environment, while controlling for chronology. In the process, we compared the effectiveness of various diversity metrics and their shortcomings for studying microbotanical remains, which are often morphologically redundant for identification. We developed Minimum Botanical Units as a new way of estimating how many plant types or parts are present in a microbotanical sample. In contrast to some previous work, we found no evidence that plant use is confined to the southern-most areas of Neanderthal distribution. Although interpreting the ecogeographic variation is limited by the incomplete preservation of dietary micro remains, it is clear that plant exploitation was a widespread and deeply rooted Neanderthal subsistence strategy, even if they were predominately game hunters. Given the limited dietary variation across Neanderthal range in time and space in both plant and animal food exploitation, we argue that vegetal consumption was a feature of a generally static dietary niche

Implications for paleomobility studies of the effects of quaternary volcanism on bioavailable strontium: a test case in North Patagonia (Argentina)

Strontium isotopes (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) are used as geochemical tracers for paleomobility studies because they display predictable and stable patterns in ecosystems primarily controlled by the underlying geological regimes. While bedrock geology is stable over thousands of years, geomorphological processes can influence the ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr in ecosystems over archeologically relevant timescales. Among these geomorphological processes, the deposition and reworking of volcanic sediments over Quaternary timescales are little studied but could be an important control of ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr variations in many archeological regions. North Patagonia is a key archeological region to address animal and human movements, and an ideal location to test the influence of Quaternary volcanism on ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr variation as it is located downwind of major volcanic centers. In this study, we aim to assess the main environmental and geological controls of bioavailable ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and to build a high-resolution isoscape using a machine learning regression framework for forthcoming paleomobility studies. We sampled several locations and analyzed different types of samples (N = 94). The ratios show a limited range of variation, which is not related to the bedrock geology. Rather, bioavailable ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr variations display a progressive increase going eastward (away from the Andes), following dust aerosol deposition and elevation variations (R² = 0.71, RMSE = 0.00041). We argue that this trend relates to the deposition and reworking of unradiogenic volcanic sediments by aeolian, fluvial and glacial erosion during the Quaternary. As most of this sediment reworking occurred during glacial periods, the current bioavailable ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr variations across the study area likely represent a long-term average that varied little during the Holocene. Consequently, our isoscape provides a solid base for Holocene paleomobility studies in North Patagonia and underlines the importance of Quaternary volcanism processes for interpreting ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr data in paleomobility studies in volcanic regions.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Muse