New insights from Neolithic pottery analyses reveal subsistence practices and pottery use in early farmers from Cueva de El Toro (Málaga, Spain)

Resinous deposits in Early Neolithic pottery vessels from the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula

“…The study of the residues preserved in the ceramic matrix of Early Neolithic pottery in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula has demonstrated the presence of multiple diterpenoids characteristic of aged Pinaceae resins in up to 31 ceramic vessels, representing 22% of the studied assemblage. This figure is in the range of the 30% of vases found at Pendimoun (Drieu et al, 2021), the 14% from studies in Greece and the Balkans (Garnier and Valamoti, 2016;Urem-Kotsou et al, 2018) and the 8% detected at Cueva del Toro (Tarifa-Mateo et al, 2019). Similar to the yields reported by Drieu et al (2021) and Hjulström et al (2006), only small amounts of diterpenoids were recovered in the vessels, representing a maximum of 9% of the total lipid extract (CS11).…”

“…Extracts were screened using gas chromatography with flame ionisation detection (GC-FID) to identify samples with significant quantities of lipids. These were total lipid extracts above the 5 μg⋅g − 1 stablished thereshold (Evershed et al, 2008), which is the most frequently used for samples in the Iberian Peninsula (Breu et al, 2021;Cubas et al, 2020;Tarifa-Mateo et al, 2019). Selected cases were further analysed through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to identify the presence of resin biomarkers (see analytical details in supplementary SI2).…”

“…Only two visible residues from the site of La Draga indicate the presence of a birch bark tar glue in a marble bracelet and a Pinaceae hafting adhesive (Rageot et al, 2021;Tresserras, 2000). Following the pattern of Pinaceae resin scarcity seen in other Early Neolithic Mediterranean regions hitherto, evidence of diterpenoid resins in the Iberian Peninsula has only been reported in two out of 26 ceramic samples (8%) from layer IV in Cueva del Toro (5280-4780 cal BC) (Tarifa-Mateo et al, 2019). Additional evidence is only found in Bronze Age Argaric pottery: two vessels from Peñalosa (Manzano et al, 2015), three vessels from La Bastida, one vessel from La Almoloya (Molina, 2015) and one vessel from Castro dos Ratinhos (García, 2010) were reported to contain diterpenes from Pinaceae resins.…”

Investigating livestock management in the early Neolithic archaeological site of Cabecicos Negros (Almería, Spain) from the organic residue analysis in pottery

“…The high abundance of animal fats detected in ceramic vessels is consistent with the faunal assemblages and reflects the presence of animals in the diet. Investigations of early Neolithic pottery in Iberian Peninsula [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] have revealed that ruminant (40%) and non-ruminant (20%) carcass fats were prevalent in pottery vessels with little evidence for the exploitation of dairy products (less than 10%).Pig remains are usually scarce in the peninsular sites of the early Neolithic (less than 20% of sites exceed 100 remains) 16,29 , despite the fact that it was already widespread throughout the Iberian Peninsula by the middle of the sixth millennium BC. This specie present the problem of its differentiation from the wild boar 15 .…”

Pottery use in the mining site of variscite Mines de Gavà (Barcelona, Spain) during the 4th millennium BC based on organic residue analysis

“…In the recent years, application of these analytical techniques has favoured the detection of organic markers indicative of pottery use and product consumption since the beginning of the Neolithic period. The products detected absorbed in the ceramic containers used during the Neolithic period are animal fats (Ethier et al, 2017;Gillis et al, 2017;Mukherjee et al, 2008;Šoberl et al, 2014), dairy products (Copley et al 2005a;Cramp et al, 2014;Cubas et al, 2020;Dunne et al, 2018;Evershed et al, 2008b;Isaksson and Hallgren, 2012;Ogrinc et al, 2012;Regert et al, 1999;Roffet-Salque et al, 2012;Spiteri et al, 2016;Tarifa-Mateo et al, 2019;Whelton et al, 2018), aquatic resources (Cramp et al, 2019;Evershed et al, 2008a), vegetable resources (Dunne et al, 2018;Evershed et al, 2008b;Hammann and Cramp, 2018;Matlova et al, 2017) and beeswax (Drieu et al, 2020;Drieu et al, in press;Regert et al, 2001b;Roffet-Salque et al, 2015). While animal fats are frequently identified in pottery, other substances, such as beeswax, are surprisingly poorly documented in regions, such as the Iberian Peninsula, despite being quite common in Europe during Neolithic (Roffet-Salque et al, 2015).…”