Olea europaea L. in the North Mediterranean basin during the Pleniglacial and the Early–Middle Holocene

17 páginas, 5 figuras, 2 tablas.The paper aims to define the natural distribution of Olea europaea L. var sylvestris (Miller) Lehr. in the North Mediterranean basin during the Pleniglacial and the Early-Middle Holocene by means of the identification of its wood-charcoal and/or wood at prehistoric sites For this purpose we have reviewed the previously available information and we have combined it with new wood-charcoal analyses data We have taken under consideration the presence and frequency of 0 europaea L in the available wood-charcoal sequences, the characteristics of the accompanying flora, the associated chrono-cultural contexts, the broader biogeographical context and the AMS dates provided by Olea wood-charcoal or endocarps. According to the available evidence, during the Middle and Late Pleniglacial (ca 59-11.5 ka cal BP), Olea would have persisted in thermophilous refugia located in the southern areas of the North Mediterranean basin, the southern Levant and the north of Africa. The Last Glacial Maximum (ca 2218 ka cal. BP) probably reduced the distribution area of Olea. During the Preboreal and the Boreal (ca 11500-8800 cal BP) the species started to expand in the thermomediterranean bioclimatic level In the western Mediterranean, during the Atlantic period (ca 8800-5600 cal. BP), the species became very abundant or dominant in the thermophilous plant formations and expanded to favorable enclaves outside the limits of the thermomediterranean level.This study has been supported by the national projects ‘‘Late Middle Palaeolithic and Upper Palaeolithic in the central region of the Iberian Peninsula’’ (Ref. FFI2008-01200/FISO) and ‘‘PALAEOFLORA OF IBERIA II: Ecological Change as Anthropological Contingency’’ (Ref. CGL2009-06988). We are grateful to all the wood-charcoal analysis specialists who have identified and published Olea wood-charcoals from archaeological sites. We are also thankful to the directors of excavations from which we report unpublished material for allowing us to study the wood-charcoal remains at those sites. Special thanks are addressed to Isabel Figueiral for her useful comments on the manuscript and for providing unpublished data. The authors are especially thankful to M. Stiner and J. Pigati for their kind permission to cite unpublished dating data from Klissoura Cave 1. Finally, we thank the two anonymous reviewers for their comments on an earlier version of the manuscript.Peer reviewe