Search results for "lithic"
showing 10 items of 392 documents
Corema album archaeobotanical remains in western Mediterranean basin. Assessing fruit consumption during Upper Palaeolithic in Cova de les Cendres (A…
2019
[EN] Information about plant gathering by Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers in Europe is scarce because of the problems of preservation of plant remains in archaeological sites and due to the lack of application of archaebotanical analysis in many of them. Botanical macroremains wood charcoal, seeds, fruits, leaves, etc. - provide information not only about palaeoeconomy of hunter-gatherers, but also about climate, landscape and vegetation dynamics. In Gravettian and Solutrean levels of Cova de les Cendres (Alicante, Spain), Corema album pyrenes (Empetraceae or crowberries family) have been identified. On the contrary, wood charcoal of this species has not been documented among the remains of f…
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…
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…
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…
Pots, plants and animals: Broad-spectrum subsistence strategies in the Early Neolithic of the Moroccan Rif region
2019
Abstract The transition from hunter-gathering to food-producing societies in the Mediterranean zone of north Africa was complex and variable, likely influenced by local ecological conditions as well as the socio-economic origins of the population. The adoption of domestic plants and animals was piecemeal, with hunting and gathering continuing as an important part of local subsistence strategies. Here, we investigate the timing and extent of the adoption of agricultural practices, namely herding and cultivation, in three diverse coastal and inland Early Neolithic sites in the Mediterranean Maghreb region, namely Ifri Oudadane, Ifri n’Etsedda and Hassi Ouenzga. Results from absorbed lipid res…
Spatial and Temporal Diversity During the Neolithic Spread in the Western Mediterranean: The First Pottery Productions
2017
Actual research into the neolithization process and the development of farming communities in the Western Mediterranean reveals a diverse and complex cultural landscape. Dispersal routes and rhythm of diffusion of the agro-pastoral economy, Mesolithic inheritance, regional interactions between communities, and functional adaptations all have to be explored to trace how Mediterranean societies were reshaped during this period. The different pottery traditions that accompany the Neolithic spread and its economic development are of course interconnected (the “impressed ware”), but they also show some degree of polymorphism. This variability has been variously interpreted, but rarely quantified…
Socio-Ecological Contingencies with Climate Changes over the Prehistory in the Mediterranean Iberia
2020
International audience; We conducted palynological, sedimentological, and chronological analyses of a coastal sediment sequence to investigate landscape evolution and agropastoral practices in the Nao Cap region (Spain, Western Mediterranean) since the Holocene. The results allowed for a reconstruction of vegetation, fire, and erosion dynamics in the area, implicating the role of fire in vegetation turnover at 5300 (mesophilous forests replaced by sclerophyllous scrubs) and at 3200 calibrated before present (cal. BP) (more xerophytics). Cereal cultivation was apparent from the beginning of the record, during the Mid-Neolithic period. From 5300 to 3800 cal. BP, long-lasting soil erosion was …
AEA 2012 Conference Reading: Socioecological dynamics at the time of Neolithic transition in Iberia
2015
The Western Mediterranean, spanning southern Italy to Portugal, can be considered a single archaeological unit where the diagnostic characteristics of Early Neolithic contexts share common elements, marked by the spread of Cardium-Impressed ceramics. Although some consensus exists regarding the origin of these wares in southern Italy, the debate surrounding its process of expansion to the west remains open. Iberia is a key region for the analysis of the neolithisation process due to its location at the end of the Neolithic Mediterranean expansion. This view includes the problems linked with the mechanism of this spread and the evolutionary dynamics of the early agricultural societies. Our g…
A Review of Splintered Pieces from Two Lithic Assemblages in Mediterranean Europe: Grotta Della Serratura (Marina di Camerota, Italy) and Cueva de Ne…
2021
The interest of this paper lies in the analysis of variability detected within the group of splintered pieces, establishing distinctions within this broad category. A technological and traceologica...