Salvador Pardo-Gordó

New insights into the neolithisation process in southwest Europe according to spatial density analysis from calibrated radiocarbon dates

The agricultural way of life spreads throughout Europe via two main routes: the Danube corridor and the Mediterranean basin. Current archaeological literature describes the arrival to the Western Mediterranean as a rapid process which involves both demic and cultural models, and in this regard, the dispersal movement has been investigated using mathematical models, where the key factors are time and space. In this work, we have created a compilation of all available radiocarbon dates for the whole of Iberia, in order to draw a chronological series of maps to illustrate temporal and spatial patterns in the neolithisation process. The maps were prepared by calculating the calibrated 14C date probability density curves, as a proxy to show the spatial dynamics of the last hunter-gatherers and first farmers. Several scholars have pointed out problems linked with the variability of samples, such as the overrepresentation of some sites, the degree of regional research, the nature of the dated samples and above all the archaeological context, but we are confident that the selected dates, after applying some filters and statistical protocols, constitute a good way to approach settlement spatial patterns in Iberia at the time of the neolithisation process.

Timing the Western Mediterranean Last Hunter-Gatherers and First Farmers

The spread of domestic plants and animals from the Near East towards the Western Mediterranean region is analysed using the current radiocarbon dataset relating to the last hunter-gatherers and the first farmers in the area. In order to do this, we have selected radiocarbon dates and built summed probability distributions and density maps, as a means of investigating the processes involved in the expansion of food production economies throughout this wide territory, in a ‘longue duree’ view, in accordance with a multiscalar approach covering both the general and the regional scenarios. This approach allows us to visualise the time of the expansion in this broad area, starting at the beginning of the sixth millennium cal BC, and to discuss the implied mechanisms in what seems, at least along the coast, a very rapid process: reflecting a mix of demic and cultural models with regional nuances.

Alternative Stories of Agricultural Origins: The Neolithic Spread in the Iberian Peninsula

The spread of agriculture from the Near East to Europe has long been a subject of intense archaeological study and debate in light of the social and economic changes that occurred and were set in motion as a result of this transition. Despite the attention paid to this important process, a consensus is far from being reached. Perhaps for these reasons, new methods and theoretical approaches have often been applied to the questions surrounding the spread of agriculture first. Recently, computational modeling has emerged as a promising technique for the study of the origins of agriculture. Our approach employs an agent-based computational model of agricultural spread for the Iberian Peninsula and utilizes a substantial radiocarbon database. This method allows for us to test multiple hypotheses about the manner in which agriculture spread, where it may have spread from and to focus on the critical evaluation of the available chronological record and its effects upon our results.

Spatial and Temporal Diversity During the Neolithic Spread in the Western Mediterranean: The First Pottery Productions

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 and evaluated. We propose in this chapter to focus on the very first step of neolithization in the Western Mediterranean (c. 6000–5400 cal. BC), and to consider the variability observed in pottery decoration, along with some technical aspects, from Southern Italy to Southern Spain. Then we discuss these results in an attempt to understand if the observed variability in time and space could be explained as a result of the combined effects of cultural drift and hitchhiking hypothesis, within the framework of a demic expansion.

Iberian Neolithic Networks: The Rise and Fall of the Cardial World

Recent approaches have described the evolutionary dynamics of the first Neolithic societies as a cycle of rise and fall. Several authors, using mainly c14 dates as a demographic proxy, identified a general pattern of a boom in population coincident with the arrival of food production economies followed by a rapid decline some centuries afterwards in multiple European regions. Concerning Iberia, we also noted that this phenomenon correlates with an initial development of archaeological entities (i.e., ‘cultures’) over large areas (e.g. the Impresso-Cardial in West Mediterranean), followed by a phase of ‘cultural fragmentation’ by the end of Early Neolithic. These results in a picture of higher cultural diversity as an effect of more limited spread of cultural artifacts. In this work we propose to apply a network approach to the analysis of material culture. In particular, we consider the spatiotemporal patterns of material culture as an emergent effect of interaction processes acting locally. As recent research has pointed out, the spatiotemporal variability of material culture is an emergent phenomena resulting of individual and group interactions whose structure resembles those of spatially-structured complex Networks. Our results suggest that the observed global patterns could be explained by the network dynamics, specially by structural (measured as the Betweenness Centrality) and geographical position of some nodes. The appearance and disappearance of nodes in specific positions correlates with the observed changes in the pattern of material culture distribution throughout the Early Neolithic (c. 7700-6700 cal BP) in East Iberia. In our view, this could be explained by the especial role played by those nodes facilitating or limiting the information flow over the entire network. Network growth and posterior fragmentation seem to be the key drivers behind these dynamics.