Crops of the first farming communities in the Iberian Peninsula

Abstract

Agriculture was introduced in the Iberian Peninsula in the mid-6th millennium cal BC. The first Iberian farmer communities grew seven different cereal species (hulled and free-threshing wheats and hulled and naked barley), seven legumes (broad beans, lentils, peas, grass/red pea, common vetch and bitter vetch) and two oil crops (flax and poppy). The distinct agricultural diversity from area to area gave way to a complex mosaic of regional variability. This paper aims at exploring not only the main features characterising Neolithic agriculture in Iberia, but also at delineating its variability and the underlying causes linked to numerous factors including environmental constraints, economic and social issues, and cultural traditions and their demographic movements.