New insights into the neolithisation process in southwest Europe according to spatial density analysis from calibrated radiocarbon dates

The agricultural way of life spreads throughout Europe via two main routes: the Danube corridor and the Mediterranean basin. Current archaeological literature describes the arrival to the Western Mediterranean as a rapid process which involves both demic and cultural models, and in this regard, the dispersal movement has been investigated using mathematical models, where the key factors are time and space. In this work, we have created a compilation of all available radiocarbon dates for the whole of Iberia, in order to draw a chronological series of maps to illustrate temporal and spatial patterns in the neolithisation process. The maps were prepared by calculating the calibrated 14C date probability density curves, as a proxy to show the spatial dynamics of the last hunter-gatherers and first farmers. Several scholars have pointed out problems linked with the variability of samples, such as the overrepresentation of some sites, the degree of regional research, the nature of the dated samples and above all the archaeological context, but we are confident that the selected dates, after applying some filters and statistical protocols, constitute a good way to approach settlement spatial patterns in Iberia at the time of the neolithisation process

A multi-method approach with machine learning to evaluating the distribution and intensity of prehistoric land use in Eastern Iberia

The present study seeks to better understand the coupling of social and biophysical systems during the late Pleistocene and Holocene, a period characterized by changing interglacial conditions as well as human population expansion and intensified ecosystem management. The approach consists of a combination of patch-based archaeological survey methods, sediment column sampling for paleoenvironmental data, geospatial analysis, and machine learning for chronological unmixing, allowing the systematic evaluation of the distribution and intensity of prehistoric land use in the study area of eastern Mediterranean Iberia. Occupational and Land Use Intensity maps developed from continuous distributions of surface artifacts as well as a summed probability density curve developed from 14C dates indicate low but steady human presence in the study area during the Middle Paleolithic and Upper Paleolithic with a marked decrease of human presence across the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary. The Early (and Middle) Neolithic saw the most ubiquitous and intensive occupation of the study area followed by a significant decline during the Late Neolithic/Chalcolithic. The charcoal analysis also supports this pattern. Early Neolithic farming strategies may not have been damaging initially during the climatic regime of the Early Holocene but exacerbated the impacts of higher temperatures and summer droughts, with a loss of the most productive farmland, seen at the onset of the Late Neolithic. Similar boom-bust population trends have been documented throughout Europe during these same time spans and may indicate a recursive interaction or “coupling” between global and regional climate events and human land use strategies

Contextualizando la cerámica impressa : horizontes culturales en la Península Ibérica

Organizado por: GRAMPO: Grup de Recerques Arqueològiques al Mediterrani i Pròxim Orient. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona PREMEDOC: Grup de Recerca de Prehistòria del Mediterràni Occidental. Universitat de València Servei d'Arqueologia. Ajuntament de Barcelona. Con la colaboración de: Museu d'Història de Barcelona. Ajuntament de BarcelonaDesde hace poco tiempo en el estudio sobre los orígenes de las primeras sociedades agrícolas en el Mediterráneo Occidental se ha generado un amplio debate en torno a la filiación y características culturales de los primeros grupos que practican una economía de subsistencia. En este contexto encuentra sentido la discusión sobre la presencia en la península Ibérica un momento relacionable con la denominada Impressa-Ligur presente en diferentes regiones del arco Ligur Provenzal. Este volumen, fruto de una reunión científica, reúne información actualizada sobre la posible presencia de estos contextos cerámicos en torno a la mitad del VI milenio cal en la península Ibérica dentro del marco más amplio del Mediterráneo occidental. Las primeras producciones cerámicas del Occidente son analizadas poniendo énfasis tanto en sus características como sobre todo en el contexto y la lectura histórica que aportan. Estructuradas por áreas geográficas, las 14 contribuciones realizadas por 38 investigadores nacionales e internacionales, ofrecen una visión inédita y original sobre una de las novedades más importantes de la investigación en Prehistoria reciente en el último decenio

Population dynamics during the Neolithic transition and the onset of megalithism in Portugal according to summed probability distribution of radiocarbon determinations

As field data accumulates, the study of Neolithic Portugal has been receiving increasing attention recently, from material culture and subsistence to ideology. However, little is known about population dynamics. In this paper, we use a judicious selection of radiocarbon determinations to evaluate demographic phenomena within the 9.500-5.000 cal BP range (thus, starting in the Late Mesolithic) making use of "summed probability distribution" analysis. In greater Portugal, results show a negative deviation (i.e. demographic decrease) at 6.400-6.300 cal BP and a positive deviation (i.e. demographic increase) at 5.350-4.950 cal BP. These can be explained, respectively, by the impact of farming about one millennium after its introduction (confirming the "Neolithic demographic transition" model) and by the full establishment of the "secondary products revolution" in the Late Neolithic. However, individual analyses of the northern and southern halves of the country-i.e. using the Mondego river valley as an ecological-geographical divide-show rather contrasting trajectories, with scarce Mesolithic populations and a demographic increase in the megalithism in the North, whereas in the South a demographic crisis occurred at the onset of megalithism (which remains to be fully explained) being followed in the Late Neolithic by a sharp demographic increase. Further summed probability distribution analyses of radiocarbon determinations, particularly if combined with other populational proxies, will be able in the future to detect other demographic events taking place in space and time.Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral grant [FJCI-2016-30588]Catalonian government [PGC2018-096943-B-C21]Spanish governmentSpanish GovernmentEuropean Commission [2017-SGR-1302]APOSTD Postdoctoral grant by the Valencian government [APOST/2019/179]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio