Search results for "0601 history and archaeology"
showing 10 items of 699 documents
Iron Age botanical remains from nuraghe S'Urachi, Sardinia
2020
Excavation at nuraghe S'Urachi has yielded a wide range of archaeobotanical materials preserved through charring and waterlogging. This unusual evidence allows us to study the agricultural practices and diet of this community in the first millennium BC and to understand better the economic and cultural interactions between Sardinia and the wider Phoenician and Mediterranean world.
Funerary practices or food delicatessen? Human remains with anthropic marks from the Western Mediterranean Mesolithic
2017
Abstract The identification of unarticulated human remains with anthropic marks in archaeological contexts normally involves solving two issues: a general one associated with the analysis and description of the anthropic manipulation marks, and another with regard to the interpretation of their purpose. In this paper we present new evidence of anthropophagic behaviour amongst hunter-gatherer groups of the Mediterranean Mesolithic. A total of 30 human remains with anthropic manipulation marks have been found in the Mesolithic layers of Coves de Santa Maira (Castell de Castells, Alicante, Spain), dating from ca. 10.2–9 cal ky BP. We describe the different marks identified on both human and fa…
Fruits arriving to the west. Introduction of cultivated fruits in the Iberian Peninsula
2021
Agricultural activities, including practices, crops and techniques have evolved throughout history undergoing tremendous changes. From the early Neolithic farmers in the Mediterranean focused on cereal agriculture and only later, during the 4th/3rd millennium cal. BC in the Eastern basin, other species such as fruit trees were introduced into the agrarian system transforming the model that had been in use for millennia. Fruit tree management required innovation and investment and more importantly multi-year foresight as the new crops entailed a new pace of work with delayed returns and, thus, a greater entanglement with the land. Processes of social complexity and urbanization accompanied t…
Middle Paleolithic lithic assemblages in Western Mediterranean Europe from MIS 5 to 3
2018
This paper focuses on an overview of the sites featuring lithic industries ascribed to Middle Palaeolithic based upon a raw materials, technological organization and toolkit management. This is a synthetic analysis of the Western Mediterranean area where sites featuring broad stratigraphic sequences are abundant and enable an adequate assessment of the available record. Presenting all the data organized according to geographical regions contributed to the homogeneity of the results and allowed us to contextualize a regional synthesis, from a broad territorial and chronological point of view. This perspective was compared to other distant European spheres which in turn enabled establishing a…
Neandertal spatial patterns and occupation dynamics: a regional focus on the central region in Mediterranean Iberia
2020
En el siguiente trabajo se estudian varios conjuntos pertenecientes al Paleolítico medio procedentes del mediterráneo peninsular ibérico con el objetivo de examinar los patrones de ocupación y las estrategias de gestión del territorio. Se presta especial atención al abastecimiento de las materias primas y los comportamientos tecnológicos, los datos procedentes de la fauna y los análisis microespaciales. La variabilidad en los tipos de ocupación de los distintos conjuntos nos muestra una gran diversidad y una multitud de factores, aunque no parece tener una sola explicación cultural, funcional, temporal o ambiental. Más bien son explicaciones que responden a una amplia variabilidad en los co…
The contribution of archaeological plant remains in tracing the cultural history of Mediterranean trees: The example of the Roman harbour ofNeapolis
2015
In this paper, we present a detailed record of the plant remains recovered on the palaeo-seafloors of Neapolis harbour, spanning ≈700 years, between the 2nd century BC and the 5th century AD, thus intersecting the entire Roman Imperial Age. The site preserved many cultivated or cultivable plant remains, especially from food related trees. This particular feature provided the opportunity to reconstruct the puzzling history of planting them and the Roman economy, especially with respect to food production, the market and to dietary habits. The evidence suggests that Prunus persica, Castanea sativa, Juglans regia and Pinus pinea were locally grown all along the investigated period, testifying …
Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherer subsistence in Mediterranean coastal environments: an isotopic study of the diets of earliest directlyt-dated huma…
2011
Abstract The subsistence of hunter-gatherers in the Mediterranean Basin has been the object of few studies, which have not fully clarified the role of aquatic resources in their diets. Here we present the results of AMS radiocarbon dating and of isotope analyses on the earliest directly-dated human remains from Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The radiocarbon determinations show that the Upper Palaeolithic (Epigravettian) humans from Grotta di San Teodoro (15 232–14 126 cal. BP) and Grotta Addaura Caprara (16 060–15 007 cal. BP) date to the Late-glacial and were possibly contemporary. The diets of these individuals were dominated by the protein of large terrestrial mamma…
Phytolith analyses from Khil and Kaf Taht el-Ghar (Western Maghreb): Plant use trajectories in a long-term perspective
2021
In this paper we present the results of phytolith investigations at two archaeological sites in northwestern Morocco: Khil (Tangier) and Kaf Taht el-Ghar (Tétouan). The two sites located in Western Maghreb, one on the Atlantic and one on the Mediterranean coast, were investigated in the framework of the AGRIWESTMED project. Phytolith analysis complemented archaeobotanical, geoarchaeological and archaeological investigations to better identify plant use during the entire occupation sequence. At Khil 16 samples have been studied, coming from two profiles excavated in two different caves of the same system – grotte B and grotte C – that span a chronology comprised between the early Neolithic a…
Landscape and firewood procurement at the prehistoric and protohistoric site of Ses Païsses (island of Mallorca, Western Mediterranean)
2017
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…
Timing the Western Mediterranean Last Hunter-Gatherers and First Farmers
2017
The spread of domestic plants and animals from the Near East towards the Western Mediterranean region is analysed using the current radiocarbon dataset relating to the last hunter-gatherers and the first farmers in the area. In order to do this, we have selected radiocarbon dates and built summed probability distributions and density maps, as a means of investigating the processes involved in the expansion of food production economies throughout this wide territory, in a ‘longue duree’ view, in accordance with a multiscalar approach covering both the general and the regional scenarios. This approach allows us to visualise the time of the expansion in this broad area, starting at the beginni…