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- Identification of Neolithic diet by the morphology of the starch grains of dental calculus found in the Dehesilla cave (Cadiz – South of the Iberian Peninsula)Publication . Coutinho, António Pereira; Moreira, Margarida; Silva, Eduarda; García-Rivero, Daniel; Umbelino, CláudiaThe starch grains present in the dental calculus of four Neolithic individuals of the Dehesilla Cave (Cadiz, South of Spain) were extracted and observed with light microscopy. The variant of the extraction technique used proved to be very effective. A number of Poaceae-Triticeae taxa [wheat (Triticum sp., the main crop, including Triticum aestivum), barley (Hordeum sp.)], Fabaceae-Fabeae-Cicereae and Fagaceae (oaks = Quercus sp., which constitute new data for the area in question) were identified. Some pollen grains and fungal spores were also identified, which helped to provide information on the ecological framework of the crops associated with the archaeological site.
- Resilience, replacement and acculturation in the Mesolithic/Neolithic transition: The case of Muge, central PortugalPublication . Bicho, Nuno; Cascalheira, João; Gonçalves, Célia; Umbelino, Cláudia; García-Rivero, Daniel; André, LinoEvidence for the first Neolithic population in central Portugal dates to as early as c. 7600 cal BP. These first farmers were exogenous groups arriving to the Atlantic coast from the Mediterranean Sea. For a few centuries there seems to have occurred an overlap in the region between the Mesolithic Muge huntergatherers and the regional early Neolithic populations. While the trajectory of these first farmers seems to be well established, the fate of the Mesolithic populations is unknown and in generally assumed as resulting in extinction. The recent results from research in the Muge Mesolithic shellmounds (Tagus valley) with the new recovery of various loci with Neolithic occupations including human burials, human DNA, and Strontium analyses seem to indicate evidence of cultural and genetic integration between the Mesolithic and Neolithic populations. This paper will focus on the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Portuguese Estremadura and examines the hypothesis that human resilience promoted the cultural and biological integration of the Mesolithic groups into the new exogenous Neolithic communities in central Portugal. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.
- Neolithic landscape and firewood use: charcoal analysis of domestic and funerary contexts at La Dehesilla (Andalusia, Spain)Publication . Taylor, Ruth; Monteiro, Patrícia; García-Rivero, DanielCueva de la Dehesilla, a cave in the province of C & aacute;diz in southern Spain, was occupied throughout the Neolithic in the 6th to 4th millennia bce. Within this sequence, recent archaeological excavations have identified stratigraphic levels and contexts belonging to domestic and funerary activities dated to the Early, Middle and Late Neolithic periods. In this paper, we present the results of the wood charcoal remains from excavation areas C003, C005 and C006. The results are consistent with the Mediterranean taxa identified from other sites throughout the region and confirm the use of a wide range of woodland resources: Arbutus unedo, cf. Artemisia sp., Erica arborea, Ericaceae, Fraxinus sp., Juniperus sp., Olea europaea var. sylvestris/cf. Olea europaea var. sylvestris, Pinus pinea/pinaster, Pinus sp., Pistacia lentiscus, Quercus (deciduous and evergreen), Rhamnus/Phillyrea, monocotyledon and indeterminate angiosperm and gymnosperm taxa. The widest range of taxa, including trees, is from the Early Neolithic to early Middle Neolithic remains. The diversity of taxa decreases notably in the late Middle Neolithic and Late Neolithic, and becomes mainly shrubs. This pattern is consistent with the modification of the landscape as a result of woodland clearance, previously suggested by the pollen analyses at the site, and documented on a wider scale throughout the region. The procurement of firewood around La Dehesilla appears to have been opportunistic and conditioned by the resources that were available in the immediate landscape. At present, there is mixed evidence for the influence of good burning quality on the choice of fuel, as is illustrated by the concentrated charcoal remains found in particular domestic and ritual funerary contexts.