Browsing by Author "Arias, Pablo"
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- Carbonate microfacies reveal how Asturian shell middens formed in the mesolithicPublication . Lucas Antunes Simões, Carlos Duarte; Iriarte; Eneko; Gutiérrez-Zugasti; Igor; Arias, PabloThe littoral platform of eastern Asturias (northern Spain) is a coastal karst modeled by the sea. During the Early Holocene, this landscape was exploited by successfully coastal-adapted hunter-gatherers. Intense coastal foraging resulted in accumulation of large amounts of shellfish in numerous karstic rockshelters. A century ago, the Count of Vega del Sella established the post-Paleolithic age of the Asturian shell middens, carbonate-cemented deposits hanging from the walls of karstic cavities. He argued that these were remnants from past shell accumulations filling up completely the rockshelters, as result of direct waste disposal, while the occupations occurred outside. Our geoarchaeological approach tested this long-lasting site-formation model with micromorphology and carbonate microfacies analysis of two sites: El Alloru and El Mazo. Novel outcomes are: 1) the carbonate cements correspond to calcareous tufa resulting from spring activity; 2) the deposits show a stratigraphic framework related to successive phases of debris accumulations and stasis; 3) tufa formation and accumulation of anthropogenic debris are syn-depositional; 4) biogenic and diagenetic cements reveal phreatic conditions. All these contradict a priori expectations from Vega del Sella's widely accepted model of anthropogenic mound constructions preserved in the currently cemented deposits. Microcontextual evidence suggest that shells were likely processed and produced also inside the rockshelters, which might have been used as occupation spaces as well instead of just for waste disposal, while the analyses exterior deposits at El Alloru also present occupational signs. This study also supports further evidence for higher water-table levels in the early Holocene at regional level, despite most caves show no signs of spring activity today.
- The genomic history of Iberian horses since the last Ice AgePublication . Garrido, Jaime Lira; Tressières, Gaétan; Chauvey, Lorelei; Schiavinato, Stéphanie; Calvière-Tonasso, Laure; Seguin-Orlando, Andaine; Southon, John; Shapiro, Beth; Bataille, Clément; Birgel, Julie; Wagner, Stefanie; Khan, Naveed; Liu, Xuexue; Rodanés, José María; Millán, Jesús V. Picazo; Giralt, Josep; Alonso, Natàlia; Aguilera, Isidro; Orsingher, Adriano; Trentacoste, Angela; Payà, Xavier; Morán, Marta; Eres, María Pilar Iborra; Albizuri, Silvia; Lamas, Silvia Valenzuela; Santandreu, Imma Mestres; Caixal, Montserrat Duran; Principal, Jordi; Huguet, Jordi Farré; Esteve, Xavier; Pasqual, Mireia Pedro; Sala, Nohemi; Pablos, Adrián; Martín, Patricia; Vergès, Josep Maria; Portero, Rodrigo; Arias, Pablo; Peredo, Roberto Ontañón; Detry, Cleia; Luís, Cristina; Cardoso, João Luis; Maeir, Aren M.; Valente, Maria João; Grau, Elena; Poles, Vicent Estall i; Llorens, Joaquín Alfonso; González, Ana Miguélez; Gardeisen, Armelle; Cupitò, Michele; Tecchiati, Umberto; Bradley, Daniel G.; Horwitz, Liora Kolska; González, Esther Rodríguez; Espinet, Ariadna Nieto; Bover, Pere; Entrecanales, Rosa Ruiz; Estallo, Ignasi Garcés; Fragoso, Joaquín Jiménez; Celestino, Sebastián; Orlando, LudovicHorses have inhabited Iberia (present-day Spain and Portugal) since the Middle Pleistocene, shaping a complex history in the region. Iberia has been proposed as a potential domestication centre and is renowned for producing world-class bloodlines. Here, we generate genome-wide sequence data from 87 ancient horse specimens (median coverage = 0.97X) from Iberia and the broader Mediterranean to reconstruct their genetic history over the last ~26,000 years. Here, we report that wild horses of the divergent IBE lineage inhabited Iberia from the Late Pleistocene, while domesticated DOM2 horses, native from the Pontic-Caspian steppes, already arrived ~1850 BCE. Admixture dating suggests breeding practices involving continued wild restocking until at least ~350 BCE, with IBE disappearing shortly after. Patterns of genetic affinity highlight the far-reaching influence of Iberian bloodlines across Europe and north Africa during the Iron Age and Antiquity, with continued impact extending thereafter, particularly during the colonization of the Americas.
- The curious case of the Mesolithic Iberian dogs: An archaeogenetic studyPublication . Pires, Ana Elisabete; Detry, Cleia; Chikhi, Lounes; Rasteiro, Rita; Amorim, Isabel R.; Simoes, Fernanda; Matos, Jose; Petrucci-Fonseca, Francisco; Ollivier, Morgane; Hanni, Catherine; Cardoso, João CR; Arias, Pablo; Diniz, Mariana; Araujo, Ana Cristina; Bicho, Nuno Gonçalo Viana Pereira Ferreira; Sousa, Ana Catarina; Moreno-Garcia, Marta; Arruda, Ana Margarida; Fernandez-Rodriguez, Carlos; Porfirio, Eduardo; Arnaud, Jose Morais; Valente, Alexandra; Goncalves, David; Alves, Lara; Gotherstrom, Anders; Davis, Simon J. M.; Ginja, CatarinaWe investigated the genetic composition of six Canis remains from western Iberia, directly radiocarbon dated to 7,903-7,570 years (cal BP). They were identified as dogs via their archaeological and depositional context, osteometry, and a high percentage of aquatic diet shared with humans. For comparison, genetic data were obtained from an additional 37 Iberian dog remains from the Neolithic to Late Antiquity, as well as two Palaeolithic and a Chalcolithic Canis identified as wolves. Previous data indicated that dog mtDNA haplogroup A (HgA) is prevalent in extant European dogs ( > 50%), in the Near East and Asia, but rare or absent ( < 10%) in European Canis older than 3,000 years (cal BP). We found a high frequency (83%) of dog HgA in Mesolithic Iberian dog remains. This is the first report of a high frequency of dog HgA in pre-Neolithic Europe. We show that, contrary to the current view, Canis with HgA did not necessarily arrive in Europe from East-Asia. This phylogeographical difference in HgA frequency demonstrates that genetic differentiation was high prior to, or as a consequence of, domestication which may be linked with pre-Neolithic local processes for Iberian wolf domestication. Our results emphasize that knowledge of both ancient wolves' and early dogs' genetic profiles from the European periphery should improve our understanding of the evolution of the European dog.
- The role of climate, marine influence and sedimentation rates in late-Holocene estuarine evolution (SW Portugal)Publication . Costa, Ana Maria; Freitas, Maria da Conceicao; Leira, Manel; Costas, S.; Costa, Pedro J. M.; Andrade, Cesar; Bao, Roberto; Duarte, Joao; Rodrigues, Aurora; Cachao, Mario; Araujo, Ana Cristina; Diniz, Mariana; Arias, PabloEstuaries are sensitive to changes in global to regional sea level, to climate-driven variation in rainfall and to fluvial discharge. In this study, we use source and environmentally sensitive proxies together with radiocarbon dating to examine a 7-m-thick sedimentary record from the Sado estuary accumulated throughout the last 3.6 kyr. The lithofacies, geochemistry and diatom assemblages in the sediments accumulated between 3570 and 3240 cal. BP indicate a mixture between terrestrial and marine sources. The relative contribution of each source varied through time as sedimentation progressed in a low intertidal to high subtidal and low-energy accreting tidal flat. The sedimentation proceeded under a general pattern of drier and higher aridity conditions, punctuated by century-long changes of the rainfall regime that mirror an increase in storminess that affected SW Portugal and Europe. The sediment sequence contains evidence of two periods characterized by downstream displacement of the estuarine/freshwater transitional boundary, dated to 3570-3400 cal. BP and 3300-3240 cal. BP. These are intercalated by one episode where marine influence shifted upstream. All sedimentation episodes developed under high terrestrial sediment delivery to this transitional region, leading to exceptionally high sedimentation rates, independently of the relative expression of terrestrial/marine influences in sediment facies. Our data show that these disturbances are mainly climate-driven and related to variations in rainfall and only secondarily with regional sea-level oscillations. From 3240 cal. BP onwards, an abrupt change in sediment facies is noted, in which the silting estuarine bottom reaches mean sea level and continued accreting until present under prevailing freshwater conditions, the tidal flat changing to an alluvial plain. The environmental modification is accompanied by a pronounced change in sedimentation rate that decreased by two orders of magnitude, reflecting the loss of accommodation space rather than the influence of climate or regional sea-level drivers.