Vegetation changes and human action from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age (7000?4000 B.P.) in Alicante, Spain, based on charcoal analysis

Charcoal analysis reveals various palaeo-ecological phases from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age. Agriculture starts about 7000 B.P. in favourable ecological conditions. Most of the charcoal spectra from sites on the coast represent thermomediterranean holm-oak forest; those from the inland mountains represent mesome-diterranean holm-oak forest. The Neolithic I Impressed Ware people were the first to clear the forest to plant their crops. This clearance of primary woodland resulted in the development of secondary vegetation of pine woods or scrub. The scrub reached its maximum during the Bell Beaker phase and Bronze Age in the Cova de les Cendres. In the Neolithic II open air sites, the perc…