This is the blog of the project "Neo-Innova: The diffusion of Neolithic in the Central-Western Mediterranean: agriculture, technological innovations and radiocarbon dating" (HAR2016-75201-P). This research project focuses on one of the main turning points of human history: the diffusion of Neolithic. Even if it is well established that the Near East was the first focus of the invention of farming, around X-IX milenium BC, the mechanisms and the paths of its spreading in the rest of the Mediterranean are yet to be unfolded. During the last decades, the origin of European Neolithic has been explained as result of a diffusion process through two main axes: a Northern one, crossing central Europe, and a Southern one along the Mediterranean coasts. The current project is aimed to analyse the process of Neolithic diffusion through the Central-Western Mediterranean through analysis of the techniques and tools associated with the crop-harvesting and -processing tools. Analysis of those tools has to be supported by an extensive program of radiocarbon dating and a cross-analysis of the crop-harvesting/14C with the information proceeding from the environmental/ecological, the technological and the cereals consumed.

Thursday 3 May 2018

Studying La Dehesilla tools (Cádiz, Andalusia)

For several weeks we have been working in the Neolithic settlement of La Dehesilla (Cádiz, Andalusia). This is one of the most well-known sites in the South of Spain. Is was excavated at the end of the 20th century by Manuel Pellicer and Pilar Acosta, and recently taken up by Daniel Garcia Rivero (University of Seville).



The results will help us to know the tooling of the first Neolithic communities of the SW of the Iberian Peninsula, of which we had very little information.


More information in:http://institucional.us.es/evocultura/dehesilla/index.php?page=historiografia

Professor Pellicer has recently died. From this blog we thank you for your excellent work


Thanks also to Daniel Garcia for being able to work with him in the study of the materials found in the last excavations

New papers on a monograph about Neolithic expansion

With enthusiasm, we present the monograph that we recently published in the journal Quaternary International. Under the title of The Neolithic expansion in the Western Mediterranean: Understanding a global phenomenon from regional perspectives.


Edited by Juan F. Gibaja, Juan J. Ibáñez, Niccolò Mazzucco and Xavier Terradas, several researchers of the project have collaborated in the edition and publication of some of the articles:

The beginning of the Neolithic in the Po Plain (northern Italy): Problems and perspectives Original Research Article
Pages 301-317
Elisabetta Starnini, Paolo Biagi, Niccolò Mazzucco

Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the northeast of Iberia: Chronology and socioeconomic dynamics Original Research Article
Pages 383-397
F. Xavier Oms, Xavier Terradas, Berta Morell, Juan F. Gibaja



When the Mediterranean met the Atlantic. A socio-economic view on Early Neolithic communities in central-southern Portugal Original Research Article
Pages 472-484
António Faustino Carvalho

Harvesting tools and the spread of the Neolithic into the Central-Western Mediterranean area Original Research Article
Pages 511-528
Niccolò Mazzucco, Giacomo Capuzzo, Cristiana Petrinelli Pannocchia, Juan José Ibáñez, Juan Francisco Gibaja


From this blog we offer our greatest congratulations to all the authors who have collaborated.

Studying sickles in Thessaloniki

At the beginning of April, we travelled to Thessaloniki for a collaboration with Foteini Adaktylou and Maria Pappa to analyze the Neolithic tools of the settlements of Revenia and Makriyalos.

We have been able to study a small number of pieces from both sites since the archaeological record is enormously rich. The data obtained is excellent and helps us understand the Neolithic sickles of Northern Greece.

It has been great to be able to collaborate with Foteini and María, as well as with the curators and technicians of the Makriyelos Museum and Angeliki Kita, to whom we thank for their help.

In June we will return to Thessaloniki to continue working on new deposits. This will allow us to complete our knowledge about these Neolithic lithic tools.


Museum of Makriyalos. Wonderful to work! 

In front of Mount Olympus