Re-evaluating the Neolithic: The Impact and the Consolidation of Farming Practices in the Cantabrian Region (Northern Spain)

Abstract:Research projects undertaken in the Cantabrian region since 1980 have produced new, high-quality information about the neolithisation process(es) in this area. It is now necessary to review this archaeological information and test the main hypotheses put forward to explain it. This paper presents an update on the archaeological evidence (sites, chronological dates, archaeozoological, archaeobotanical and technological information) for the early Neolithic in the Cantabrian region. It summarizes recent research on neolithisation in the region, and assesses the impact of this process during the early Neolithic, and its later consolidation. Although the available information is still incomplete, it is now possible to identify the focal point of the introduction of elements characteristic of the Neolithic way of life in the region. Current evidence suggests that it is in the eastern sector, where the earliest arrival of domesticates and new technologies such as pottery has been attested. The existence of continuities?such as sustained reliance on hunting and gathering and the coexistence of old and new funerary rites?suggests the persistence of native populations, which gradually participated in the neolithisation process after an ?availability phase?

Autonomous cortisol secretion in patients with primary aldosteronism: prevalence and implications on cardiometabolic profile and on surgical outcomes

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of autonomous cortisol secretion (ACS) in patients with primary aldosteronism (PA) and its implications on cardiometabolic and surgical outcomes. Methods: This is a retrospective multicenter study of PA patients who underwent 1 mg dexamethasone-suppression test (DST) during diagnostic workup in 21 Spanish tertiary hospitals. ACS was defined as a cortisol post-DST >1.8 μg/dL (confirmed ACS if >5 μg/dL and possible ACS if 1.8–5 μg/dL) in the absence of spe cific clinical features of hypercortisolism. The cardiometabolic profile was compared with a control group with ACS without PA (ACS group) matched for age and DST levels. Results: The prevalence of ACS in the global cohort of patients with PA (n = 176) was 29% (ACS–PA; n = 51). Ten patients had confirmed ACS and 41 possible ACS. The cardiometabolic profile of ACS–PA and PA-only patients was simil ar, except for older age and larger tumor size of the adrenal lesion in the ACS–PA group. When comparing the ACS–PA group (n = 51) and the ACS group (n = 78), the prevalence of hypertension (OR 7.7 (2.64–22.32)) and cardiovascular events (OR 5.0 (2.29–11.07)) was higher in ACS–PA patients than in ACS patients. The coexistence of ACS in patien ts with PA did not affect the surgical outcomes, the proportion of biochemical cure and clinical cure being similar between ACS–PA and PA-only groups. Conclusion: Co-secretion of cortisol and aldosterone affects almost one-thi rd of patients with PA. Its occurrence is more frequent in patients with larger tumors and advanced age. However, the cardiometabolic and surgical outcomes of patients with ACS–PA and PA-only are similar

El poblamiento mesolitico al oeste de Berbes (Ribadesella, Asturias): Una interpretación del registro arqueológico conocido

[ES] Se presenta una síntesis de los datos conocidos sobre el Mesolítico al oeste de la zona clásica de dispersión de los concheros asturienses. En el trabajo, que incluye algunas novedades, se analizan dos de los factores que deben ser considerados a la hora de estudiar la ocupación humana de un determinado territorio: la intensidad de la prospección y la naturaleza del substrato geológico. Ello nos ha permitido, junto con las observaciones realizadas en la costa oriental, obtener algunas conclusiones acerca del poblamiento asturiense ubicado más allá de la cuenca del Sella.[EN] A synthesis is presented of the existing data about the Mesolithic west of the traditional area of dispersal of the asturian shell middens. In this work, which includes some new features, two elements are analyzed, two of the elements that must be considered when studying the human occupation of a particular territory: the intensity of the exploration and the nature of the geological substratum. This has permitted us, along with the observations kept on the eastern coast, to obtain some conclusions about the asturian settlement located beyond the Sella basin

How North Iberia was lost? The Early Neolithic in Cantabrian Spain

This paper presents the current state of research on the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Cantabrian Spain. TheNeolithization process took place later in the north of the Iberian Peninsula (from c. 5000 cal BC onwards) thanin other parts of the peninsula, such as Mediterranean Spain, where the transition occurred some centuriesearlier. This time of change is studied through available chronological information and social changes thatcan be inferred from the known archaeological evidence. Special attention is paid to elements of change and/or continuity in such aspects as settlement patterns, technology, and subsistence practices. The data point toa model of continuity and not of sudden change, with the last hunter-gatherer societies playing an active rolein the adoption of the new way of life