Re-evaluating the Neolithic: The Impact and the Consolidation of Farming Practices in the Cantabrian Region (Northern Spain)

  1. Cubas, M. 2
  2. Altuna, J. 1
  3. Álvarez-Fernández, E. 4
  4. Armendariz, A. 6
  5. Fano, M.Á. 3
  6. López-Dóriga, I.L. 6
  7. Mariezkurrena, K. 1
  8. Tapia, J. 5
  9. Teira, L.C. 6
  10. Arias, P. 6
  1. 1 Arkaios Investigaciones, Mendigain 30, San Sebastián, Spain
  2. 2 University of York
    info

    University of York

    York, Reino Unido

    ROR https://ror.org/04m01e293

  3. 3 Universidad de La Rioja
    info

    Universidad de La Rioja

    Logroño, España

    ROR https://ror.org/0553yr311

  4. 4 Universidad de Salamanca
    info

    Universidad de Salamanca

    Salamanca, España

    ROR https://ror.org/02f40zc51

  5. 5 Sociedad de Ciencias Aranzadi, Zorroagagaina 11, Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain
  6. 6 Wessex Archaeology, Portway House, Old Sarum Park, Salisbury, United Kingdom
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Revista:
Journal of World Prehistory

ISSN: 0892-7537

Año de publicación: 2016

Volumen: 29

Número: 1

Páginas: 79-116

Tipo: Artículo

DOI: 10.1007/S10963-016-9091-2 SCOPUS: 2-s2.0-84961659719 WoS: WOS:000378136200002 GOOGLE SCHOLAR

Otras publicaciones en: Journal of World Prehistory

Resumen

Research projects undertaken in the Cantabrian region since 1980 have produced new, high-quality information about the neolithisation process(es) in this area. It is now necessary to review this archaeological information and test the main hypotheses put forward to explain it. This paper presents an update on the archaeological evidence (sites, chronological dates, archaeozoological, archaeobotanical and technological information) for the early Neolithic in the Cantabrian region. It summarizes recent research on neolithisation in the region, and assesses the impact of this process during the early Neolithic, and its later consolidation. Although the available information is still incomplete, it is now possible to identify the focal point of the introduction of elements characteristic of the Neolithic way of life in the region. Current evidence suggests that it is in the eastern sector, where the earliest arrival of domesticates and new technologies such as pottery has been attested. The existence of continuities—such as sustained reliance on hunting and gathering and the coexistence of old and new funerary rites—suggests the persistence of native populations, which gradually participated in the neolithisation process after an ‘availability phase’. © 2016, The Author(s).