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Re-Thinking the Mesolithic-Neolithic Transition in the Iberian Peninsula: a View from the West

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Re-Thinking the Mesolithic-Neolithic Transition in the Iberian Peninsula: a View from the West View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Journals of Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana UDK 903’12/’15(46)"633/634" Documenta Praehistorica XXVIII Re-thinking the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the Iberian peninsula: a view from the West Luiz Oosterbeek1 Instituto Politécnico de Tomar, Landscape Management Department, Estrada da Serra, Tomar [email protected] ABSTRACT – Paper focuses on Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the Iberian Peninsula by critical re- view of avaliable concepts and models. The obvious diversity of archeological record is taken as a strating point. Transition in this perspective is not seen as uniform and sudden economic or demo- graphic change but as a slow political process, where different regional groups would have been forced to share the innovations while keeping their differences. IZVLE∞EK – ∞lanek obravnava prehod iz mezolitika v neolitik na Iberskem polotoku s kriti≠nim pre- tresom obstoje≠ih modelov in konceptov. Izhodi∏≠e je o≠itna raznolikost arheolo∏kih zapisov. V tej perspektivi prehod ni hitra ekonomska in demografska sprememba, ampak po≠asen in asinhron po- liti≠ni proces, kjer razli≠ne regionalne skupine sprejemajo inovacije, a ob tem ohranjajo razlike. KEY WORDS – Mesolithic; Neolithic; Iberia; “cardial model”; “shifting centres model” To discuss the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Ibe- cial conflicts, political complexity and individual ini- ria implies, first, the defining of the concepts. By tiative. The archaeological record does not answer Neolithic, or Neolithisation, we understand a set of most of these aspects, but they remain essential, ne- tendencies towards an increasing intensification of vertheless. resources exploitation, demographic growth, com- plexity of economic relations, social differentiation, In this sense, the “Neolithic” begins in the late “Me- technological improvement and the generation of a solithic”, the transition period. The evidence for this new ideology. It was not inevitable, however, and early stage in Iberia includes (see Oosterbeek 1994): the main question is not how it occurred (even if this is a basic assessment), but why it occurred. In ❶ the Muge-Cocina sequence, spanning the 7th, 6th this process, one must not avoid the fact that it im- and part of the 5th millennia2. This is the “geomet- plied not only economic or demographic growth, ric” Mesolithic tradition. In the top layers of the but, primarily for the human groups that were invol- Cave of La Cocina (Dos Aguas) and the Cabeço da ved in it, it meant more work and increasing aliena- Arruda shell midden (Muge), sherds of pottery re- tion. Therefore, it was also a political process. And, late to an evolved stage of the Neolithic; using Braudel’s (1972) notions, if the long-term is measured by the preceding infrastructure variables, ❷ the Mallaetes sequence, not represented in Portu- the short-term, decisive changes paid tribute to so- gal, and dominated by a bladelets industry. Some 1 Director of Landscape Management Department and Professor of Prehistory at the Instituto Politécnico de Tomar, Estrada da Serra, P-2300 TOMAR. Email: [email protected] 2 The chronology discussed always refers to calendar years BC, based on termoluminescense or calibrated radiocarbon dates. 75 Luiz Oosterbeek authors relate it to a second Neolithic origin, with- and 1892 (the Almerian culture, after the site of El out cardial impressed pottery; Garcel), N. Delgado in 1884 (Cave of Furninha), N. Åberg in 1921 or Cartaillac in 1886, Bosch-Gimpera ❸ the macrolithic Mesolithic, divided into different (1932) made the first synthesis, defining four “cul- groups of unclear chronology (Asturian, Mirian, An- tures”: the Almerian, the caves group (with two sub- corian or Languedocian). These groups do not over- groups, from Andalusia and Estremadura), the Por- lap in space with the microlithic Mesolithic, but they tuguese (megalithic) and the Pirinean. Further deve- have no clear relation with the earliest Neolithic as- lopments by J. Martinez Santa Olalla (1941) estab- semblages. Two facts must be mentioned: the pres- lished the first links with Africa: the Spanish-Mauri- ence of pottery in macrolithic sites in Alentejo (Xe- tanian Neolithic (including the caves), and the Ibe- rez de Baixo) and the Tagus valley (e.g. Amoreira, rian-Saharan Neolithic (including the Almerian). La- Monte Pedregoso), and the occurrence of macro- ter, a similar approach was defined by J. San Valero tools in megalithic assemblages, which could indi- Aparisi (1948). cate some sort of relationship (even if the megaliths are basically 5th to 3rd millenium phenomena); The excavation and publication of the cave of Are- ne Candide in Liguria became a turning point for ❹ the sites with cardial impressed pottery. These the study of the Iberian Neolithic. The author, B. are associated with other Neolithic improvements, Brea (1950), defined for the first time a model of and dominate some coastal areas such as the Spa- Neolithic expansion from the east. According to him, nish Levant, part of the Algarve, the Mondego estu- the Neolithic had a fast and “Hellenistic” expan- ary, with a few inland penetrations (Nabão and Al- sion, suggesting a migration of people from the east monda valleys, and an unclear site in the Alentejo), affecting coastal areas. The cardial pottery had orien- and minor occurrences associated with other types tal origins in Syria and Silicia (Tell Iudeideh, Ras of pottery in other coastal areas (the Alentejo coast, Shamra, Mercin, Chagar Bazar, Arpachiyah, Ni- the Sado estuary, Andalusia, north Africa). This nive), Thessally (pre-Sesklo), Greece (Choirospilia), spread has been traditionally related to the west Me- Corfu (Afiona), Montenegro (Crvena Stijena), Herze- diterranean Neolithic with cardial impressed pot- govina (Zelena Pe≤ina), crossing Italy and reaching tery, but has also suggested speculation over the re- Corsica, Liguria (Arma dell’ Aguila, Arene Candide), lation with the Mesolithic groups in Iberia, namely Southern France, Catalonia and the Spanish Levant. the Muge shell-middens; The penetration inland was thought to be slow, this group hardly reaching the south and west of Iberia, ❺ the Neolithic sites without cardial impressed pot- with few exceptions. The strong Mesolithic tradition tery that have a more variable distribution, prima- of sites like Coppa Navigata in Italy would indicate rily in the highlands in some areas (Andalusia), or local groups’ interactions with Neolithic sailors. coastal in others (Alentejo, Portuguese Estremadura), with some inland penetrations (like the Nabão val- This new approach would lead, in the late 1950’s ley). This group includes very old dated sites in An- and early 1960’s, to the definition of several coloni- dalucia (e.g. Cueva de la Dehesilla), but also sites sation theories, from the early Neolithic to the Chal- that are clearly older then the cardial impressed colithic. Meanwhile, the research provided deep stra- group, and some that have no clear chronology (Rio tigraphies for the whole Neolithic process, in sites Maior, Alcobaça or Peniche); like Cueva de la Cariguela (Andalucia), Cova de l’Or (Alicante) or the Muge shell middens. Interest in ❻ the earliest megalithic assemblages. M. Heleno the problem of navigation in the Mediterranean re- (1956) identified and excavated a number of cistoid lated to the introduction of Neolithic innovations has chambers, with microliths and polished stone, that been a subject for continuous research. The distribu- were considered the earliest phase of the megaliths tion of obsidian is, for the central and eastern Medi- by V. Leisner (1967). None of these sites has been terranean, a direct form of evidence. Such evidence properly published, still less dated. However, they does not exist for Iberia, and contacts by sea with could date back to the late 6th millennium, having a the Maghreb or other parts of the Mediterranean, mainly inland distribution (like the megaliths of the before the Chalcolithic, remain hypothetical. For 5th millennium). instance, G. Camps (1982) used decorative patterns to stress that the presence of cardial pottery in the After the late 19th and early 20th centuries, attempts Maghreb (Achakar group, Idols Cave, El-Khril ca- to identify the Neolithic in Iberia by L. Siret in 1890 ves, Gar Cahal and Caf That el Gar), always coastal, 76 Re-thinking the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the Iberian peninsula: a view from the West stands for contacts with Iberia, at an epicardial stage, J. Guilaine (1996) points to the fact that these sites likely with the Levant (and not Andalusia), whereas could be associated with an economy dependent on another group (Oran), would relate to Andalusia, exploiting marine resources. Economic data is still with impressed and grooved pottery, not cardial. limited, however, and an evaluation of these sites must still be based on other criteria. I believe that Regardless of the means of distribution, the diffusio- the very early Neolithic with cardial impressed pot- nist model dominated the 1960’s, and it remains tery reached the interior at a later stage, as may be one of the most widely accepted views. Among these, recognised in Alcobaça (and, one could add, Tomar the wave of advance model of Ammerman and Ca- or Torres Novas). A second phase of the Neolithic valli-Sforza (1971) is one of the most coherent. It would then include sites like the cave of Furninha measured those items in a chrono-geographical (Peniche), Bocas I (Rio Maior), Casa da Moura (Ce- frame, taking Jericho as the presumed original cen- sareda), the shell midden of Cabeço do Pez (Sado tre, and defining the west Mediterranean as an area estuary) or Lapa do Fumo (Sesimbra). This phase, dominated by impressed pottery that could be even combining heavy decorated pottery (impressed, so- older than domestication itself. metimes with cardium, with incised, plastic decora- tion) would be parallel, in the 5th millennium, to From the late 1960’s on, following on the one hand early megalith building, this one dominating the in- the new approaches to territorial analysis, and on land areas).
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