Reflections on the Other Side. A Southern Iberia Origin for the First Pottery Production of Northern Morocco?

Archaeological works in Morocco (the Spanish-Moroccan team) were funded by a European Research Council Advanced Grant AGRIWESTMED (Origins and spread of agriculture in the western Mediterranean region) coordinated by L.P.-CH. Processing works were performed thanks to a IJCI-2016-27812 -Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities-Universidad de Granada, Juan de la Cierva-Incorporacion Agreement (2016, by RMMS), and by funding provided in the framework of project "Archaeobiology of the Neolithic of the Southern Iberian Peninsula" (NeArqBioSI) A-HUM-460-UGR18 by Consejeria de Economia, Conocimiento, Empresas y Universidad. FEDER Programme - Andalusian CouncilGranada University. Finally, G. Perez-Jorda has carried out this research within the grant CIDEGENT/2019/00, funded by the Generalitat Valenciana.This work is a starting point for rethinking the role of the Iberian Peninsula in the neolithisation of northern Morocco. It focuses on the similarities and divergences between the first pottery productions and their decorations in both territories. This relationship is supported by the existence of an accurate chronological gradation between the first evidence of Neolithisation in Iberian Peninsula and that of northern Morocco which suggests a north–south direction. We also present arguments on the possible links between the early ceramics from the north of Morocco and those from the south of Iberia, providing a first approach to an issue that will need to be carefully analysed in future research.European Research Council Advanced Grant AGRIWESTMED (Origins and spread of agriculture in the western Mediterranean region)Consejeria de Economia, Conocimiento, Empresas y Universidad A-HUM-460-UGR18FEDER Programme - Andalusian CouncilGranada UniversityGeneralitat Valenciana European Commission General Electric CIDEGENT/2019/0

The trans-Eurasian crop exchange in prehistory: Discerning pathways from barley phylogeography

A number of crops that are of global importance today, including wheat (Triticum spp) and barley (Hordeum vulgare), were domesticated in Southwest Asia between 10,000 and 11,000 years ago and subsequently spread through the Old World, into Europe, North Africa and eastwards across Eurasia. Their routes of expansion have been a focus of debate and are increasingly being revealed by widespread dating of archaeobotanical remains from across Eurasia. Of particular interest is work by Zhao (2009) who proposed three routes for the spread of wheat into China: firstly, across the Eurasian Steppe, second by sea from India to the east coast of Eurasia and third, along the Hexi Corridor, which forms part of the Silk Road in western China. Molecular genetic analysis of cereal landraces have also elucidated routes of expansion of cereal cultivation and, in addition, have revealed how crops adapted to changing environments as they moved away from their centres of domestication. Genes involved in flowering time genes have been a particular focus of these studies, including the photoperiod response gene Ppd-H1 in barley, which controls flowering in response to increasing day-lengths in the spring. In this paper we present a phylogeographic analysis of Old World landrace and wild barley, through the analysis of a portion of the Ppd-H1 DNA sequence. We discuss the geographic distribution of different haplotypes of this gene across Eurasia in the light of Zhao (2009)'s three routes and what it potentially reveals about trans-Eurasian pathways of contact between early farming communities.This research was conducted under the auspices of the ‘Food Globalization in Prehistory’ (FOGLIP, ERC grant number 249642) and ‘Origins and Spread of Agriculture in the South West Mediterranean Region’ (AgriWestMed, ERC Grant Number 230561) research projects, both funded by the European Research Council

De la gran urbe a la modesta villa: aplicación de la prospección magnética a la arqueología romana

La caracterización de yacimientos arqueológicos es una de las aplicaciones más extendidas de la prospección magnética, por su carácter no invasivo, que permite explorar sin destruir superficies de extensión considerable, y debido al carácter ferromagnético de muchos elementos asociados a la actividad humana (instrumentos de hierro, componentes minerales de tejas, ladrillos, hornos de cocción, etc...). Habitualmente, en prospección magnética se mide la intensidad total del campo magnético terrestre (realizando las correcciones de las oscilaciones debidas a la variación diurna y las micropulsaciones) y el gradiente horizontal o vertical (diferencia entre las medidas tomadas simultáneamente en posiciones cercanas mediante dos sensores, ver figura 1), que resulta muy útil cuando se trata de detectar anomalías debidas a cuerpos cercanos a la superficie. Frente a la sistemática de trabajo en prospecciones geológicas, el mallado de la prospección magnética en arqueología suele ser muy denso, con 1 m o 0,5 m de espaciado entre perfiles en muchas ocasiones

Human–landscape interactions in the Conquezuela–Ambrona Valley (Soria, continental Iberia): From the early Neolithic land use to the origin of the current oak woodland

The sedimentological, geochemical and palynological analyses performed in the Conquezuela palaeolake (41°11′N; 2°33′W; 1124 m a.s.l.) provide a detailed, multiproxy palaeoenvironmental reconstruction in one of the key areas of inner Iberian Neolithic colonization. Combined with archaeobotanical and archaeological data from well-dated settlements along the Conquezuela–Ambrona Valley we investigate how environmental conditions may affect both socio-economic adaptations and livelihood strategies of prehistoric communities. The first evidences of early Neolithic occupation in the valley ca. 7250–6450 cal yr BP (5300–4500 BC) coincided with the onset of a period (7540–6200 cal yr BP, 5590–4250 BC) with higher water availability and warmer climate as alluvial environments were substituted by carbonate-wetland environments in the basin. The Conquezuela record supports an early Neolithic colonization of the inner regions of Iberia favored by warmer and humid climate features and with preferential settlement patterns associated to lakes. The maximum human occupation of the valley occurred during the mid–late Neolithic and Chalcolithic (6200–3200 cal yr BP, 4250–1250 BC) as evidenced by the high number of archaeological sites. Although a number of hydrological oscillations have been detected during this period, the intense landscape transformation at basin-scale, leading to a deforested landscape, was largely a consequence of widespread farming and pastoral practices. Socio-economic activities during Bronze, Iron and Roman times modified this inherited landscape, but the second largest ecosystem transformation only occurred during Mediaeval times when a new agrarian landscape developed with the expansion of stockbreeding transhumance. The current vegetation cover characterized by patches of holm and marcescent oaks and fields reflects an intense human management combining both extensive herding with agrarian activities in order to transform the previous forested landscape into a dehesa-like system.The funding for the present study derives from DINAMO2 (CGL-BOS 2012-33063) and AGRIWESTMED (ERC Grant Agreement #230561) projects, provided by the Spanish Inter-Ministry Commission of Science and Technology (CICYT) and the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013). XRF data were obtained at the XRF Core Scanner Laboratory (CRG Marine Geosciences, University of Barcelona). Josu Aranbarri acknowledges the predoctoral funding provided by the Basque Country Government (ref: FI-2010-5). Graciela Gil-Romera hold a post-doctoral contract funded by “Juan de la Cierva” (ref: JCI2009-04345) program. Eduardo García-Prieto and Maria Leunda are supported by predoctoral FPI grants BES-2010-038593 and BES-2013-063753, respectively. We also thank Elena Royo for her help with the lab procedures and the two anonymous referees for their valuable suggestions.Peer reviewe

Recenti indagini alla necropoli fenicia di Pani Loriga

This work considers the results of the excavation of Tomb 2016B in the Phoenician necropolis at Pani Loriga (Santadi, Sardinia). A multidisciplinary methodology was adopted, involving different professional figures, from geologists to archaeologists, anthropologists, palaeobotanists and chemists. Object of the analysis is a double grave in an elongated rectangular pit cut into a rhyolite bed. The inhumation rite – very rare at Pani Loriga, where cremation predominates –, the monumental type of tomb, with a cover of worked slabs resting on ledges and two symmetrical cavities at the bottom of the pit near the short sides, and the funerary vases allow us to link Tomb 2016B to Tomb 33, excavated in the last century by Ferruccio Barreca, and to a group of Monte Sirai burials, including Tomb 88, the suggested burial place of a person from Carthage. In fact, the new discoveries highlight the movement – in the first half of the 6th c. BC – of wealthy individuals, probably merchants, from the Gulf of Tunis area to central and south-western Sardinia.Peer reviewe

Variabilité des techniques de récolte et traitements des céréales dans l'occident Méditerranéen au Néolithique Ancien et Moyen: facteurs environnementaux, économiques et sociaux

La reconstitution des techniques agricoles préhistoriques constitue un élément fondamental pour la compréhension du processus d’expansion de l’agriculture en Méditerranée occidentale. Dans le cadre d’un projet européen rassemblant des tracéologues et des carpologues espagnols et français, nous avons, dans une première phase, étudié les méthodes de récolte des céréales pratiquées durant le Néolithique en Espagne et dans le Sud de la France, du Néolithique ancien au Néolithique moyen. L’étude des outils de récolte a permis de distinguer trois aires distinctes. Le Sud-Est de l’Espagne est caractérisé par des faucilles courbes avec des éléments insérés obliquement dans le manche. En Catalogne, Languedoc et Provence, la majorité des faucilles sont constituées de longues lames emmanchées parallèlement au manche, mais d’autres modèles existent. En Espagne cantabrique, les céréales étaient récoltées sans faucille. Nos travaux en cours explorent différents facteurs pouvant expliquer cette variabilité : conditions environnementales, types de céréales cultivées, finalités techniques et alimentaires de la culture des céréales, techniques de conservation des céréales, rôle de l’agriculture céréalière dans l’économie, dynamiques historiques de l’expansion et de l’adoption des innovations néolithiques.Peer Reviewe

Orphan crops of archaeology-based crop history research

So-called ‘forgotten’ or ‘orphan’ crops are an important component of strategies aimed at preserving and promoting biodiversity. Knowledge of historical cultivation, usage, and geographic and evolutionary trajectories of plants, that is, crop history research, is important for the long-term success of such efforts. However, research biases in the crops chosen for study may present hurdles. This review attempts to systematically identify patterns in crop species representativeness within archaeology-based crop history research. A meta-analysis and synthesis of archaeo- botanical evidence (and lack thereof) is presented for 268 species known to have been cultivated for food prior to 1492 CE from the Mediterranean region to South Asia. We identified 39 genera with known crop plants in this geographical and histor- ical context that are currently absent from its archaeobotanical record, constituting ‘orphan’ crops of archaeobotany. In addition, a worldwide synthesis of crop species studied using geometric morphometric, archaeogenetic and stable isotope analyses of archaeological plant remains is presented, and biases in the species represented in these disciplines are discussed. Both disciplinary methodological biases and economic agenda-based biases affecting species representativeness in crop history research are apparent. This study also highlights the limited geographic diffusion of most crops and the potential for deeper historical perspectives on how crops become marginal- ized and ‘forgotten’

Releyendo el fenómeno de la neolitización en el Bajo Aragón a la luz de la excavación del Cingle de Valmayor XI (Mequinenza, Zaragoza)

Este trabajo presenta los resultados preliminares obtenidos en la excavación del Cingle de Valmayor XI, desarrollada dentro del proyecto de investigación ‘Los caminos del Neolítico’. A través del análisis de las dataciones radiocarbónicas y de una detallada lectura estratigráfica se han podido establecer tres horizontes de ocupación diferentes con cronologías que corresponden a distintos momentos del vi milenio cal bc. Se ofrece una descripción general de los eventos arqueológicos documentados en cada una de estas fases, así como de gran parte del material recuperado –cerámica, lítica, industria ósea, elementos de adorno, fauna y restos carpológicos–. Por otra parte, a la luz de las nuevas dataciones presentadas, se propone una revisión del fenómeno de la neolitización en la región del Bajo Aragón y, por extensión, en todo el valle del Ebro; también se cuestiona la identificación de contextos como propios de economías productoras simplemente a través de la presencia de ciertos elementos materiales considerados tradicionalmente como ‘marcadores neolíticos’, sin que existan variaciones con respecto a las estrategias subsistenciales o de explotación del territorio

Investigation of late Pleistocene and early Holocene palaeoenvironmental change at El Mirón cave (Cantabria, Spain): insights from carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of red deer

Abstract: El Mirón Cavewas occupied by humans for over 40,000 years. Evidence of LateMousterian,Gravettian, Solutrean, Magdalenian, Azilian, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Bronze Age and Mediaeval occupations has been found in the cave. Understanding the local environmental conditions during the occupations is crucial for gaining an insight into the lifeways of El Mirón's inhabitants as they relied on the surrounding region and its natural resources for their subsistence. 170 bones of hunted red deer recovered from the cave were sampled for carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses with the aim of reconstructing the palaeoenvironment and palaeoclimate during the human occupation. The results show that the surrounding landscape underwent considerable environmental change during the Late Pleistocene and Early to Mid-Holocene. Shifts in d13C values between the Last Glacial Maximum, Heinrich stadial 1, Heinrich event 1, the Late-glacial interstadial and the onset of the Holocene are likely to reflect changes in water availability and temperature. Deer d15N generally increased over time indicating the regeneration of soil biological activity and nitrogen cycling, which was temporarily halted during the Younger Dryas. Comparison of the El Mirón results with those of 300 deer from other regions of Europe shows geographical variations in the timing and magnitude of the variation in d13C and d15N values. This variation tracks local climate (temperature andwater availability) and environmental (vegetation and forest development) change

Middle Neolithic farming of open-air sites in SE France: new insights from archaeobotanical investigations of three wells found at Les Bagnoles (L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, Dépt. Vaucluse, France)

Previous reviews of Middle Neolithic agricultural practice (4400–3500 cal bc) in southern France have highlighted a change in crop assemblages after 4000 cal bc, with a reduction of naked wheat and an increase of emmer and partly of einkorn. The recent investigation of three wells from the site of Les Bagnoles (4250–3800 cal bc) in the periphery of the southern Rhône valley yielded an unprecedented amount of waterlogged uncharred and charred plant macro remains that offer new insights into crop diversity and its changes over time. The results from the wells at Les Bagnoles were compared with other dated sunken features from open-air sites (in contrast to caves and rock shelters), with the aim of identifying patterns sug-gesting changes in the crop spectra between the early (MN1) and late (MN2) Middle Neolithic phases from taphonomically comparable contexts. The results from Les Bagnoles demonstrate that oil crops and pulses are underrepresented in dry sites and that they were a significant part of Middle Neolithic agriculture. They also indicate an increase in the representation of einkorn (instead of emmer) during MN2 that is also visible in other open-air sites. The comparison of the archaeobotani-cal results with silo storage capacity values as a proxy for average production capacity per household leads us to propose a possible drop in naked wheat productivity and opens new questions in factors affecting crop choice at the beginning of the 4th millennium cal bc