Abstract
Abstract The first Neolithic communities settled in the East of the Iberian Peninsula developed a complex strategy of land occupation. These strategies evolved as their social, demographic, and economic bases were transformed. In this paper, we focus on the analysis of archaeological sites located under rock shelters, which were recurrently occupied throughout the Early Neolithic. To deepen this analysis, we reviewed the archaeological record of Penya Roja de Catamarruc (Planes, Alicante), as well as other sites of similar characteristics. This information, combined with different spatial analyses – prominence, visibility, and capacity of use of the soils – allowed us to define a series of patterns of occupation and exploitation of the territory of the first Neolithic communities. This study highlights the importance of the forest as a resource related not only to hunting and gathering as traditionally seen, but also to shepherding.
Highlights
Human mobility across territories has been constant throughout the species’ history, allowing them to occupy all inhabitable regions of the planet
Falguera’s highly fragmented faunistic record has been related to the intensive use of the shelter as a sheepfold (Pérez Ripoll, 2006, p. 134). These places could be associated to the hunting of wild animals
The limited visual control of the surroundings from the shelters makes it unlikely for them to be considered as specialised hunting and wild herd control posts
Summary
Human mobility across territories has been constant throughout the species’ history, allowing them to occupy all inhabitable regions of the planet. Their morphological features, as well as their archaeological record, have raised the possibility that caves may have been permanently inhabited, as seen in Cova de l’Or, the possibility of other types of use remains plausible (Martí, 2008) Other caves, located both on the coast and in the Serpis valley, as well as in the natural corridors that connect both areas, might have acted as temporary refuges associated with different activities such as shepherding, mollusc gathering, hunting, etc. Despite the considerable amount of evidence, the available information is limited by the poor preservation of the stratigraphic series, due to the sites’ morphological characteristics and their exposure to atmospheric agents These shelters have been occupied from the Early Holocene to recent times for livestock and hunting purposes, altering the archaeological deposits. We will consider Penya Roja de Catamarruc, a site whose materials refer exclusively to Neolithic occupations (Asquerino, 1972), as a case study
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