What relations between North Africa and Europe in the early holocene?

Abstract

Between the 8th and 5th millennium BCE, human societies in the Western Mediterranean underwent several major changes. One of them took place during the 7th millennium with a profound change in material production, especially in their stone industries. It resulted in a fundamental change in production patterns, operating sequences and technical procedures. The precise origin of these changes is currently unknown, but it is possible that they initially occurred in North Africa before spreading rapidly along the shores of the Mediterranean and reaching Western Europe. This south-to-north expansion could reflect population shifts, at least in the early stages of the expansion of these new technical processes. However, possible contacts between Africa and Europe are not limited to this technical sphere, and exchanges can also be documented in both ceramic productions and graphic expressions. Several recent research programmes have brought new data to these hypotheses, the main results of which are presented here.

A multi-stage Bayesian modelling for building the chronocultural sequence of the Late Mesolithic at Cueva de la Cocina (Valencia, Eastern Iberia)

“…The demographic changes also took place showing a visible and regionally diverse rise, according with several diagnostic proxies (García-Puchol et al, 2017, Fernández López de Pablo et al, 2019. These major shifts began around 10.200 cal BP linked to the Notches and Denticulated technocomplexes recognized from that moment in coastal and interior areas at the Mediterranean region and far away (Aura et al, 2011;Perrin et al, 2022). From the first half of the 9th millennium cal BP, the irruptive appearance of Blades and Trapezes technocomplex is recognized along the Mediterranean region (Marchand and Perrin, 2017).…”

“…As a result and in order to avoid in that way the economical and sample destruction cost, we have decided to employ a Bayesian methodological procedure designed initially to get an estimate chronology for dating archaeological collections (Armero et al, 2021;Pardo-Gordo et al, 2022). The goal in this case consists of proposing an archaeological sequence for Pericot's 1942 and1943 sectors based on the posterior probabilities defined by the existing material in such sectors. The work proposed here consists of an intrasite application of the method developed by Armero and colleagues (Armero et al, 2021;Pardo-Gordo et al, 2022).…”

“…validated the preservation of archaeological deposits coinciding with their visit to the area for the exploration of a recent discovery of Levantine rock art at the Cinto de La Ventana and Cinto de las Letras sites (Pericot 1946). During four years, 1941, 1942, 1943and 1945 his team excavated for a total of 74 days. In all, approximately 60,5 m2 of cultural deposits was removed, confirming the richness of the prehistoric archaeological deposits in a long sequence that included mainly forager occupations but also Neolithic, Chalcolitic and Bronze age levels.…”

“…In all, approximately 60,5 m2 of cultural deposits was removed, confirming the richness of the prehistoric archaeological deposits in a long sequence that included mainly forager occupations but also Neolithic, Chalcolitic and Bronze age levels. Lluís Pericot was a recognized Spanish archaeologist that previously had worked at Cova del Parpalló (Gandia, Valencia) discovering one of the most impressive Upper Paleolithic portable art collections in Europe (Pericot, 1942). In 1946 Lluís Pericot published the only paper focused on the primary results at the site of Cocina according to the 1945 campaign, a seminal work which provided evidence about the sequence and chronology, centered between the final Paleolithic and the Holocene times in the region.…”