New insights into the neolithisation process in southwest Europe according to spatial density analysis from calibrated radiocarbon dates

Abstract

The agricultural way of life spreads throughout Europe via two main routes: the Danube corridor and the Mediterranean basin. Current archaeological literature describes the arrival to the Western Mediterranean as a rapid process which involves both demic and cultural models, and in this regard, the dispersal movement has been investigated using mathematical models, where the key factors are time and space. In this work, we have created a compilation of all available radiocarbon dates for the whole of Iberia, in order to draw a chronological series of maps to illustrate temporal and spatial patterns in the neolithisation process. The maps were prepared by calculating the calibrated 14C date probability density curves, as a proxy to show the spatial dynamics of the last hunter-gatherers and first farmers. Several scholars have pointed out problems linked with the variability of samples, such as the overrepresentation of some sites, the degree of regional research, the nature of the dated samples and above all the archaeological context, but we are confident that the selected dates, after applying some filters and statistical protocols, constitute a good way to approach settlement spatial patterns in Iberia at the time of the neolithisation process.

Spatio-temporal approaches to archaeological radiocarbon dates

“…In most cases this involves using some form of kernel density estimate (KDE) with the summed probability at a given location (site) and time-slice being treated as a weight (e.g. Collard et al 2010, Grove 2011, García Puchol et al 2017. Perez and colleagues (2016) offer an alternative solution based on inverse distance weighting and per raster-cell site frequency.…”

The Eastern side of the Westernmost Europeans: Insights from subclades within Y‐chromosome haplogroup J‐M304

“…Farming arrived in Portugal suddenly and at essentially the same time it occurred across the western Mediterranean, as revealed by the chronology of the earliest Neolithic sites in the country that are recorded since 6000 ya BC (García Puchol, Diez Castillo, & Pardo‐Gordó, ; Martins et al, ; Zilhão, ). A recent study (Martiniano et al, ) which sequenced 14 ancient genomes from Portugal ranging from the Middle Neolithic to the Middle Bronze Age reported the existence of Y‐chromosomal subclades G2 and I2, but not J.…”

Timing the Mesolithic-Neolithic Transition in the Iberian Peninsula: The Radiocarbon Dataset

“…On one hand, its information can be used to explore chronological transition applying bayesian methods an intra-site or regional analysis [12,14]. On the other hand, the information can be used to explore the neolithisation phenomenon based on radiocarbon maps distribution or demographic trends [15,16,20].…”

“…In this sense, some results of the project have been published on evolutionary approaches related to lithics and pottery [10,11]. Also, Bayesian and geostatistics analyses on the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition at intra-site or regional scale [12][13][14] and demographic trends according to settlements distributions and summed probability distribution of calibrated radiocarbon dates have been published [15,16].…”