Landscape transformation and economic practices among the first farming societies in Lake Banyoles (Girona, Spain)

Mid-Holocene vegetation history and Neolithic land-use in the Lake Banyoles area (Girona, Spain)

“…The dated samples are located at 173, 201, 215, 237, 257 and 276 cm depth, but pollen and sedimentary charcoal were analyzed up to 281 cm depth. Therefore, the age-depth curve (Revelles et al, 2014) (Fig. 2) was extended over the undated 5 cm, as it was within the same sedimentary facies.…”

“…About one thousand oak trunks have been recovered in the 800 m 2 of the excavated area. Considering the fact that the total extension of the site is about 8000 m 2 , thousands of poles were cut for the construction and maintenance of the settlement over the period of occupation (Gassman, 2000;Revelles et al, 2014). These trunks were cut with adzes, as shown by traces on the tools (Bosch et al, 2008), and dragged to the settlement.…”

“…The intermediate organic dark silty clay unit exhibited outstanding pollen preservation, in terms of variability and pollen concentration, and it corresponds with the start and development of the prehistoric settlements along the lake margins. Palynological and sedimentary charcoal data were partially published in Revelles et al (2014), focusing on the Neolithisation period. The present study includes the intermediate unit, covering late Early Holocene to Late Holocene.…”

“…The age-depth model was based on six Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates on bulk sediment (peaty clay) (Revelles et al, 2014). Calibration to years cal BP was made using Clam 2.2.…”

Characterizing prehistoric archery: technical and functional analyses of the Neolithic bows from La Draga (NE Iberian Peninsula)

“…Northern European archaeobotanical data also indicates that yew would have colonized these regions from the mid-sixth millennium, suggesting that its use for making bows would not have been possible before that time (Out, 2009). The pollen record at the site of La Draga and Lake Banyoles (P erez-Obiol and Juli a, 1994; Burjachs, 2000;Revelles et al, 2014) shows an environment dominated by oak during the period of the occupation of La Draga, without having recorded the presence of T. baccata in the surrounding area of the site. However charcoal analyses reveal that this species was present in low and middle altitudes in the Pyrenees and Pre-Pyrenees during the sixth millennium BC (Piqu e, 2005).…”