New Paper - Tribute to our friend Lydia Zapata

Our paper "The first agricultural tools: a view from both ends of the Mediterranean" has just been published.

This is a job we were expecting since it is part of a monograph in homage to our great friend Lydia Zapata who left us a short time ago.

It is certainly a way of recognizing the human and scientific quality of Lydia with which we shared beautiful moments.

You can see in: 

ENLACE

Back in Greece! Neo-Innova project studying early farmers in Crete and Boeotia

Within the frame of the Neo-Innova project we have been back in Greece, working on the flaked stone tool assemblages from Knossos in Crete and Sarakenos cave in Boeotia. Results have been exciting and new data on harvesting technology diffusion and evolution have been gathered. The picture is getting clearer!

We would like to thank all the people that made this study possible, for their kindness and support: Valasia Isaakidou, Amy Boogard, Paul Halstead, Maria Ntinou, James Conolly, Paul Halstad, Christina Tsorakis, Adamantios Sampson, Tonia Tsourouni, ... and many others.

In Knossos.

At work... analising Sarakenos Cave tools.

View of the Gla village, an important fortified site of the Mycenaean civilization.

EAA 2017 Maastricht Conference - "Approaches to Early Farming Systems: diffusion and development of agricultural practices into the Mediterranean - Session #285"

The 23rd EAA 2017 conference  has successfully took place in Maastricht and we are proud to have participated with a session on the "Approaches to Early Farming Systems: diffusion and development of agricultural practices into the Mediterranean". We wouls like to thanks the EAA, the congress organizers, all the colleagues that have participated to the session and our institutions (CNRS / UMR 7055, IMF-CSIC).

Moisson et dépiquage expérimentaux (Bernard Gassin)

Une expérimentation de moisson et de dépiquage de Triticum monococcum a eu lieu du 27 au 30 août 2017 à Séranon, dans les montagnes de l’arrière-pays des Alpes Maritimes. Ces expériences permettent de documenter la variabilité des usures des faucilles selon les emmanchements et la morphologie des faucilles et des éléments de tribulum. On a ainsi testé deux emmanchements de lames uniques selon des modalités connues ou supposées pour le Néolithique ancien et moyen de Méditerranée occidentale, en oblique (type La Draga) et en parallèle dans un manche courbe.

Nous avons également testé un emmanchement en série de lames larges denticulées, selon un modèle de l’âge du Bronze en Grèce. Ce même type de lame a été également testé sur un modèle de tribulum élaboré par P. Anderson (CEPAM, CNRS, Nice) pour répliquer et tester des tribulums de Mésopotamie.

La moisson, le dépiquage, par piétinement et hachage au tribulum, et le vannage, permettent également de documenter un référentiel pour l’analyse des phytolithes (travaux J. F. Gibaja, thèse en préparation S. Alkalesh). Cette session expérimentale poursuit les travaux menés depuis des années par P. Anderson, notamment dans le cadre du programme EARTH, et a bénéficié cette année du soutien du programme “La difusión del neolítico en el Mediterráneo centro-occidental: agricultura, innovaciones tecnológicas y carbono 14” (Diffusion of Neolithic in the Central Western Mediterranean: agriculture, technological innovations and 14C).

Equipe : Patricia Anderson (CEPAM, Nice), Souhair Alkalesh (CEPAM), Bernard Gassin (TRACES, Toulouse), Marie Montagné (LAMPEA, Aix-en-Provence), Mondher Mhamdi (Université de Kairouan, Tunisie).

Analysis of Lithic Tools from Cova d'en Pardo and Cova Randero. Alicante's Archaeological Museum

Recently we went to Alicante's Archaeological Museum, in order to study the lithic tools from Cova d'en Pardo and Cova Randero. It was awesome to share the tasks with Ignacio Martín and the archaeologists managing the archaeological fieldworks: Gabriel García Atienzar, Laura Sirvent and Jorge Soler.

It was a great experience with excellent results. With these two archaeological sites, we are further completing the studies of Neolithic sites in Valencia region. The results from these recent works will be soon published in a monographic book about Cova d'en Pardo.

Thanks to Gabriel, Laura and Jorge for the friendship and their collaboration; and also thanks to the curators and technicians from the museum for their professionalism and kindness.

New Article on Neolithic Harvesting technologies!

We are proud to present a new article on the Neolithic harvesting technologies:

This article, authored by Ibáñez, J.J., Gibaja, J.F., Gassin, B. and Mazzucco, N., is part of a recently published book: "Times of Neolithic Transition along the Western Mediterranean" edited by Oreto García-Puchol and Domingo C. Salazar-García. 

Thanks to everybody that made this study possible!

Neolithic Sickles from Portugal

A few days ago we travelled to Lisbon for studying a series of Ancient Neolithic sites in Portugal. The results have been great, as we were able to obtain relevant results from three different sites, some of which have nor been ever published (then, the data about them is still unpublished).

We want to say thanks to Antonio Faustino Carvalho and Joao Cardoso because it was due to their good dispositions that we were able to study the sites of Pedreira de Amoreiras, Gafanheira and Carrascal.

The results will complete the ongoing image about the first Neolithic sickles in the westernmost area of the Mediterranean basin.

We want to say thanks, also, to Antonio, Joao and all our friends at Centro de Estudos Arqueológicos sited on Fábrica da Pólvora.

Colloque Internacional RPA: Les Rencontres préhistoriques d’oued el Akarit

We recently took part in the first “Colloque Internacional RPA: Les Rencontres préhistoriques d’oued el Akarit” where, thanks to our colleagues L. Belhouchet, R. Khedhaier, N. Aouadi, H. B Sghari, H. Lakhal-Nasfi y H. Mekki, we presented a poster entitled Neo-Innova : The diffusion of Neolithic in the Central-Western Mediterranean: agriculture, technological innovations and radiocarbon dating" (HAR2016-75201-P): Tracing back the first farming communities of the Mediterranean by the analysis of agricultural tools

With such a work, we wanted not only to show our project’s objectives but to transmit to the attendees our interest in studying Tunisian archaeological sites. We believe it is a hugely interesting area, especially for the explanations about the neolithization of north-western Africa.

Rym Khedhaier presented the poster:


We want to especially thank Lofty, Hella, Rym and Baya for their help!

New Article: Harvesting Tools and the Spread of the Neolithic into the Central-Western Mediterranean Area

A new article has been recently published!

Mazzucco, N.,  Capuzzo G., Petrinelli Pannocchia C., Ibáñez J.J., Gibaja, J.F. Harvesting tools and the spread of the Neolithic into the Central-Western Mediterranean area, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2017.04.018

This paper discusses the current state of research on harvesting technologies of the first farming communities of the central and western Mediterranean area between ca. 6000-5900 cal BC and 4800-4700 cal BC. New data obtained from the analysis of almost 40 sites from the Italian Peninsula is compared with data previously collected from the Iberian Peninsula and southern France. Results indicate the existence of at least two different harvesting traditions, one characterized by curved sickles used for harvesting at a low or middle height; the other characterized by reaping knives with parallel hafted blades, probably mainly used for ear harvesting. Processes of innovation and change have been highlighted, suggesting that harvesting techniques changed and evolved through time. Besides, the mechanism and pace of diffusion of curved sickles have been explored, too.

We would like to express our gratitude to those colleagues who are participating in this project, allowing and helping us to analyze the sickle elements which are the basis of this study: D. Arobba, L. Baglioni, M. Baioni, P. Biagi, P. Boccuccia, F. Briois, F. Cavulli, M. Colombo, C. Conati Barbaro, A.M. De Angelis, S. Forenbaher, J. Guilaine, S. Grimaldi, S. Kacar, C. Lemorini, C. Longhi, V. Leonini, D. Lo Vetro, F. Martini, D. Mengoli, A. Moroni,I.M. Muntoni, A. Pedrotti, C. Perlés, A. Pessina, G. Radi, A.M. Ronchitelli, M. Serradimigni, F. Santaniello, P. Schirolli, E. Starnini, L. Sarti, G. Steffé, U. Tecchiati, I. Tirabassi, C. Tozzi, A.M. Tunzi, P. Visentini, M. Venturino Gambari and B. Voytek. This research is the result of three integrated projects: “The Diffusion of the Neolithic: Agricultural Technologies and Innovations in the Central Mediterranean Area” funded by a post-doctoral grant by the Fyssen Fondation and the collective projects “Le temps des moissons: l'arrivée des premiéres communautés d'agriculteurs en méditerranée centrale” funded by the Maison Archéologie & Ethnologie, René-Ginouvés and “La difusión del neolítico en el Mediterráneo centro-occidental: agricultura, innovaciones tecnológicas y carbono 14 - HAR2016-75201-P” funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. Additional financial aid has been provided by the UMR 7055 «Préhistoire et Technologie»; a special thanks goes to them, for their help and support in this project. Special thanks also go to Giacomo Gonella for the revision of the manuscript.