Radiocarbon Dating the Beginning of the Neolithic in Iberia: New Results, New Problems

Radiocarbon dating of samples of charred cereal, biomolecularly confirmed sheep bone, human bone from burials, and diagnostic artifacts places the appearance of the ‘Neolithic package’ in Iberia ca. 5500 Cal bc. The earliest dates are statistically indistinguishable from Catalonia to Portugal and, w...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Martins, Haidé (author)
Other Authors: Oms, F. Xavier (author), Pereira, Luísa (author), Pike, Alistair W. G. (author), Rowsell, Keri (author), Zilhão, João (author)
Format: article
Language:eng
Published: 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10451/31077
Country:Portugal
Oai:oai:repositorio.ul.pt:10451/31077
Description
Summary:Radiocarbon dating of samples of charred cereal, biomolecularly confirmed sheep bone, human bone from burials, and diagnostic artifacts places the appearance of the ‘Neolithic package’ in Iberia ca. 5500 Cal bc. The earliest dates are statistically indistinguishable from Catalonia to Portugal and, whenever their archaeological context is secure, the associated pottery includes a significant, if not majority cardial-decorated component. These patterns are consistent with models of maritime pioneer colonization whereby the arrival of domesticates results from the dispersal of farming groups carrying the Cardial cultural tradition.