Dataset Information

The earliest basketry in southern Europe: Hunter-gatherer and farmer plant-based technology in Cueva de los Murcielagos (Albunol).

ABSTRACT: Plant material culture can offer unique insights into the ways of life of prehistoric societies; however, its perishable nature has prevented a thorough understanding of its diverse and complex uses. Sites with exceptional preservation of organic materials provide a unique opportunity for further research. The burial site of Cueva de los Murciélagos in southern Iberia, uncovered during 19th-century mining activities, contained the best-preserved hunter-gatherer basketry in southern Europe, together with other unique organic artifacts associated with the first farming communities, such as sandals and a wooden hammer. We present 14 ¹⁴C dates for the perishable artifacts (N = 76), situating the assemblage between the Early and Middle Holocene (c. 7500 to 4200 cal BCE). Our integrated analysis includes raw material determination and technological and chrono-cultural contextualization of this unique and important set of materials.

SUBMITTER: Martinez-Sevilla F

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10530072 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The earliest basketry in southern Europe: Hunter-gatherer and farmer plant-based technology in Cueva de los Murciélagos (Albuñol).

Martínez-Sevilla Francisco F Herrero-Otal Maria M Martín-Seijo María M Santana Jonathan J Lozano Rodríguez José A JA Maicas Ramos Ruth R Cubas Miriam M Homs Anna A Martínez Sánchez Rafael M RM Bertin Ingrid I Barroso Bermejo Rosa R Bueno Ramírez Primitiva P de Balbín Behrmann Rodrigo R Palomo Pérez Antoni A Álvarez-Valero Antonio M AM Peña-Chocarro Leonor L Murillo-Barroso Mercedes M Fernández-Domínguez Eva E Altamirano García Manuel M Pardo Martínez Rubén R Iriarte Cela Mercedes M Carrasco Rus Javier L JL Alfaro Giner Carmen C Piqué Huerta Raquel R

Science advances 20230927 39

Plant material culture can offer unique insights into the ways of life of prehistoric societies; however, its perishable nature has prevented a thorough understanding of its diverse and complex uses. Sites with exceptional preservation of organic materials provide a unique opportunity for further research. The burial site of Cueva de los Murciélagos in southern Iberia, uncovered during 19th-century mining activities, contained the best-preserved hunter-gatherer basketry in southern Europe, toget ...[more]

PMID: 37756397

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Project description:Background/principal findingsThe phenomenon of Neolithisation refers to the transition of prehistoric populations from a hunter-gatherer to an agro-pastoralist lifestyle. Traditionally, the spread of an agro-pastoralist economy into Europe has been framed within a dichotomy based either on an acculturation phenomenon or on a demic diffusion. However, the nature and speed of this transition is a matter of continuing scientific debate in archaeology, anthropology, and human population genetics. In the present study, we have analyzed the mitochondrial DNA diversity in hunter-gatherers and first farmers from Northern Spain, in relation to the debate surrounding the phenomenon of Neolithisation in Europe.Methodology/significanceAnalysis of mitochondrial DNA was carried out on 54 individuals from Upper Paleolithic and Early Neolithic, which were recovered from nine archaeological sites from Northern Spain (Basque Country, Navarre and Cantabria). In addition, to take all necessary precautions to avoid contamination, different authentication criteria were applied in this study, including: DNA quantification, cloning, duplication (51% of the samples) and replication of the results (43% of the samples) by two independent laboratories. Statistical and multivariate analyses of the mitochondrial variability suggest that the genetic influence of Neolithisation did not spread uniformly throughout Europe, producing heterogeneous genetic consequences in different geographical regions, rejecting the traditional models that explain the Neolithisation in Europe.ConclusionThe differences detected in the mitochondrial DNA lineages of Neolithic groups studied so far (including these ones of this study) suggest different genetic impact of Neolithic in Central Europe, Mediterranean Europe and the Cantabrian fringe. The genetic data obtained in this study provide support for a random dispersion model for Neolithic farmers. This random dispersion had a different impact on the various geographic regions, and thus contradicts the more simplistic total acculturation and replacement models proposed so far to explain Neolithisation.

Dataset Information

The earliest basketry in southern Europe: Hunter-gatherer and farmer plant-based technology in Cueva de los Murcielagos (Albunol).

Publications

The earliest basketry in southern Europe: Hunter-gatherer and farmer plant-based technology in Cueva de los Murciélagos (Albuñol).

Similar Datasets

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