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

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).