Abstract
Farming economy was first introduced to the coastal areas of Southern France by Impressa groups (ca. 5850–5650 cal BC), originating from Italy, and subsequently spread to the hinterland by Cardial/Epicardial communities (ca. 5400–4500 cal BC). Fruit and seed remains preserved in archaeological sites provide direct evidence of the botanical resources cultivated and collected by these ancient social groups. But the transition from hunter-gathering to agricultural subsistence strategies is still poorly known in the area, due to insufficient and sometimes outdated archaeobotanical studies. Here we present new results and a critical review of all the available archaeobotanical data, in order to characterize food plant resources, cultivation practices and their variations in time and space. The archaeological dataset is composed of 19 sites (20 site/phases) mostly located in the Mediterranean lowlands. Our results demonstrate that farming economy of the Impressa groups was focused on the cultivation of hulled wheats, with only slight differences compared to their South Italian origins. The contribution of naked cereals increased in the Cardial/Epicardial agriculture, in agreement with the situation in other areas of the Western Mediterranean. The subsistence economy of hinterland sites seems to include a wider contribution of wild fruits and more limited contribution of crops. However, the poor evidence of cultivation activities in the hinterland is likely due first to the difficulties to find and excavate the sites and perform large-scale archaeobotanical sampling. It is likely that agriculture played a significant but variable role between sites and territories.
Highlights
Among all the characteristics of the European Neolithic the advent of food production economy, i.e. crop cultivation and animal husbandry, is regarded as especially prominent [1]
Because we have no means of measuring the quantities of food products produced and consumed by Neolithic people it is difficult to assess the contribution of agriculture to their subsistence and economy, as suggested by the ongoing debates about the respective contribution of wild resources and domesticated plants and animals, and about the variability of strategies in space and time [3, 4, 5, 6, 7]
Our objective was to assemble all the archaeobotanical data that was available in order to document the Early Neolithic plant economy and progression of agriculture in south-western France, from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic coast (Fig 1)
Summary
Among all the characteristics of the European Neolithic (pottery making, polished axe blades, sedentism) the advent of food production economy, i.e. crop cultivation and animal husbandry, is regarded as especially prominent [1]. The transition from hunter-gathering to farming economic systems is considered a change with major consequences for the history of the world and of humanity. The transition from hunter-gathering to farming economic systems was not necessarily an abrupt change. Because we have no means of measuring the quantities of food products produced and consumed by Neolithic people it is difficult to assess the contribution of agriculture to their subsistence and economy, as suggested by the ongoing debates about the respective contribution of wild resources and domesticated plants and animals, and about the variability of strategies in space and time [3, 4, 5, 6, 7]
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