The past decade has witnessed a quantum leap in our understanding of the origins, diffusion, and impact of early agriculture in the Mediterranean Basin. In large measure these advances are attributable to new methods for documenting domestication in plants and animals. The initial steps toward plant and animal domestication in the Eastern Mediterranean can now be pushed back to the 12th millennium cal B.P. Evidence for herd management and crop cultivation appears at least 1,000 years earlier than the morphological changes traditionally used to document domestication. Different species seem to have been domesticated in different parts of the Fertile Crescent, with genetic analyses detecting multiple domestic lineages for each species. Recent evidence suggests that the expansion of domesticates and agricultural economies across the Mediterranean was accomplished by several waves of seafaring colonists who established coastal farming enclaves around the Mediterranean Basin. This process also involved the adoption of domesticates and domestic technologies by indigenous populations and the local domestication of some endemic species. Human environmental impacts are seen in the complete replacement of endemic island faunas by imported mainland fauna and in today's anthropogenic, but threatened, Mediterranean landscapes where sustainable agricultural practices have helped maintain high biodiversity since the Neolithic.

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/105/33/11597.full.pdf

Domestication and early agriculture in the Mediterranean Basin: Origins, diffusion, and impact

Most radiocarbon dates for the earliest Neolithic cultures of west Mediterranean Europe are on samples of unidentified charcoal. If only results obtained on short lived samples (seeds, shells, and bone) of diagnostic material (domesticates, artifacts, and human remains) are considered, then the dates for the first appearance of the Neolithic package are indistinguishable statistically from central Italy to Portugal and cluster around 5400 calendar B.C. This rapidity of spread, no more than six generations, can be best explained in the framework of a maritime pioneer colonization model.

/pdf/radiocarbon-evidence-for-maritime-pioneer-colonization-at-45n1ef78zi.pdf

Radiocarbon evidence for maritime pioneer colonization at the origins of farming in west Mediterranean Europe

Ethnographic Studies of Positioning and Subjectivity: An Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to review the current evidence for plant use in Mesolithic Europe and to summarize its implications. In order to do so, four sources of data are examined: macrobotanical remains, palynological data, artefactual evidence, and the human biological record. A prelimary survey of palaeobotanical evidence for plant use in the Mesolithic indicates that the evidence is far more extensive than expected hitherto and that accumulations of plant food, especially of nuts, point to their regular and extensive use. In those areas such as Britain, where a large number of fine-resolution palynological studies have been carried out, the incidence of clearance and burning phases seems to be too high to be explained by acts of nature alone. A good case can be made for deliberate forest clearance and the maintenance of a more open landscape by Late Mesolithic groups as part of a promotional strategy to increase the productivity of nut and fruit trees and shrubs, wetland plants, and possibly native grasses. Artefactual evidence points to a widespread distribution of soil-working tools (hoes and antler mattocks), especially in temperate Europe, and to a greater than expected presence of reaping and grinding equipment, lending conditional support for the existence of a specialized plant processing tool kit for digging, reaping, and plant processing. Palaeopathological evidence indicates the existence of a dietary pattern in the west Mediterranean making extensive use of starchy and carbohydrate foods which resulted in a high caries rate among the Mesolithic population of that area. In discussing the signiftcanse of these four lines of evidence, it is argued that, by the Late Mesolithic, the patterns of plant use support the notion of wild plant food husbandry instead of the incidental and opportunistic use of plants for food which has implicitly been accepted as a norm for the Mesolithic in Europe. Three geographical areas can be identified with their specific pattern of plant use: temperate Europe, Mediterranean Europe, and the south-eastern Balkans/Pontic Steppe. The patterns of plant use suggested in this paper emphasize the additive nature of the adoption of the agro-pastoral Neolithic farming practices in Europe.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0079497X00003388

Plant use in the mesolithic and its role in the transition to farming

This paper presents the main results of a 10-year zooarchaeological study on the origin of the present-day terrestrial mammals of Corsica. Thousands of teeth and bones from Corsican archaeological sites comprise an almost complete succession from the end of the Pleistocene (c. 10,000 years BP) to the present. Human activities brought about the extinction of the entire autochthonous mammalian fauna and the gradual introduction of more than 25 taxa which constitute the present wild and domestic fauna. Such a complete turnover has also been recorded on other large Mediterranean islands and on some of the smaller ones. Preliminary data indicate how these events may have occurred in Corsica. This article emphasizes the important role which zooarchaeology can play in biogeographical research.

Zooarchaeology and the biogeographical history of the mammals of Corsica and Sardinia since the last ice age

Excavation at a series of sites in the Aude valley of southern France shows that transhumant movement of domestic ovicaprines began in the late Mesolithic and the Early Neolithic, following seasonal movements among lowland, middle altitude and mountain environments for the exploitation of wild plant and animal resources. Beginning around 4500 bc, midway through the Early Neolithic, the faunal evidence shows the emergence of a mixed herding economy at the lowland sites, but sheep and goat appear increasingly alone at the mountain sites. At the same time, vegetational and sedimentary evidence show signs of deforestations, invasions of pioneer species, and erosion. It is argued that domestic herbivores may have played a key role in the degradation of soil and vegetation in sensitive submediterranean forest ecosystems. Transhumance may have been both a cause and a consequence of the ecological changes which it set in motion. The movement of domestic herds to upland pastures may have been a necessary ...

Neolithic transhumance in the Mediterranean Pyrenees

Mesolithic domestic sheep in West Mediterranean Europe

As part of an interdisciplinary project investigating postglacial human adaptations in Catalonia, Spain, a sequence of Epipaleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, and Bronze Age sites has been excavated which provides insight into human exploitation of an upland area of the Llobregat valley. The study region is a set of plateaux (700–1,000 m. in elevation) situated at the current limit of Mediterranean and montane climatic regimes and vegetational associations. The late glacial wooded steppe was replaced by a deciduous oak association during the early Postglacial. The faunal association shows a corresponding shift from a mixture of montane species (ibex, chamois) and mixed forest animals (deer, boar) to one composed exclusively of the latter, although rabbit is always predominant. After 4,000 B.C. significant human impact upon the oak forest is marked by the extension of boxwood, and domestic sheep and goat replace the wild fauna.The Balma del Gai (8,000 B.C.) demonstrates an evolutionary relationship...

Prehistoric Human Adaptations in Catalonia (Spain)

A 710 m d’altitude, mais entoure de plateaux culminant a 2000 m, dans la haute vallee de l’Aude, le site de Dourgne fournit une interessante sequence stratigrafiee du 7e au 4e millenaire avant J.C. Des etudes pluridisciplinaires (sedimentologie, palynologie, anthracologie, etude des industries, de la ceramique, des parures, archeozoologie, amenagement de l’espace, etc.) permettent de deboucher sur une vision des cultures et de leur milieu du Mesolithique jusqu’a un Neolithique accompli. Les interactions homme-milieu sont approfondies et la part progressive des interventions anthropiques par rapport a l’evolution climatique soulignee. Dourgne fournit donc un modele de neolithisation en milieu Est pyreneen, sans rupture economique (successivement : chasse au bouquetin, chasse au sanglier, montee de l’elevage des ovicaprines et de l’agriculture, specialisation accentuee sur un elevage ovin).Ces etapes montrent aussi de quelle facon ont evolue le statut de l’abri et les amenagements qui en ont resulte.

L’abri du Roc de Dourgne

Référence électronique GONÇALVES, Victor ; et al. Le Néolithique ancien de l’abri de Bocas i (Rio Maior, Portugal) In : Premières communautés paysannes en Méditerranée occidentale : Actes du Colloque International du CNRS (Montpellier, 26-29 avril 1983) [en ligne]. Paris : CNRS Éditions, 1987 (généré le 25 novembre 2016). Disponible sur Internet : <http://books.openedition.org/editionscnrs/1182>. ISBN : 9782271078667. DOI : 10.4000/books.editionscnrs.1182.

Le Néolithique ancien de l’abri de Bocas i (Rio Maior, Portugal)

Handle everyday research tasks with reliable, citation-backed results

Your personal Research Agent to handle research tasks with citation-backed results

Popular Tasks used by Researchers

How can I help with your research?

Meet SciSpace

Get more enhanced response by uploading the PDFs you want me to reference.

No relevant PDFs in your library

SciSpace is the AI research assistant for academics. Run systematic literature reviews on 280M+ papers, and write papers with cited sources. Trusted by 1M+ students, PhDs & researchers.

SciSpace | AI for Research

Analyze PDFs

Code & Manuscripts

Funding & Grants

Literature & Patents

Medical & Clinical Data

Systematic Review

Visualize & Present

Web & Data

Build a Google Scholar-like website for your research.

Build a website

Create charts and images for your research

Create a Chart

Write a paper for submission to a journal

Draft a manuscript

Patent Search

Design eye-catching scientific posters in minutes.

Scientific Poster Generation

Systematic Literature Review

One task is running at the moment. Your messages will be shown right after.

Drag and drop or click here to browse

Loved by <highlight>1 million+</highlight> researchers

Extract a list of specific topics and their sources from unstructured text

Topics

Compare and analyze relevant papers that matches with your search

Papers

Get insights from PDFs and bookmarked papers from your library

My library

Recent searches

Try searching for:

Catch AI-generated content in scholarly and non-scholarly content

{ai} Detector

Ai Writer

Get PDF Summaries, highlighted text explanations 

Chat with PDF

Effortlessly create in-text citations and bibliographies in APA and 2,500 other formats

Citation generator

Get explanations, summaries, and answers on academic papers

Ease up your research workflow with {scispace}'s cohort of exciting AI tools

Elevate your academic writing skills and convey your ideas the way you want

Paraphraser

Explore our range of reading and writing tools

Your file is being prepared and should be ready in a few minutes. If it's a large file, it might take a bit longer. You can close this window, and we'll email you the file when it's done.

You have reached a maximum limit of <strong>{limit}</strong> columns in the table. Remove at least <strong>1</strong> column to add or create another one.

David Geddes

Author Tools

Chat about Author