Modelling the earliest north-western dispersal of Mediterranean Impressed Wares: new dates and Bayesian chronological model

Abstract

The authors attempt to specify the diffusion pattern of the Impressed-Ware Neolithic (Im­presso-cardial complex, ICC), from south-eastern Italy onto the French Mediterranean coasts. Using ChronoModel® software, a Bayesian model was built with sets of dates obtained on well-contextualised, short-lived samples. The results highlight a clear tightening of the chronology in the so-called nuclear area (Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria) and a pioneer dispersal at record speed in the Tyrrhe­nian Basin. Moreover, they question the origins and initial developments of the Impressed-Wares techno-complex.

La Cueva de la Dehesilla (Sierra de Cádiz): vuelta a un sitio clave para el Neolítico del sur de la península ibérica

“…Otro punto de debate que se dinamiza, en este caso a nivel peninsular, es el área de distribución de la ceramica impressa, que se conoce en el Mediterráneo occidental, desde los mares Jónico y Adriático (e.g. Berger et al, 2014), al litoral ligur francés (Guilaine y Manen, 2002;Guilaine et al, 2007;Binder et al, 2017), hasta la península ibérica. Sin embargo, aquí se encuentran escasamente en el litoral este (cf.…”

Influence of porosity on lipid preservation in the wall of archaeological pottery

“…This site, situated in the south-east of France near the Italian border (Castellar, France), revealed archaeological remains from the Epipaleolithic period to the Middle Ages (Binder et al 1993). Thirteen samples dating from the Early Neolithic period (Impressa ware, 5720-5470 BCE; Binder et al 2017) were selected for analysis. Pottery from this period was recovered in high amounts and is made of three main fabrics: granitoid, glauconitic, and mixed granitoid and glauconitic earths (Binder and Sénépart 2010;Gabriele 2014, 223-225).…”

The Neolithic Transition in the Western Mediterranean: a Complex and Non-Linear Diffusion Process—The Radiocarbon Record Revisited

“…New dates confirm the early age of these first Neolithic impacts on the French coast. Indeed, there is very little discrepancy ( Figure 15) between the earliest dates obtained on short-lived samples in southern Italy (Trasano, Favella, and Ripa Tetta;Binder et al 2017), on the Adriatic coast (Rasinovac and Pokrovnik) and in Liguria and those from Portiragnes, where the whole technical system is related to the Ceramica Impressa cultural sphere (no dates made on short-lived samples are available for the Tyrrhenian zone before 5750 cal BCE).…”

“…Predictably, the different works addressing this question grant considerable importance to maritime colonization models and again, radiocarbon dates form the basis of these demonstrations. The analysis of audited database underlines the low chronological gap between the emergence of the Neolithic economy in the center of Italy and Portugal, or between the Gulf of Lion and Portugal (Binder and Guilaine 1999;Zilhão 2001;Manen and Sabatier 2003;Bernabeu Aubán 2006;Bernabeu Aubán et al 2015;Martins et al 2015;Binder et al 2017;Isern et al 2017). This rapid dispersal is then interpreted as part of a pioneering colonization model based on the use of maritime routes, associated by some authors with leapfrog colonization (Zilhão 1993;Binder 2013).…”