A Common Genetic Origin for Early Farmers from Mediterranean Cardial and Central European LBK Cultures

The spread of farming out of the Balkans and into the rest of Europe followed two distinct routes: An initial expansión represented by the Impressa and Cardial traditions, which followed the Northern Mediterranean coastline; and another expansion represented by the LBK (Linearbandkeramik) tradition, which followed the Danube River into Central Europe. Although genomic data now exist from samples representing the second migration, such data have yet to be successfully generated from the initial Mediterranean migration. To address this, we generated the complete genome of a 7,400-yearold Cardial individual (CB13) from Cova Bonica in Vallirana (Barcelona), as well as partial nuclear data from five others excavated from different sites in Spain and Portugal. CB13 clusters with all previously sequenced early European farmers and modern-day Sardinians. Furthermore, our analyses suggest that both Cardial and LBK peoples derived from a common ancient population located in or around the Balkan Peninsula. The Iberian Cardial genome also carries a discernible huntergatherer genetic signature that likely was not acquired by admixture with local Iberian foragers. Our results indicate that retrieving ancient genomes from similarly warm Mediterranean environments such as the Near East is technically feasible

El Mirador cave (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain): a whole perspective

The archaeological site of El Mirador is located in the southern slope of the Sierra de Atapuerca. The work developed at the site is providing a substantial set of data from the Upper Palaeolithic and Early Neolithic to the Middle Bronze Age. Throughout at least about 4000 years of occupation, the cave was used for various activities, among which, burial, habitation and animal stalling. The practices related with this last use is, at the moment, the main origin of the archaeological deposits, which are mainly composed by burnt animal dung with vegetal residues, potsherds, lithics and faunal remains. In addition, it is characterized by high sedimentation rates that have enabled an individual and clear record of different episodes, providing high resolution chronological data. Due to these particularities, specific excavation methodology and interdisciplinary studies of the archaeological data have been developed in order to understand the genesis of this archaeological sequence and, at the same time, to provide information about the introduction and development of the production economy in the Submeseta Norte region.The Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (N_CGL2009-12703-C03-02/BTE; HAR200801984/HIST) and the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (CGL2012-38434-C0303; HAR2013-41197-P) and the Generalitat de Catalunya (2014SGR900; 2014SGR899) supported this research. Funding for the fieldwork came from the Consejería de Cultura y Turismo of the Junta de Castilla y León and the Atapuerca Foundation. Á. Carrancho research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) and European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) with projects CGL2012-32149 and CGL2012-3848

Hàbitat en cova i espai pels ramats ca. 6200-6000 BP: dades preliminars de la Cova Colomera (Prepirineu de Lleida) durant el neolític antic

En aquest treball es presenten les dades referents a la Cova Colomera (Sant Esteve de la Sarga, Pallars Jussà) durant el Neolític cardial final. A partir dels diferents sondejos duts a terme des de l’any 2005, s’ha pogut observar la varietat d’usos i funcionalitats del jaciment en moments potencialment sincrònics. Per una banda, una zona on predominen les estructures de caire domèstic (fogars, fosses i forats de pal) que ens mostren les dades entorn l’hàbitat al jaciment; i per altra banda, un gran sector de la cavitat dedicat a l’estabulació de ramats amb sediments de tipus fumier i probablement  també a l’emmagatzematge. Tot això succeeix en unes datacions d’entre 6180±40 i 6020±50 BP

An archaeobotanical and stable isotope approach to changing agricultural practices in the NW Mediterranean region around 4000 BC

It has recently been observed, that a change in the crop spectrum happened during the so-called Middle Neolithic in France at ca. 4000 BC. An agricultural system based on free-threshing cereals (naked wheat and naked barley) seems to shift to one based on glume wheats. This is a major change for traditional farmers and this paper aims to shed light on its possible causes. Here we describe the results of new investigations in a key area for the understanding of this process: the NW Mediterranean arch, where free-threshing cereals are the main cultivars since ca. 5100 BC. New data confirm that the shift towards glume wheats is also observed in some sites of the NE of the Iberian Peninsula and that among the glume wheats that spread at ca. 4000 BC we should not only consider emmer and einkorn but also Timopheevi's wheat. Stable isotope analyses indicate no major decrease in soil fertility or alterations in local precipitation regimes. The agricultural change may be the result of a combination of the spread of damaging pests for free-threshing cereals and presumably new networks being developed with the North-eastern part of Italy and the Balkans.ISSN:0959-6836ISSN:1477-091

Resinous deposits in Early Neolithic pottery vessels from the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula

Altres ajuts: acord transformatiu CRUE-CSICUnidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-MThe use of resinous substances, certainly one of the earliest technologies developed by humans, was well-known by Holocene hunter-gatherers at the onset of the Neolithisation process across Europe. Recent research has revealed the use of birch bark tar in the central Mediterranean far from this taxon's endemic regions both in the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods and shows that the first farmers from the Fertile Crescent hafted lithic tools and waterproofed artefacts using bitumen. The generalised absence of these natural products in south-western Europe may have thus forced a reformulation of Early Neolithic technologies by exploring and benefitting from existing knowledge in local European hunter-gatherer societies. However, information on resin use from the western Mediterranean is still scarce. Here, we report on the analysis of organic residues from 168 pottery sherds by gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry from 10 archaeological sites in this region dating from the second half of the VIth millennium to the first half of the Vth millennium cal BC. In a limited number of samples, minor amounts of several diterpenoids diagnostic of aged Pinaceae resins were detected as mixtures with fats. The presence of pine in the palynological and carpological record supports the human exploitation of this taxon, but its minimal incidence in the anthracological record suggests that other species were selected as fuelwood. This supports the hypothesis that Pinaceae resins were used in association with pottery sporadically but ubiquitously either as its contents, or as post-firing treatments to waterproof the vessels. This demonstrates the development of adhesive technologies and resin-involved labour processes specific to Early Neolithic societies

A common genetic origin for early farmers from Mediterranean Cardial and Central European LBK cultures Col·lectiu per a la Investigació de la Prehistòria i l'Arqueologia del Garraf-Ordal (CIPAG)

Abstract The spread of farming out of the Balkans and into the rest of Europe followed two distinct routes: an initial expansion represented by the Impressa and Cardial traditions, which followed the Northern Mediterranean coastline; and another expansion represented by the LBK tradition, which followed the Danube River into Central Europe. While genomic data now exist from samples representing the second migration, such data have yet to be successfully generated from the initial Mediterranean migration. To address this, we generated the complete genome of a 7,400 year-old Cardial individual (CB13) from Cova Bonica in Vallirana (Barcelona), as well as partial nuclear data from five others excavated from different sites in Spain and Portugal. CB13 clusters with all previously sequenced early European farmers and modern-day Sardinians. Furthermore, our analyses suggest that both Cardial and LBK peoples derived from a common ancient population located in or around the Balkan Peninsula. The Iberian Cardial genome also carries a discernible hunter-gatherer genetic signature that likely was not acquired by admixture with local Iberian foragers. Our results indicate that retrieving ancient genomes from similarly warm Mediterranean environments such as the Near East is technically feasible