New Approaches to the Neolithic Transition: The Last Hunters and First Farmers of the Western Mediterranean

Abstract

Any diffusionist perspective of the Neolithic, especially when population movements are involved, considers the prominence of two peoples: the Neolithic and the Mesolithic. Our attempts to discover the identity of these peoples depend on archaeology (stylistic analysis of common traits in cultural material, mainly from lithic industries) and biology (genetic analysis, especially of ancient DNA). This work focuses on the archaeological identity of the first Neolithic and last Mesolithic groups in the European Western Mediterranean, with special reference to the Iberian Mediterranean. In addition to the ‘material identity’ we analyse also the current view of population at the beginning of the Neolithic and the possibilities for Neolithic-Mesolithic contact. Population cartographies situate the last Mesolithic groups in specific areas, revealing wide ‘empty’ territories between them which appear to be those settled by the first Neolithic groups. The contemporaneity of and contact between Neolithic and Mesolithic peoples (observable through technological transfers) are highly probable but difficult to verify from current information. The cultural rift between Mesolithic and Neolithic seems evident in such areas as Mediterranean Iberia and Southeast France; and this ‘identity’ rift appears to be confirmed by paleogenetic studies, although revealing a more complex population panorama than is usually suggested in demo-cultural models.