Agriculture in NW Iberia during the Bronze Age: A review of archaeobotanical data

Abstract

The wide and diverse array of palaeoenvironmental studies that were carried out in Northwestern Iberia indicate that the Bronze Age corresponds to a phase of great landscape changes. Strong deforestation and erosion episodes are key-features and they are usually assumed to be anthropogenic. The archaeological and archaeobotanical records demonstrate that these trends are coincident with modifications on settlement pattern and agricultural systems. This work consists on a thorough revision of carpological data from 19 Bronze Age sites in order to understand agricultural practices in the region in this time period. Results reveal the increasing relevance of Panicum miliaceum and decreasing presence of naked barley which contrast with the previous periods. Carpological remains are not available in Early Bronze Age sites. Middle Bronze Age crops include naked and hulled forms of barley (Hordeum spp.) and wheat (Triticum spp.). Only one site provided occasional grains of Panicum miliaceum. Non-cereal crops are rare and comprise Linum, Papaver, Pisum sativum and Vicia faba. Still, there are few Middle Bronze Age sites with crop macroremains. Late Bronze Age sites with carpological remains of crops are more abundant but no new crop is added. This is the phase when Panicum miliaceum became a conspicuous crop in regional agricultural strategies. Overall, a small diversity of pulses is recorded throughout the Bronze Age, contrasting with other Iberian regions. Acorns (Quercus) are the only wild fruits consistently present in the archaeological sites and they probably had some relevance within the regional subsistence. It was possible to detect changes on settlement and agricultural levels and suggest how these are related to environmental and social changes. It is argued that agricultural productivity increased and pits were the main storage facilities used by Bronze Age communities. Although these structures are abundant in several sites, caution is needed while interpreting them and their fills. Only in one site -Freixo -remains of crops were found in primary deposition in a storage pit. Increasing agricultural productivity, including functionally diverse winter and spring crops seems to have been connected to settlement diversification. This trend may have led to a more complementary and profuse use of local resources, enhancing the anthropogenic changes in the landscape mentioned above. This was a further step in the territorialisation process that would eventually lead to the complex scenario recorded in the Iron Age.

Diversidad de cultivos y estructuras de almacenaje en el poblado de Crastoeiro (Noroeste de la Península Ibérica): nuevos enfoques

“…The use of pits as storage facilities was a common strategy in Northwest Iberia and it was not exclusive to the Iron Age (Parcero Oubiña and Ayán Vila 2009; Tereso 2012; Tereso et al 2016). In Crastoeiro, the radiocarbon dates obtained over two of the studied pits (XVIII.1 and XVIII.2) demonstrate this place was used for storage at least in two moments: during the initial phase of occupation and in the 1 st century BC when the earliest evidence of Roman contacts becomes clear.…”

“…Storage of grains in pits has been a common practice since prehistoric times and has been documented in different geographical areas, both archaeologically and ethnographically (e.g., Reynolds 1974;Gast and Sigaut 1979;Gast et al 1981;Gast et al 1985;Tereso 2012;Peña-Chocarro et al 2015, Tereso et al 2016. Such approaches demonstrate the use of underground storage for keeping crops for long periods of time can be reproduced in different and successful ways, (e.g., Reynolds 1974;Miret i Mestre 2008;Peña-Chocarro et al 2015).…”

“…However, these considerations do not allow us to interpret all carpological remains found in pits as resulting from storage nor all archaeological pits as storage structures. Several authors have stressed that, although pits were used for storage from prehistoric times to the medieval ages (Parcero Oubiña and Ayán Vila 2009;Tereso 2012;Tereso et al 2016), they could be used for other purposes (Gast and Sigaut 1979;Van der Veen 2007;Alonso 2008;Tereso et al 2016;Martín-Seijo et al 2017). They often include charred plant remains, usually corresponding to secondary or tertiary refuse (sensu Fuller et al 2014) or even to natural depositions resulting from the erosion and transport of nearby sedimentary contexts.…”

Veinte años de arqueología de la Prehistoria tardía en la Península Ibérica. Mirando hacia atrás y hacia adelante

“…Archaeological studies of plants (Peña-Chocarro 2000;Pérez Jordà et al 2011;Tereso et al 2016) and animal bones (Navas et al 2008;Valente and Carvalho 2014) have played a key role in late prehistoric studies. More systematic analyses of fauna in recent years, with attention not only to species, but also size and sex, have expanded our understanding of which animals people hunted or herded, and the relationship between these practices and local ecologies.…”

Destruido por el fuego, conservado a lo largo del tiempo: cultivos y madera de una estructura de la Edad del Bronce Final / Primera Edad del Hierro en Vila do Touro (Sabugal, Portugal)

“…These have focused mostly on northwest Iberian sites allowing the identification of the main crops consumed and even to address several aspects of agricultural activities in that region (e.g. Teira-Brión 2010, 2019López-Merino et al 2010;Tereso 2012Tereso , 2013Teira-Brión et al 2016;Tereso et al 2016;Seabra et al 2018;Mora-González et al 2019). The information obtained suggests a well-developed agriculture based on a diverse set of crops, particularly cereals, suitable to a variety of environmental conditions.…”