The isotopic footprint of irrigation in the western Mediterranean basin during the Bronze Age: the settlement of Terlinques, southeast Iberian Peninsula

González, Adrián Mora; Huertas, António Delgado; Torres, Arsenio Granados; Cortés, Francisco Contreras; Maestre, Francisco Javier Jover; Padilla, Juan Antonio López

doi:10.1007/s00334-016-0560-4

Cited by 31 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…The difference between the average Δ 13 C values of wheat and barley (about 1‰) is in the same range as observed in modern crops [54], and suggests that both kinds of crops were grown under overall similar conditions. The obtained data are in agreement with those from pioneering comprehensive work by Araus et al [24,53], that does not point to any deliberate irrigation, an interpretation which stands in contrast to that offered by Mora-González et al [81]. According to basic research by Wallace et al and Styring et al [51,77,80,82], the carbon isotope values of the cereal grains from La Bastida and Gatas correspond to a wide range of poor to moderate water conditions, whereas deliberate irrigation should have resulted in higher and more uniform Δ 13 C values (Fig 7).…”

Section: Growing Conditions Of Cerealssupporting

confidence: 91%

“…The overall dryness of the landscape in the growing period is reflected by the Δ 13 C values of the charred cereal grains, which are at the lower end of the data spectrum of C 3 winter cereals [79]. The Δ 13 C values of the barley grains from La Bastida and Gatas (Fig 7) overlap with data from modern fields in Morocco that represent low precipitation rates [80] as well as with those from the Bronze Age site of Terlinques about 100 km NE of La Bastida and 200 km NE of Gatas [81].…”

Section: Growing Conditions Of Cerealsmentioning

confidence: 79%

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Reconstructing Bronze Age diets and farming strategies at the early Bronze Age sites of La Bastida and Gatas (southeast Iberia) using stable isotope analysis

et al. 2020

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The El Argar society of the Bronze Age in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula (2200-1550 cal BCE) was among the first complex societies in Europe. Its economy was based on cereal cultivation and metallurgy, it was organized hierarchically, and successively expanded its territory. Most of the monumentally fortified settlements lay on steeply sloped mountains, separated by fertile plains, and allowed optimal control of the area. Here, we explore El Argar human diets, animal husbandry strategies, and food webs using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of charred cereal grains as well as human and animal bone collagen. The sample comprised 75 human individuals from the sites of La Bastida (n = 52) and Gatas (n = 23), 32 domesticated and wild animals as well as 76 barley and 29 wheat grains from two chronological phases of a total time span of ca. 650 years. The grains indicate extensive cereal cultivation under rain-fed conditions with little to moderate application of manure. Especially at La Bastida, crops and their by-products contributed significantly to the forage of the domesticated animals, which attests to a strong interrelation of cultivation and animal husbandry. Trophic level spacing and Bayesian modelling confirm that human diets were largely based on barley with some contribution of meat or dairy products. A cross-sectional analysis of bone collagen suggests that children were breastfed until about 1.5-2 years old, and infants from Gatas may have suffered from more metabolic stress than those at La Bastida. Adults of both sexes consumed similar diets that reflect social and chronological variation to some extent. Despite significantly higher δ 13 C and

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Section: Growing Conditions Of Cerealssupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Growing Conditions Of Cerealsmentioning

confidence: 79%

Reconstructing Bronze Age diets and farming strategies at the early Bronze Age sites of La Bastida and Gatas (southeast Iberia) using stable isotope analysis

et al. 2020

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“…Mean isotopic values for four food groups (cereals, terrestrial protein, freshwater fish and marine fish) were used in modelling human diets in the Valencina population. The average isotopic values for cereals (δ 13 C = −22.81 ± 0.1‰; δ 15 N = 7.82 ± 0.15‰) include archaeobotanical barley and wheat from Bronze Age Terlinques, in southeast Spain (δ 13 C: Mora-González et al 2016 ; δ 15 N: Mora-González pers. comm).…”

Section: A Sensitivity Analysis: the Possibility Of Dietary Offsetsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assembling the Dead, Gathering the Living: Radiocarbon Dating and Bayesian Modelling for Copper Age Valencina de la Concepción (Seville, Spain)

Sanjuán

Jiménez²,

Puro

et al. 2018

J World Prehist

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The great site of Valencina de la Concepción, near Seville in the lower Guadalquivir valley of southwest Spain, is presented in the context of debate about the nature of Copper Age society in southern Iberia as a whole. Many aspects of the layout, use, character and development of Valencina remain unclear, just as there are major unresolved questions about the kind of society represented there and in southern Iberia, from the late fourth to the late third millennium cal BC. This paper discusses 178 radiocarbon dates, from 17 excavated sectors within the c. 450 ha site, making it the best dated in later Iberian prehistory as a whole. Dates are modelled in a Bayesian statistical framework. The resulting formal date estimates provide the basis for both a new epistemological approach to the site and a much more detailed narrative of its development than previously available. Beginning in the 32nd century cal BC, a long-lasting tradition of simple, mainly collective and often successive burial was established at the site. Mud-vaulted tholoi appear to belong to the 29th or 28th centuries cal BC; large stone-vaulted tholoi such as La Pastora appear to date later in the sequence. There is plenty of evidence for a wide range of other activity, but no clear sign of permanent, large-scale residence or public buildings or spaces. Results in general support a model of increasingly competitive but ultimately unstable social relations, through various phases of emergence, social competition, display and hierarchisation, and eventual decline, over a period of c. 900 years.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s10963-018-9114-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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“…Los valores δ 13 C calculados para la producción primaria terrestre (-22,5 a -20,5 ‰ vs V-PDB) están en el rango de las gramíneas (cereales) del sur de la península ibérica (Mora 2017), siendo menos negativos que los cereales (entre -23 y -26) del noroeste (Mora et al 2018) con un clima muy húmedo y, por tanto, menor WUE y más discriminación isotópica que en los ambientes áridos (Farquhar y Richards 1984). Por otra parte, considerando áreas áridas del este de la península donde los cereales irrigados estaban comprendidos entre -23 y -25 ‰, en el mismo rango que los pinos con mayor capacidad radicular y menos eficiencia en el aprovechamiento del agua (WUE), se ha calculado que las gramíneas en la Edad del Bronce pudieron ser sobre un 3 ‰ menos negativas (debido a una mayor WUE), estando comprendidas entre -20 y -22 (Mora et al 2016). Ello estaría en el rango que se deduce a partir de los valores de los humanos de Los Millares.…”

Section: Discussionunclassified

La necrópolis calcolítica de Los Millares: dataciones radiocarbónicas y valoración de la dieta y del medio ambiente a partir del análisis de isótopos estables

et al. 2020

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Se presentan en este estudio los resultados de los análisis isotópicos realizados sobre una muestra de restos humanos de la necrópolis calcolítica de Los Millares. Para proceder a su discusión se ha realizado previamente su contextualización cronológica a partir de una serie de dataciones radiocarbónicas y la revisión de la cronología relativa de los sepulcros. Las dataciones muestran el uso de la necrópolis megalítica durante todo el periodo de ocupación de Los Millares, al menos desde 3100/3000 hasta 2200/2100 cal AC. Los resultados del análisis isotópico apoyan las propuestas sobre un incremento en la aridez desde el 2400/2300 cal AC. Además, en una dieta dominada por los recursos terrestres en la que las proteínas suelen proceder del consumo de herbívoros, existe una cierta variabilidad con individuos que pueden haber consumido otros recursos.

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The isotopic footprint of irrigation in the western Mediterranean basin during the Bronze Age: the settlement of Terlinques, southeast Iberian Peninsula

Cited by 31 publications

References 57 publications

Reconstructing Bronze Age diets and farming strategies at the early Bronze Age sites of La Bastida and Gatas (southeast Iberia) using stable isotope analysis

Reconstructing Bronze Age diets and farming strategies at the early Bronze Age sites of La Bastida and Gatas (southeast Iberia) using stable isotope analysis

Assembling the Dead, Gathering the Living: Radiocarbon Dating and Bayesian Modelling for Copper Age Valencina de la Concepción (Seville, Spain)

La necrópolis calcolítica de Los Millares: dataciones radiocarbónicas y valoración de la dieta y del medio ambiente a partir del análisis de isótopos estables

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