Archaeology and Anthropology. Milá i Fontanals Institution (IMF-CSIC)

Este trabajo presenta los resultados preliminares obtenidos en la excavación de la Cova de Els
Trocs, desarrollada dentro del proyecto de investigación "Los caminos del Neolítico". La minuciosa labor
de excavación y de registro ha permitido establecer una compleja secuencia estratigráfica en la que, gracias
a una veintena de dataciones radiocarbónicas sobre eventos singulares de vida corta (semillas de cereal, huesos humanos y fauna doméstica), se han podido diferenciar cuatro momentos de ocupación distintos de
la cueva. Con estos datos y algunos análisis, también preliminares, de parte del registro (cerámica, sílex y
restos faunísticos), se ha podido definir, en una época muy temprana (inicios del último tercio del VI milenio
cal. BC.), la presencia en los pastos de montaña del Pirineo axial de un grupo humano que desarrolla
una actividad pastoril trashumante. Una población plenamente neolitizada, que conoce el trigo y la cebada,
aunque no los cultive en el entorno de la cueva, y que, a tenor de ciertas evidencias, practica complejos
rituales tanatológicos.

Archaeological survey and test excavations were conducted
at high altitude in the western Catalan Pyrenees
since 2001 to 2010. Together with palaeoecological studies
of lake cores and peat bogs, these studies (including
a series of 27 radiocarbon dates) permit one to discuss
human occupations of the high mountains from Mesolithic
times to the early Bronze Age. We evaluate the role
played by mountain areas in the development of prehistoric
communities with particular attention to the process
of postglacial colonization, the introduction and development
of farming and other agricultural practices, as well
as complementary economic activities like mining, charcoal-
burning and lumber production, with particular attention
to the relation of mountain communities to those
of other regions.

Micro-wear analysis has been applied to one of the characteristic flint tools types (foicinhas) of the III millennium cal BC in Portuguese Estremadura. Foicinhas have a specific technological and typological character and their function has been discussed long time ago without any positive results. The present use-wear study makes clear that they are sickles. This provides information about the agricultural practices of the Portuguese Chalcolithic and gives new insights as to the biography of the foicinhas. This paper highlights the contribution of micro-wear analysis for an integrated socioeconomic approach to chipped stone tools.

During the 7th and 6th millenniums BC, major changes occurred over a widespread area in the lithic industries of the late Mesolithic. We focused our research on notched blades and bladelets knapped by pressure or indirect percussion. We managed to define this technical process by Late Mesolithic Notched Blades from Western Europe and North Africa showing that these notches result from voluntary retouch, with variability in retouch modes and in uses (different operating processes and worked materials). It is a simple technical concept, connected to the recurring mode of operation, but with varied functional purposes that comes out as a result of this survey carried out in France, Belgium, Spain, Morocco and Tunisia.