A funerary perspective on the Bell Beaker period in the Wester Mediterranean Reading the social context of individual burials at La Vital (Gandia, València)

[EN] The discussion about social dynamics in recent Pre- history is supported by the study of funerary practices. The presence and significance of individual and collec- tive burials in Final Neolithic/Chalcolithic societies in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula provides new evi- dence for the debate concerning the emergence of social inequalities in this region. Our contribution is based on the recent discovery and excavation of several individual pit burials in domestic contexts at the site of La Vital (Gandía, Valencia). The particularities of the identified burials (different ritual episodes) and their content (Bell Beaker pottery, metal objects, animal offerings) together with an …

Neolithic Human Societies and Woodlands in the North-Western Mediterranean Region: Wood and Charcoal Analysis

An overview of woodland history in the north-western Mediterranean region, based on charcoal analysis (Anthracology) from Mesolithic and Neolithic sites, is proposed for the Mediterranean areas of France, Spain and Portugal. The taxonomic identification of charcoal fragments and the diachronic variations of taxa frequencies provide, for each settlement, an accurate image of the local vegetal cover. During the end of the last glaciation, beginning of the Holocene, vegetation dynamics reflects the evolution of climatic and geographic conditions. Any potential ecological impact by hunter-fisher-gatherer communities (Mesolithic) remains invisible; the same comment applies to the farming-herding…

Les ocupacions prehistòriques de la Cueva de la Diabla (Ayora, València).

La realització del parc eòlic de la Solana (Ayora) propicià una sèrie de sondejos arqueològics a la Cueva de la Diabla que permeteren identificar un nivell arqueològic prehistòric del Calcolític campaniforme-Bronze antic. L’estudi de la totalitat de les restes ens ha permès interpretar-les com a conseqüència d’ocupacions estacionals de la cova, no documentant cap evidencia d’enterraments humans. La casera d’animals salvatges que viuen en un medi escassament antropitzat també ha quedat constatada.

The neolithic settlement of Limoneros (Elche, Alicante)

[EN] This paper shows the results of rescue archaeology campaigns undertaken on the site of Limoneros, an open-air settlement located to the south of Elche (Alicante), in the alluvial plain of the Vinalopó river and dated on the first half of the 5th millennium cal BC. The settlement entails different negative structures, including two stretches of ditch, silos and basins, structures finally reused as a waste area. The analysis of the recovered evidences allows the characterization of the activities developed by a farming community in a territory articulated by the river Vinalopó, where other settlements dated back to the same period have been documented. Therefore, Limoneros supplies relev…

Afinidades y diferencias de las secuencias antracológicas en las vertientes mediterránea y atlántica de la península Ibérica

Rethinking the perishable: Identifying organic remains in metal objects at the Iron Age site of La Bastida de les Alcusses (Moixent, Spain)

Abstract The use of certain perishable materials for handicraft, such as wood, has been underestimated in archaeological investigation due to their poor preservation. Its study through indirect evidence (other non-perishable materials, ethnographic sources) is partial, and does not account for the real importance of wood in domestic, craft and ritual contexts in past societies. In this review we reclaim the use of wood as a co-constitutive material of objects by focusing on Iron Age tools, weapons and carpentry elements from a case-study in the Western Mediterranean. We also suggest the adoption of protocols for sampling and analysing the remains of wood adhered to metal objects, which may …

Neanderthal and carnivore activities at Llonin Cave, Asturias, northern Iberian Peninsula: Faunal study of Mousterian levels (MIS 3)

Abstract This paper presents a study of the macromammalian fauna recovered from Mousterian levels of Llonin Cave. The sample is highly heterogeneous and comprises six species of ungulates, including Rupicapra pyrenaica, Capra pyrenaica, and Cervus elaphus, and seven species of carnivores, predominantly Ursus spelaeus, Crocuta spelaea, Canis/Cuon and Panthera pardus. The archaeozoological and taphonomic study of the remains shows preferential use of basal levels of the cave as a den for hyenas and leopards. Neanderthals were also present during this phase and they would have acted mainly on deer and some caprines, while the action of hyenas would mainly have been linked to scavenging of elem…

The genomic history of the Iberian Peninsula over the past 8000 years

We assembled genome-wide data from 271 ancient Iberians, of whom 176 are from the largely unsampled period after 2000 BCE, thereby providing a high-resolution time transect of the Iberian Peninsula. We document high genetic substructure between northwestern and southeastern hunter-gatherers before the spread of farming. We reveal sporadic contacts between Iberia and North Africa by ~2500 BCE and, by ~2000 BCE, the replacement of 40% of Iberia's ancestry and nearly 100% of its Y-chromosomes by people with Steppe ancestry. We show that, in the Iron Age, Steppe ancestry had spread not only into Indo-European-speaking regions but also into non-Indo-European-speaking ones, and we reveal that pre…

Late Glacial Landscape Dynamics Based on Macrobotanical Data: Evidence From Ifri El Baroud (NE Morocco)

The site of Ifri El Baroud has one of the longest sequences excavated in recent times in NE Morocco, covering a chronology of ca. 23–13 ka cal BP. The sequence includes Early and Late Iberomaurusia...

Modelling dendro-anthracological parameters with dendrochronological reference datasets: interrogating the applicability of anthraco-typology to assess Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis Miller) wood management from archaeological charcoal fragments

International audience; Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis Miller) is present in the palaeoenvironmental records of Mallorca (Balearic Islands, Western Mediterranean) since the Early Holocene. It is also documented in the archaeological charcoal analysis (aka anthracology) of early prehistoric sites, but it was especially exploited at certain sites during the Late Iron Age. However, different woodland exploitation strategies cannot be deciphered purely through the taxonomical identification of charcoal fragments, so it is difficult to assess if the presence of Aleppo pine in archaeological assemblages is due to specific social management strategies (branches and/or trunks exploitation). Anthraco…

Wood-charcoal in a ritual context at La Bastida de les Alcusses (Moixent, Valencia, Spain)

Recursos vegetales en el yacimiento arqueológico de Segobriga (Saelices, Cuenca). Análisis antracológico de la campaña 2002

The Use of Wild Plants in the Palaeolithic and Neolithic of Northwestern Africa: Preliminary Results from the PALEOPLANT Project

Carrión Marco Y., Morales J., Portillo M., Pérez-Jordà G., Peña-Chocarro L., Zapata L. (2018) The Use of Wild Plants in the Palaeolithic and Neolithic of Northwestern Africa: Preliminary Results from the PALEOPLANT Project. En: Mercuri A., D'Andrea A., Fornaciari R., Höhn A. (eds.) Plants and People in the African Past. Springer, Cham

Bioindicadores leñosos para conocer los cambios climáticos y antrópicos en Portugal

Los carbones recuperados en contextos arqueológicos son bioindicadores claves para reconstruir la historia de las especies vegetales, su área de repartición espacial y cronológica. Su identificación botánica es una herramienta precisa para descifrar los cambios climáticos y las actividades humanas en el territorio, ya que las especies vegetales se pueden datar directamente por Acelerador de Espectrometría de Masas (ASM) para interpretar los cambios. En el presente trabajo revisamos los datos antracológicos de Portugal para identificar y distinguir los bioindicadores climáticos y antrópicos, y situarlos en una secuencia temporal basada fundamentalmente en las mencionadas dataciones asm.

Human occupation and environmental change in the western Maghreb during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the Late Glacial. New evidence from the Iberomaurusian site Ifri El Baroud (northeast Morocco)

With the onset of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), hunter-gatherers of the so-called Iberomaurusian techno-complex appeared in what is now the Mediterranean Maghreb. During a period of about seven thousand years, these groups left sandy occupation layers in a limited number of archaeological sites, while at the beginning of Greenland Interstadial (GI) 1, the sudden shift towards the deposition of shell-rich sediments and the increase in number of sites document clear changes in subsistence strategies as well as occupation density. It is highly likely that these shifts in human behaviour are related to paleoenvironmental changes in the area, which, so far, are poorly documented in geological …

A testimony of pitch production in the Protohistory of the Iberian Peninsula: The kiln of La Illeta dels Banyets (El Campello, Alicante)

Durante la campaña de 2009-2010 en el yacimiento arqueológico de la Illeta dels Banyets se localizó un basamento circular, una pileta y un depósito excavado en el subsuelo que formaban parte de un único equipamiento dedicado a una actividad productiva. Por sus características y por los análisis antracológico y químico se ha identificado como un horno para la destilación de pez o brea, cuyo proceso de fabricación se ha visto confirmado con paralelos arqueológicos y etnográficos. Datado entre finales del siglo IV y la primera mitad del siglo III a.C., es la primera instalación completa de este tipo conocida para el periodo protohistórico en la península ibérica. During the 2009-2010 campaign …

Wood and charcoal evidence for human and natural history

Landscape and fuel management in the context of prehistoric and historical occupations of Cova des Moro (Manacor, Mallorca, Spain)

Abstract In this paper, the first results of charcoal analyses carried out at Cova des Moro (Manacor, Mallorca, Spain) are presented. This cave is an archaeological but also palaeontological site that provides information on endemic fauna (the extinct caprine Myotragus balearicus) before the arrival of humans and, later, the relationship between the first farmers and the landscape. Several human occupations in the cave have been documented, from the Chalcolithic (end of the 3rd millennium cal BC), the Bronze Age (2nd millennium cal BC) and, finally, the Almohad period (13th century AD), during which the cave was used for different purposes. The first results of charcoal analyses at Cova des…

Cordage, basketry and containers at the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary in southwest Europe. Evidence from Coves de Santa Maira (Valencian region, Spain)

In this study we present evidence of braided plant fibres and basketry imprints on clay recovered from Coves de Santa Maira, a Palaeolithic-Mesolithic cave site located in the Mediterranean region of Spain. The anatomical features of these organic fibre remains were identified in the archaeological material and compared with modern Stipa tenacissima (esparto grass). Based on direct dating, the fragments of esparto cord from our site are the oldest worked plant fibres in Europe. Sixty fragments of fired clay are described. The clay impressions have allowed us to discuss the making of baskets and containers. According to their attributes and their functional interpretation, we have grouped th…

El conjunto funerario del Neolítico final de la Cova del Cara-solde Vernissa (Xàtiva, València)

Se presentan los resultados obtenidos del estudio de los restos y materiales arqueológicos recuperados en 1969, mediante excavación, en la cueva del Cara-sol de Vernissa (Xàtiva, València). Se trata de una pequeña cavidad utilizada como espacio sepulcral. Las aportaciones más notables son la constatación de que la mayoría de los restos pertenecen al Neolítico final, el establecimiento de un número mínimo de individuos inhumados de 14, de los que uno o dos podrían pertenecer al Neolítico antiguo, y la caracterización de un ajuar 'tipo' para la segunda mitad del cuarto milenio a.C., en el que todavía están ausentes las puntas de flecha foliáceas.

Maritime-oriented foragers during the Late Pleistocene on the eastern costa del sol (Southeast Iberia): Cueva Victoria (Málaga, Spain).

The Mediterranean coast of Spain is marked by several clusters of Palaeolithic sites: to the south of the Pyrenees, in the area around the Ebro River, in the central part, and on the south coast, one of the southernmost regions in Europe. The number of sites is small compared with northern Iberia, but like that region, the Palaeolithic occupations are accompanied by several rock art ensembles. The archaeological material (both biotic and abiotic resources) and radiocarbon dates presented here were obtained during archaeological fieldwork of professor J. Fortea in the Late Pleistocene deposits in Cueva Victoria, located near the modern coastline and about 150 km north of the Strait of Gibral…

Late Holocene Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis Miller) woodlands in Mallorca (Balearic Islands, Western Mediterranean): Investigation of their distribution and the role of human management based on anthracological, dendro-anthracological and archaeopalynological data

The pioneering nature of Mediterranean pines and their phytosociological role have been largely discussed in relation to different agents (e.g., edaphic, climatic or anthropogenic). In this context, Aleppo pine is one of the most widespread pine species in the Mediterranean basin, as it is especially adapted to climatic constraints, such as drought and high seasonality, and has a high tolerance for salinity and strong coastal winds. It is also well adapted to regeneration after anthropogenic landscape disturbances, highlighting its important after-fire regeneration rates. In this sense, phytosociological studies conducted in Mediterranean landscapes have found that this species' wide distri…

Colata site (Montaverner, Valencia, Spain) and the "silos settlements" duting the 4th millennium BC in the central-southern counties of the Valencian Country

Les estructures documentades al jaciment de Colata (Montaverner, València) mostren la parcialitat del registre que caracteritza aquest tipus de jaciment a l’aire lliure del IV mil·lenni aC, cosa que obliga a plantejar noves estratègies per a reinterpretar l’evolució en les conductes d’emmagatzematge, consum i producció d’aliments, i en la organització social d’aquestes comunitats. Paraules clau: Vall d’Albaida. Estructures excavades. Poblats de sitges. Patró d’assentament. Organització social.

New insights into the daily and symbolic use of plants during initial occupations of Formentera (Balearic Islands, Spain)

The island of Formentera, with its small extension and flat orography, was settled relatively late in Mediterranean prehistory between the third and second millennium BC. The sites presented in thi...

Nuevas aportaciones al horizonte del bronce final de La Vital (Gandia, València)

Durante las tareas de seguimiento arqueológico de las obras de construcción del Acceso Sur a Gandia se localizaron diferentes estructuras negativas datadas en el Bronce final ubicadas en el perímetro de protección del yacimiento de La Vital. Las estructuras documentadas corresponden a un lugar de hábitat fechado en estos momentos. En este trabajo presentamos los resultados de dicha actuación, valorándolos en el marco del desarrollo histórico de este periodo en el propio yacimiento y en la costa mediterránea peninsular.

Mid-Holocene vegetation dynamics in the Tejo River estuary based on palaeobotanical records from Ponta da Passadeira (Barreiro-Setúbal, Portugal)

This paper presents the results of pollen and charcoal analyses carried out in the sedimentary formation of Ponta da Passadeira, south of the Tejo River estuary, Portugal. The data provide information regarding the evolution of the coastline and ecosystem of the estuary during the mid and late Holocene. The study focuses on a group of upright woody fossilized tree remains that, together with those identified earlier by Garcia-Amorena et al. (2007), form part of the fossil forest of Ponta da Passadeira. Eight remains were identified as Pinus pinaster, four as Pinus pinea and one as Pinus sp. Two specimens of these species were dated to 6523 and 5805 cal. a BP. Pollen analysis was undertaken …

The genomic history of the Iberian Peninsula over the past 8000 years

We assembled genome-wide data from 271 ancient Iberians, of whom 176 are from the largely unsampled period after 2000 BCE, thereby providing a high-resolution time transect of the Iberian Peninsula.We document high genetic substructure between northwestern and southeastern hunter-gatherers before the spread of farming.We reveal sporadic contacts between Iberia and North Africa by ~2500 BCE and, by ~2000 BCE, the replacement of 40% of Iberia's ancestry and nearly 100% of its Y-chromosomes by people with Steppe ancestry.We show that, in the Iron Age, Steppe ancestry had spread not only into Indo-European-speaking regions but also into non-Indo-European-speaking ones, and we reveal that presen…

Identification of vegetal species in wooden objects using in situ microextraction-assisted voltammetry of microparticles

[EN] A method for identifying vegetal species in wooden objects using microextraction-assisted voltammetry of microparticles is described. The proposed methodology, aimed at facilitating tasks of patrimony conservation, is based on the recording of the voltammetric response of microparticulate films of compounds resulting from microextraction with organic solvents (ethanol, acetone, and chloroform) of micro- or sub-microsamples of wood in contact with aqueous buffers. Upon application of bivariate and multivariate chemometric techniques, the obtained voltammetric responses led us to identify different taxonomic groups from the characteristic voltammetric profiles. Application to a series of…

Iron Age and Roman woodworking in the Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula

Nuevas aportaciones sobre el aprovechamiento faunístico y vegetal en el Castell de Castalla (Alicante, España) durante los siglos XI-XV

Remains of fauna, charcoal and timber from Castalla Castle (Alicante) have been studied between 2010 and 2016, within the Castalla Castle Heritage Site Social Regeneration Project. Their analysis has helped to better understand the fortification, as well as the exploitation of those resources made by people who lived there during the Middle Ages. In this regard, the faunal assemblage shows the practice of a traditional husbandry model in which herds of goats and sheep are highlighted. Other domestic animals with a less important number, as the pig, complete a panoramic view of the agricultural economy at that time. In terms of hunting resources, red deer was recovered. On the other hand, it…

Prehistoric land use at an archaeological hot-spot (the rock art park of Campo Lameiro, NW Spain) inferred from charcoal, synanthropic pollen and non-pollen palynomorph proxies

Pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs and charcoal from a colluvial soil surrounded by prehistoric petroglyphs (Campo Lameiro, NW Spain) were studied in order to assess the nature of human activities and their impact on Holocene vegetation patterns. Several phases of anthropogenic impact were observed. (i) Between 7.6 and 6.5 ka cal BP, synanthropic taxa (Urtica dioica type, Plantago lanceolata type) and coprophilous fungi (e.g. Sporormiella-type) are indicative of early (pre-agricultural) creation of small patches of pasture using fire, possibly for incipient animal husbandry or as part of a deliberate strategy to improve game availability. Such activities only had a minor effect on the deciduou…

Towards the identification of a new taphonomic agent: An analysis of bone accumulations obtained from modern Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) nests

This paper presents the results of a study of bones recovered in various current Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) nests in a Mediterranean region of the Iberian Peninsula. The Egyptian vulture, a diurnal, scavenging, rupicolous bird of prey, is one of four vulture species that currently inhabit the Iberian Peninsula. An analysis of the remains found in the nests confirms that it has a heterogeneous diet that includes remains from human activities (butchery and food production) and the carcasses of dead animals, although it is possible that they also prey on small-sized taxa. The taphonomic study determines these birds' capability of transporting, accumulating and altering bone remai…

Settlement, radiocarbon dates and craft productions during Late Neolithic and Bell Beaker periods in the ‘corredor de Montesa’ (Valencia, Spain). The sites of Quintaret and Corcot

[EN] In this paper we present the results related to the excavation works conducted in Late Neolithic and Bell Beaker sites of Quintaret (Montesa, Valencia) and Corcot (l’Alcúdia de Crespins, Valencia), both in the middle valley of Canyoles river. The sites, neighboring each other, offer a quite different volume of information (Quintaret: 51 structures; Corcot: 4 structures). 14C dates allow us to define the occupation of this area of the valley along the first half of the III millennium cal BC. The presence of bell beaker ceramic in archaeological record of Quintaret is limited to just one structure (Q138), where at least 7 different vessels have been identified. Other prominent point of t…

Cavidades de uso funerario durante el Neolítico final/Calcolítico en el territorio valenciano: trabajos arqueológicos en Avenc Dels Dos Forats o Cova del Monedero (Carcaixent, Valencia)

Presentamos en este trabajo los resultados de la intervención arqueológica de urgencia efectuada en la cavidad de Avenc dels Dos Forats o Cova del Monedero (Carcaixent, Valencia) a finales del verano de 2008. Noticias preliminares informaban de la existencia de restos humanos y elementos de ajuar que indicaban un uso funerario de este espacio al menos desde el Neolítico final/Calcolítico. Con la presente actuación hemos podido dilucidar el grado de conservación del depósito arqueológico a la vez que esbozar la diacronía, características y orientación funcional de las ocupaciones prehistóricas e históricas.

New data about the landscape of the first occupation of Mallorca: Coval Simó (Escorca, Mallorca)

The Coval Simó shelter provides some of the oldest evidence for settlement on the island of Mallorca and the Balearic archipelago. It also has the peculiarity of being a habitat in a mountain area, so that the human groups that settled there had to adapt their agricultural and farming sys­tem to this environment. The plant remains (wood charcoal and seeds) recovered in the occupation levels allow us to address these issues, since they are the result of the different activities developed in this cavity: fuel for domestic activities, food for livestock, etc. The results of this study show that between the III and II millennium cal BC, an agricultural system based on livestock and cereal farmi…

Expected trends and surprises in the Lateglacial and Holocene vegetation history of the Iberian Peninsula and Balearic Islands

18 páginas, 13 figuras.

Offerings for the gate: a ritual deposit at the West Gate of la Bastida de les Alcusses (Moixent, Valencia)

En este trabajo se dan a conocer los resultados de las excavaciones llevadas a cabo en la Puerta Oeste de a Bastida de les Alcusses entre los años 2010 y 2011. Asociado a una renovación de las estructuras de la entrada y la muralla, se documentó un depósito de varios centenares de objetos incluyendo herrajes, maderas, armas, cerámica, semillas, frutos, fauna y restos constructivos. Presentamos el estudio multidisciplinar de todos los materiales y las varias líneas de interpretación que nos sugiere este extraordinario contexto.

Ecological and historical determinants of population genetic structure and diversity in the Mediterranean shrubRosmarinus officinalis(Lamiaceae)

Population genetic studies of widespread Mediterranean shrubs are scarce compared with those of trees and narrow endemics or studies from phylogeographical perspectives, despite the key role these species may play in Mediterranean ecosystems. Knowledge on the effect of ecological factors in shaping their genetic patterns is also limited. In this study we investigate genetic diversity and population structure across 18 populations of Rosmarinus officinalis, a Mediterranean shrubland plant. Populations were sampled along two elevational gradients, one each on calcareous and siliceous soils in a mountain system in the eastern Iberian Peninsula, to decipher the effect of ecological factors on t…

Climate, environment and human behaviour in the Middle Palaeolithic of Abrigo de la Quebrada (Valencia, Spain): The evidence from charred plant and micromammal remains

Abstract The Abrigo de la Quebrada rock shelter was occupied by Neanderthal groups during the early Upper Pleistocene, yielding evidence for their subsistence practices and local resource exploitation. This paper focuses on the plant macroremains and the micromammals, which provide information about occupation patterns, the surrounding landscape, the use of resources, and the environment. Mountain pine forests and permanent grass formations containing humid zones and open spaces that would have harboured an eurythermal microfauna were the dominant landscape type. Cold-climate pines provided most of the firewood. The data are consistent with a recurrent, seasonal occupation pattern, in which…

Changing Plant-based Subsistence Practices among Early and Middle Holocene Communities in Eastern Maghreb

The eastern Maghreb is a key area for understanding environmental and cultural dynamics during the early and middle Holocene. Capsian populations from around 10000–7500 cal BP were among the last foragers in the region. Capsian sites are known as escargotières (land shell middens), and locally called rammadiyat (meaning ashy mound). As taphonomic conditions in Capsian open-air sites generally favour the preservation of resistant materials such as shells and bones rather than fragile plant remains, this study integrates macro-botanical and microfossil evidence from phytoliths, calcitic wood ash pseudomorphs and dung spherulites, since each is influenced by different formation and post-deposi…

Casa dels Moliners (Castell de Castells, Marina Alta, Alacant). Un jaciment a l'aire lliure del Paleolític superior en el Pla de Petracos.

Aquest article dóna a conèixer preliminarment els resultats d'una excavació de salvament en el jaciment de la Casa dels Moliners (Castell de Castells, Marina Alta, Alacant) en ocasió de la 2a fase d'obres de la carretera CV-720 que uneix els pobles de Benigembla i de Castell de Castells. L'objectiu de la intervenció era documentar les ocupacions i establir la seqüència estratigràfica a partir d'un sondeig de 30 m². Malauradament l'excavació fou suspesa sine die unilateralment i sense el consentiment de la direcció, pel que ací només es poden oferir unes brevíssimes i provisionals notes d'aquest interessant campament a l'aire lliure del Paleolític superior mediterrani i amb materials arqueol…

Landscape and firewood procurement at the prehistoric and protohistoric site of Ses Païsses (island of Mallorca, Western Mediterranean)

Abstract In this article we present the anthracological study of the settlement of Ses Paisses, located in north-eastern Mallorca (Balearic Islands, Western Mediterranean). A total of 25 charcoal samples have been analysed, corresponding to both concentrated (hearth and oven content) and dispersed charcoal fragments. The samples come from four different buildings of the settlement, each one showing different phases of occupation. The site presents a long sequence of occupation (from c.1212-1005 cal BC to the 1st century cal AD), expanding from the last centuries of the Bronze Age (Naviform), through the Early (Talayotic) and Late (Post-Talayotic) Iron Age up to the beginning of Roman occupa…

A mediterranean perspective of the neolithization process. The cave of Nerja in the context of andalusia (Spain)

[EN] This paper offers an overview for the Early Neolithic of the southern coast of Andalusia (Spain). Analyses of materials recovered during the 1979-87 excavations in Nerja cave by professor Francisco Jordá Cerdá, including new radiocarbon dates on domestic taxa, allow us to examine the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition. Paleoenvironmental and paleoeconomic data (stratigraphy and bioarcheological data) combined with archaeological data (ornaments, bone tools, lithics, and ceramics were analysed) to provide a regional perspective on the neolithisation of the western Mediterranean. There is an apparent 500-year gap between occupations by the last coastal foragers and the earliest Neolithic fa…

Preservation and decay of plant remains in two Palaeolithic sites: Abrigo de la Quebrada and Cova de les Cendres (Eastern Spain). What information can be derived?

Abstract Plant remains are quickly affected by post-depositional processes once they are deposited in archaeological sites. In normal conditions, decomposing organisms cause their decay and final disappearance unless a preservation agent, as carbonisation or mineralisation, inhibit their activity. Moreover, physical and chemical processes could also lead to the partial or total destruction of the archaeobotanical assemblage. Thus, an analysis of their characteristics is useful for an assessing of the taphonomic processes. Archaeobotanical assemblages from two Palaeolithic sites, Abrigo de la Quebrada and Cova de les Cendres, have been analysed in terms of taxonomic composition of the assemb…

Bodegas, lagares y almazaras en el territorio de Kelin (siglos V-III a. C.): el caso de la Rambla de la Alcantarilla (Requena, Valencia)

Archaeological evidences date the expansion of grape vineyards in the territory of the Iberian Iron Age city of Kelin from the 5th to 3rd centuries BC; although the origins are documented in the 7th BC. One of the singularities of this territory is the existence of outdoors stone structures for the production of wine and oil. All are located in a specific area of the territory (la Alcantarilla and Los Morenos ravines) (Requena, Valencia), and are associated with archaeological materials that allow date them as Iberian. In this paper we approach the rural settlement pattern in la Alcantarilla ravine and we present in detail the archaeological sites of Rambla de la Alcantarilla and Solana de …

Data from: Ecological and historical determinants of population genetic structure and diversity in the Mediterranean shrub Rosmarinus officinalis (Lamiaceae)

Population genetic studies of widespread Mediterranean shrubs are scarce compared with those of trees and narrow endemics or studies from phylogeographical perspectives, despite the key role these species may play in Mediterranean ecosystems. Knowledge on the effect of ecological factors in shaping their genetic patterns is also limited. In this study we investigate genetic diversity and population structure across 18 populations of Rosmarinus officinalis, a Mediterranean shrubland plant. Populations were sampled along two elevational gradients, one each on calcareous and siliceous soils in a mountain system in the eastern Iberian Peninsula, to decipher the effect of ecological factors on t…

Neolithic woodland in the north Mediterranean basin: A review on Olea europaea L.

The aim of this paper is to specify the natural distribution of Olea europaea L. during the Early Holocene in the Northern Mediterranean by means of the identification of wood charcoal remains of this species at prehistoric sites. For this purpose, we have reviewed the relevant literature and extracted the data in which Olea charcoal has been identified. We have taken into consideration the biogeographical and chrono-cultural contexts in which the species is present, its frequency of occurrence at different locations and the associated plant taxa with the aim of tracking the Holocene history of the oleaster. Based on this information we suggest that the species started expanding during the …