Macrobotanical remains and shell-midden formation processes, are they related? The case of Poças de São Bento (Portugal)

The analysis of plant macroremains from Poças de São Bento, a shell-midden in the Sado Valley (Portugal), has provided interesting insights into the shell-midden formation processes and the presence of resources which are often invisible^ in this kind of sites. Preservation and representationissues are discussed in a bidirectional way. Potential complementary explanations for the presence of such plant remains in hunter-gatherer open-air sites are offered. The understanding of plant exploitation patterns by these last huntergatherers in Portugal is crucial for the comprehension of the multifaceted phenomena of Neolithisations, in this case, characterised by a long availability phase and ultimate adoption of domesticates.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The introduction and spread of rye (Secale cereale) in the Iberian Peninsula

Some of the earliest Western European macroremains of rye (Secale cereale) have been recently recovered in Northwest Iberia. However, the chronological and cultural contexts of these remains have not been yet exhaustively analysed. To address this gap of research, previous and unpublished assemblages have been reviewed and analysed through an analytical set of methods: biometry, radiocarbon dates and integrating the remains of rye in the broad archaeobotanical record of the region. Results show the earliest macroremains of rye in the Iberian Peninsula date to a period between the 3rd century and the first half of the 1st century BCE. Rye was usually found in assemblages dominated by spelt and other cereals, in whose fields it was likely acting as a weed. There is no record of rye for about the two following centuries, after which it is probably reintroduced, now as a crop. It is found in several sites from the 3rd-4th centuries CE onwards, suggesting it is a staple crop as in other regions in Europe. Significant differences in grain size are only recorded in a 10th-11th century settlement, suggesting few changes in grain morphometry before Medieval times.Work co-funded by the project NORTE-01-0246-FEDER-000063, supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). LS was financially supported by a PhD grant (Norte-08-5369-FSE000057) from the University of Porto (Faculty of Sciences) and the European Social Fund, through the North Portugal Regional Operational Program “Norte 2020”, under the announcement “Aviso Norte-69-2015-15-Formação Avançada (Programas Doutorais)”. MMS was funded by the Beatriz Galindo program as Junior Distinguished Researcher (BG20/00076). JPT was supported by national funds through the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and under the scope of the project B-ROMAN (PTDC/HAR-ARQ/4909/2020), funded by national funds through FCT. ATB was awarded by a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship H2020-MSCA-IF-2020 (REA grant agreement ID:101018935). Radiocarbon dates from Crestuma were obtained with the financial support of Gaia Biological Park (Parque Biológico de Gaia) under the scope of Crestuma Castle project (Programa de Investigação Arqueológica e Valorização Cultural do Complexo Arqueológico do Castelo de Crestuma – Vila Nova de Gaia). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

El poblado naviforme de Cap de Barbaria II (Formentera, Islas Baleares). Nuevos datos sobre su cronología y secuencia de ocupación

We present a series of six radiocarbon dates from the site of Cap de Barbaria II (Formentera, Balearic Islands). These place its occupation in the Bronze Age. In addition, methodological aspects of date calibration according to the nature of the samples (animal bone and shell) are discussed. This information defines chronological time span of the Naviform societies in the islands of Ibiza and Formentera and provides important elements for the understanding the formation, development, and end of these societies throughout the Balearic archipelago.En este trabajo presentamos un conjunto de 6 fechas de carbono 14 del poblado de Cap de Barbaria II (Formentera, Islas Baleares), que permiten acotar su ocupación dentro de la Edad del Bronce. Además, se tratan aspectos metodológicos relativos a la calibración e interpretación de las fechas en función de la naturaleza de las muestras (hueso y concha). La información delimita cronológicamente el grupo arqueológico naviforme en las islas Pitiusas (Ibiza y Formentera) y proporciona datos importantes para la comprensión de su formación, desarrollo y extinción en el conjunto del archipiélago balear

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?

The Mousterian sequence from El Niño cave (Aýna, Albacete) and the Neanderthal occupation of south-eastern Iberia

Resumen: En este artículo se presentan los resultados de la revisión de los materiales arqueológicos procedentes de la excavación realizada en 1973 en la Cueva del Niño (Aýna, Albacete) correspondientes a ocupaciones del Paleolítico Medio. Esta revisión se realizó fundamentalmente mediante el análisis tecnológico de la industria lítica, el estudio arqueozoológico y tafonómico de los restos de macromamíferos y el análisis de los restos carpológicos. Además, se presentan las dataciones obtenidas para los niveles revisados. Estas dataciones sitúan la ocupación de la cavidad a finales del MIS3. A pesar del reducido número de restos arqueológicos disponibles,la información resultante permite situar el yacimiento de la Cueva del Niño en el contexto del final del Paleolítico Medio del sureste de la Península Ibérica, y aportar nuevos datos a la problemática de la desaparición de las últimas poblaciones neandertales.Abstract: This paper reviews the results obtained from the 1973 excavation of El Niño cave (Aýna, Albacete), corresponding to the Middle Palaeolithic occupations of the site. We present the technological analysis of lithic assemblages, the archaeozoological and taphonomical analysis of faunal remains, the analysis of plant macro remains, and the dates obtained for the archaeological levels. These dates place the Mousterian occupations of El Niño during MIS3. Despite the reduced number of archaeological remains, the results obtained permit the cave of El Niño cave to be placed within the context of Late Middle Palaeolithic in south-eastern Iberia, and provide new data regarding the process of extinction of the last Neanderthal populations

Understanding Middle Neolithic food and farming in and around the Stonehenge World Heritage Site: an integrated approach

Little synthesis of evidence for Middle Neolithic food and farming in Wiltshire, particularly in and around the Stonehenge World Heritage Site (WHS) has been possible, until now, due to a paucity of assemblages. The excavation of a cluster of five Middle Neolithic pits and an inhumation burial at West Amesbury Farm (WAF) has prompted a review of our understanding of pit sites of this period from the county. Bioarchaeological assemblages are used to investigate evidence for the consumption of animal and plant-based foods, and for agricultural and pastoral farming. For the first time Middle Neolithic zooarchaeological evidence, including strontium isotope data, is considered alongside archaeobotanical data, and radiocarbon dating. The absence of cultivated plants from WAF and contemporary sites in the county is consistent with the hypothesis that the reduction in cereal cultivation and greater reliance of wild plants witnessed in the later part of the Neolithic in southern England began in the Middle Neolithic. The zooarchaeological evidence from the same sites demonstrates that the shift away from cereal cultivation may be concurrent with, rather than earlier than, an increase in the relative proportion of deposited pig bones relative to cattle. Both cattle and pigs deposited in pits at WAF have strontium and sulphur isotope values consistent with the local biosphere, and therefore were potentially raised in the area. Zooarchaeological data from WAF compliments that from human dental calculus and lipid residues in associated Peterborough Ware pottery that local cattle husbandry included exploitation of dairy. It also highlights the presence of consistent food preparation methods between pits as seen through butchery practice. The faunal and archaeobotanical remains from contemporary pit deposits suggest that similar farming and subsistence strategies can be proposed across the county, though with some inter-site variation in deposition. Together these excavated pit sites are likely to represent only a sample of those present in the area. Application of a similar integrated approach to material from other Middle Neolithic pits holds potential for better understanding of food and farming in this previously neglected period

The Neolithic of El Niño cave (Ayna, Albacete) in the Sierra del Segura context

Desde su excavación en el verano de 1973, la Cueva del Niño ha sido considerada un yacimiento de gran importancia para conocer el proceso de introducción de la economía de producción o de la tecnología cerámica en el sureste de la Península Ibérica, y especialmente para establecer cómo dicho proceso pudo haber afectado a las poblaciones ya asentadas en la región de la Sierra del Segura. Sin embargo, la información proporcionada por la Cueva del Niño resultaba muy fragmentaria, debido a la falta de un estudio de conjunto de las ocupaciones neolíticas del yacimiento. En este artículo, se presenta el análisis de las producciones cerámicas, la industria lítica y los restos de fauna, así como las dataciones existentes para los niveles holocenos del depósito. La revisión de las diversas evidencias proporcionadas por el yacimiento permite plantear que la Cueva del Niño habría actuado probablemente como una estación para el pastoreo y la caza, sirviendo como satélite de otros yacimientos de mayor entidad. No obstante, las limitaciones impuestas por el hecho de tratarse de una excavación efectuada hace cuarenta años impide aportar aspectos concluyentes sobre la dinámica del proceso de introducción del Neolítico en la Sierra del Segura.Since its excavation in the summer of 1973, El Niño cave has been considered a key site to understand the process of production economy and pottery technology introduction in South-eastern Iberian Peninsula, and especially to approach how such process could have affected people already settled in the Segura mountains. However, data from El Niño cave was very fragmentary, due to the lack of a broad study of Neolithic occupations of the site. In this paper, we present the analysis of pottery, lithic industry and faunal remains, as well as the existing dates from the site´s Holocene levels. The review of different evidence from the site allows suggesting that El Niño cave would have probably acted as a hunting and shepherding station, being a logistical site of larger places. However, limitations due to the fact that we are dealing with a 40- year-old excavation, prevent specifying how the process of Neolithic introduction in the Segura Mountains occurred

El Niño Cave (Aýna, Albacete, Spain): Late Middle Palaeolithic, Rock Art, and Neolithic Occupations from Inland Iberia

RESUMEN: La Cueva del Niño, situada en el reborde sudeste de la Meseta castellana, alberga una secuencia discontinua que abarca desde el Paleolítico Medio hasta el Neolítico, además de pinturas rupestres paleolíticas y de estilo Levantino. Se trata por lo tanto de un yacimiento clave para comprender la ocupación del interior de la Península Ibérica durante el Paleolítico y la Prehistoria Reciente. Este artículo recoge los principales resultados de un proyecto multidisciplinar destinado a definir las diferentes ocupaciones del yacimiento a lo largo de la Prehistoria.ABSTRACT: El Niño cave, located on the south-eastern border of the Spanish Meseta, hosts a discontinuous sequence including Middle Palaeolithic and Neolithic levels, along with Upper Palaeolithic and Levantine style paintings. It is a key site for understanding human occupations of inland Iberia during the Palaeolithic and early prehistory. This paper summarises the main results of a multidisciplinary project aimed at defining the prehistoric human occupations at the site

Grupo de Trabalho de Arqueobotânica e Zooarqueologia : resultados da primeira reunião

Resultados da primeira reunião geral de investigadores das áreas científicas da Arqueobotânica e Zooarqueologia a trabalhar em Portugal, realizada em Outubro de 2014, no Museu Nacional de Arqueologia (Lisboa). Identificando um conjunto de dificuldades comuns às duas disciplinas, os presentes decidiram criar um grupo de trabalho informal para fomentar o diálogo profissional e com as instituições universitárias, a tutela (administração central e regional), as empresas e a comunidade arqueológica em geral.Results of the first general meeting of researchers in the fields of Archaeobotany and Zooarchaeology working in Portugal, which took place in October 2014 at the National Museum of Archaeology in Lisbon. Having identified a set of difficulties in common, participants at the meeting decided to set up an informal work group to encourage dialogue among professionals and with universities, central and regional authorities, companies and the archaeological community at large