Wood Procurement at the Early Neolithic site of La Draga (Banyoles, Barcelona)

López‐Bultó, Oriol; Piqué, Raquel

doi:10.1080/14732971.2018.1466415

Cited by 19 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Some of the site-specific differences in fire and turnover only make sense in the light of archaeological evidence. Exploitation of oak (Quercus) timber for construction at La Draga caused local deforestation (López-Bultó and Piqué Huerta, 2018;Revelles et al, 2015), explaining why fire was not implicated in early-Neolithic turnover at BAN. Around Navarrés in SE Iberia, fire models coupled with archaeological surveys suggest early-Neolithic communities used fire to create and maintain semi-open maquis vegetation for grazing (Snitker, 2018), corroborating the spike in fire and grazing indicators at NAV (Carrión and van Geel, 1999).…”

Section: Fire-led Vegetation Turnovermentioning

confidence: 99%

Humans take control of fire-driven diversity changes in Mediterranean Iberia’s vegetation during the mid–late Holocene

et al. 2019

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Fire regime changes are considered a major threat to future biodiversity in the Mediterranean Basin. Such predictions remain untested, however, given that fire regime changes and their ecological impacts occur over timescales that are too long for direct observation. Here we analyse centennial-3 and millennial-scale shifts in fire regimes and compositional turnover to track the consequences of fire regime shifts on Mediterranean vegetation diversity. We estimated rate-of-change, richness and compositional turnover (beta diversity) in 13 selected high-resolution palaeoecological records from Mediterranean Iberia and compared these to charcoal-inferred fire regime changes. Event sequence analysis showed fire regime shifts to be significantly temporally associated with compositional turnover, particularly during the last three millennia. We find that the timing and direction of fire and diversity change in Mediterranean Iberia are best explained by long-term human-environment interactions dating back perhaps 7500 years. Evidence suggests that Neolithic burning propagated a first wave of increasing vegetation openness and promoted woodland diversity around early farming settlements. Landscape transformation intensified around 5500-5000 cal. yr BP and accelerated during the last two millennia, as fire led to permanent transitions in ecosystem state. These fire episodes increased open vegetation diversity, decreased woodland diversity and significantly altered richness on a regional scale. Our study suggests that anthropogenic fires played a primary role in diversity changes in Mediterranean Iberia. Their millennia-long legacy in today's vegetation should be considered for biodiversity conservation and landscape management.

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Section: Fire-led Vegetation Turnovermentioning

confidence: 99%

Humans take control of fire-driven diversity changes in Mediterranean Iberia’s vegetation during the mid–late Holocene

et al. 2019

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“…The vegetation composition during the Neolithic was very different. The analysis of pollen (Revelles et al, 2014, 2015), plant macro remains such as charcoal (Caruso-Fermé and Piqué, 2014), wood (López-Bultó and Piqué, 2018), seeds and fruits (Antolín, 2016), and plant-based implements (Bosch et al, 2006; Piqué et al, 2018a) has allowed a precise picture of the landscape during the occupation to be obtained. At the closest surroundings of the settlement the dominant vegetation was represented by hygrophilous plants, such swamp sawgrass ( Cladium mariscus ), bulrush (Cyperaceae), rushes (Juncaceae), aquatic mint ( Mentha aquatica) , and a riparian forest with ash trees ( Fraxinus sp.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Buxus sempervirens and Laurus nobilis leaves from an archaeological site at 7300 cal BP (La Draga, Spain) provide a better understanding of past vegetation and human activities

et al. 2020

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Leaves are valuable, but very rare, remains in archaeological contexts, as they can provide precise information on the landscape vegetation composition, the past climatic conditions and the use of plant resources in a settlement. La Draga (Spain) is an early Neolithic site partially waterlogged, which has allowed the preservation of organic material. During the excavation of the oldest level (7300–7000 cal BP), we recovered 29 leaf samples in an optimal state of preservation. Here we explore the potential of these leaves as indicators both of the use of vegetation at the settlement and of past climatic conditions. Firstly, we determined the species identity by comparing the leaf morphological and microanatomical traits with those of contemporary individuals. Secondly, we analyzed the leaf stomatal patterning (stomatal density, index, and size) as proxies of paleoclimate during the Neolithic, when lower atmospheric CO2 and wetter conditions are documented. The leaves of La Draga were identified as Laurus nobilis and Buxus sempervirens, two evergreen species well documented at the site from other archaeobotanical records, such as charcoal and wooden implements. We found no differences in stomatal traits between the archaeological and the contemporary leaves of L. nobilis and B. sempervirens, which shows the limitation of stomatal frequency as proxies for CO2. The presence of these species at the site provides good complementary data for past woodland vegetation composition and the production of wood implements. The wide distribution of L. nobilis leaves across the site suggests that this taxon was present in the riparian forest at the site surroundings. In contrast, leaves of B. sempervirens were grouped together, which might indicate that they belonged to the same branch, probably transported as raw material from nearby forests to the settlement. This study illustrates the value of archaeological leaves to provide a better understanding on the past vegetation and human activities.

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“…Extraordinary preservation conditions in pile dwellings lead to the excavation of vast amounts of archaeological wood. Early examples from the 6th millennium BCE are restricted to southern Europe (e.g., López-Bultó and Piqué Huerta, 2018;Naumov, 2020;Fermé et al, 2021). In central Europe, pile dwellings appeared in the circumalpine lakes during the 5th millennium BCE and are listed as a UNESCO world heritage "Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps" since 2011, protecting a total of 111 archaeological sites in six countries 5 .…”

Section: Archaeological Woodmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dendroarchaeology in Europe

et al. 2022

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Human evolution was strongly related to environmental factors. Woodlands and their products played a key role in the production of tools and weapons, and provided unique resources for constructions and fuel. Therefore wooden finds are essential in gaining insights into climatic and land use changes but also societal development during the Holocene. Dendroarchaeological investigations, based on tree rings, wood anatomy and techno-morphological characteristics are of great importance for a better understanding of past chronological processes as well as human-environment-interactions. Here we present an overview of the sources, methods, and concepts of this interdisciplinary field of dendroarchaeology focusing on Europe, where several tree-ring chronologies span most of the Holocene. We describe research examples from different periods of human history and discuss the current state of field. The long settlement history in Europe provides a myriad of wooden archeological samples not only for dating but also offer exciting new findings at the interface of natural and social sciences and the humanities.

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Wood Procurement at the Early Neolithic site of La Draga (Banyoles, Barcelona)

Cited by 19 publications

References 31 publications

Humans take control of fire-driven diversity changes in Mediterranean Iberia’s vegetation during the mid–late Holocene

Humans take control of fire-driven diversity changes in Mediterranean Iberia’s vegetation during the mid–late Holocene

Buxus sempervirens and Laurus nobilis leaves from an archaeological site at 7300 cal BP (La Draga, Spain) provide a better understanding of past vegetation and human activities

Dendroarchaeology in Europe

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