Search results for "Neolithic."
showing 10 items of 120 documents
New data on Sicilian prehistoric and historic evolution in a mountain context, Vallone Inferno (Scillato, Italy)
2013
Vallone Inferno rock-shelter is an archaeological site located in the Madonie mountain range in Sicily. Archaeological excavation and research have provided a long prehistoric and historic sequence from the Neolithic to the medieval period, this being the most complete work in this area at present. In this paper we present the preliminary data provided by a multidisciplinary study based on pottery, lithic, human, faunal and plant remains. Stratigraphic studies have identified four complexes, of which complex 3 has provided almost all the archaeological remains. 14C AMS dates, obtained from four samples, place the human activities between 2601 cal BC and 644 cal AD. These dates are coherent …
The small mammals (insectivores, bats and rodents) from the Holocene site of Vallone Inferno (Scillato, Sicily)
2013
The Vallone Inferno rock-shelter is an archeological site located at 770 m a.s.l. in the Madonie massif in Sicily. This massif is modeled into the Triassic and Oligocene sedimentary rocks of the Imerese Basin. Thearchaeological excavations conducted since 2008 have provided a long prehistoric and historic sequence from the Neolithic to the medieval period. From the four sedimentary complexes identified, only levels 3.4 to 3.1 from complex 3 and 4.2 from complex 4 have yielded small-mammal material. Level 4.2 is poor in remains and as yet without cultural ascription, though it has a radiocarbon age of 9450±50 years BP. Level 3.4 has yielded fragments of ceramic characteristic of the Middle N…
Settlement, radiocarbon dates and craft productions during Late Neolithic and Bell Beaker periods in the ‘corredor de Montesa’ (Valencia, Spain). The…
2014
[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…
Complex adaptative systems and computational simulation in Archaeology
2017
Traditionally the concept of ‘complexity’ is used as a synonym for ‘complex society’, i.e., human groups with characteristics such as urbanism, inequalities, and hierarchy. The introduction of Nonlinear Systems and Complex Adaptive Systems to the discipline of archaeology has nuanced this concept. This theoretical turn has led to the rise of modelling as a method of analysis of historical processes. This work has a twofold objective: to present the theoretical current characterized by generative thinking in archaeology and to present a concrete application of agent-based modelling to an archaeological problem: the dispersal of the first ceramic production in the western Mediterranean.
A mediterranean perspective of the neolithization process. The cave of Nerja in the context of andalusia (Spain)
2013
[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…
Combined spatial Radiocarbon density maps and refined SCPD method to explore food production spread through the central and western mediterranean
2018
The neolithisation process in Europe constitutes a fundamental issue of interest in social evolutionary studies. The pioneer work of Ammerman and Cavalli-Sforza (1984) has been considered the basis for discussing the mechanisms involved in the expansion of farming and herding practices in a continental scale, assuming their spread from the Near East domestic core area. From an evolutionary perspective the introduction of agriculture and livestock implies major shifts in social dynamics including changes in demographic patterns as well as in settlement distribution and cultural models. Spatial analysis together with the use of radiocarbon data as a demographic proxy maybe one of the keys to …
Examen de las dinámicas socio-ecológicas en el valle medio del Xuquer (Valencia) desde el Paleolítico Medio hasta el Calcolítico
2017
En paisajes intensamente modificados por terrazas agrícolas y otros usos modernos del suelo, el patrón espacial y temporal del poblamiento prehistórico puede ser difícil de detectar usando métodos de prospección arqueológica tradicionales orientados a la localización de yacimientos part iculares. El abancalamiento del territorio para su explotación agrícola es norma común en el área de trabajo, por lo que es necesario examinar el paisaje en su conjunto, en lugar de intentar localiza r zonas concretas de actividad ant rópica prehistórica. Para superar estos desafíos, se ha empleado una estrategia estratificada, seleccionando aleato ria me nte las parcelas a prospectar, para examinar las diná…
Animal husbandry in Sicilian prehistory: The zooarchaeological perspective from Vallone Inferno (Scillato, Palermo)
2023
Starting in the mid-6th millennium cal BCE, Neolithic groups occupied the midlands of Sicily. The economy of these groups was based primarily on livestock farming. Archaeological and archaeobotanical data indicate an intensification of livestock practices during the Early Bronze Age, leading to a change in the landscape in the form of more open forests. The Vallone Inferno rockshelter in the Madonie massif is one of the few sites that has been systematically excavated in these midlands, and has yielded evidence of Middle Neolithic and Early Bronze Age occupations. This work focuses on the study of prehistoric husbandry in the Sicilian midlands and highlands through the analysis of the Vallo…
Entanglements, transmission processes and social identities. The technical traditions of ceramics in the Three-Lakes region and its margins (3600-300…
2019
In Western Europe, the second half of the 4th millennium is a turning point. On the Swiss Plateau, this phase is characterized by the end of Middle Neolithic cultures (Cortaillod and Pfyn) around 3550 BCE, and the emergence of Horgen after 3250 BCE. The transition between these two phases is now better documented thanks to Port-Conty type and Pfyn/Horgen settlements dated around 3400 BCE. This work aims to identify the cultural substract at the origin of the Horgen by characterizing the technical identities and entanglements at the end of the 4th millennium, then by identifying over time the transmission or abandonment of certain ways of making pots in order to determine the share of local …
-3400 autour du lac de Bienne
2015
La question du substrat culturel à l’origine du Néolithique récent reste, pour la Suisse occidentale, toujours ouverte. Ces changements viennent-ils plutôt du fond Cortaillod (de type Port-Conty) local, ou bien de la culture de Pfyn, présente en Suisse orientale. De plus, est-il possible de mettre en évidence des phénomènes de diffusion de l’émergence du Néolithique récent vers l’Ouest, en comparant notamment avec le Horgen du Jura français, ou le Néolithique récent du Bassin parisien.Ce poster présente les résultats préliminaires d'un mémoire de recherche de Master 2. Il concerne l'étude technologique des poteries issues de trois sites voisins et contemporains : Sutz-Lattrigen Riedstation,…