Luis Teira | Universidad de Cantabria (original) (raw)

Papers by Luis Teira

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2020

espanolKharaysin es un yacimiento datado en el Neolitico Preceramico A y B, entre finales del x y... more espanolKharaysin es un yacimiento datado en el Neolitico Preceramico A y B, entre finales del x y la primera mitad del viii milenio cal a. C., situado en el pueblo de Quneya, junto al rio Zarqa, con 25 ha de extension. Por el momento se han detectado cuatro fases de ocupacion: dos correspondientes al Preceramico A y otras dos al B. La abundancia de restos humanos, de utillaje, faunisticos y arqueobotanicos recuperados hace de Kharaysin un yacimiento clave para comprender los origenes de la agricultura y la ganaderia, asi como el proceso de sedentarizacion de las poblaciones en el norte de Jordania. EnglishKharaysin is a Pre-Pottery Neolithic A and Pre-Pottery Neolithic B site, dated between the end of the 10th millennium and the first half of the 8th millennium cal BC. It is located at the village of Quneya, by the Zarqa River, with 25 ha in extension. Up to the present, four phases of occupation have been discovered, two corresponding to the PPNA and two to the PPNB. The abundant i...

HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2021

VII Jornades d'Arqueologia de les Illes Balears: (Maó, 30 de setembre i 1 i 2 d'octubre de 2016), 2017, ISBN 978-84-947942-0-9, págs. 433-440, 2017

Trabajo presentado en la VI Reunion Cientifica de Arqueomalacologia de la Peninsula Iberica, cele... more Trabajo presentado en la VI Reunion Cientifica de Arqueomalacologia de la Peninsula Iberica, celebrada en Malloraca (Espana), del 7 al 9 de noviembre de 2019

Although the extensive use of lime plaster for architectural and other purposes is a characterist... more Although the extensive use of lime plaster for architectural and other purposes is a characteristic hallmark of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) in the southern Levant, no obvious kilns have been identified in archaeological contexts yet. In this work we present details of archaeological pit-kiln structures used to lime-plaster production found in the Kharaysin PPNB site (Jordan). Geochemical, mineralogical and petrological characterization of the associated raw materials and products, lime-plaster floor and mortars, from the same site allowed the tracing of the early production and use of lime.Peer reviewe

Antiquity, 2020

During the Early Neolithic in the Near East, particularly from the mid ninth millennium cal BC on... more During the Early Neolithic in the Near East, particularly from the mid ninth millennium cal BC onwards, human iconography became more widespread. Explanations for this development, however, remain elusive. This article presents a unique assemblage of flint artefacts from the Middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (eighth millennium BC) site of Kharaysin in Jordan. Contextual, morphological, statistical and use-wear analyses of these artefacts suggest that they are not tools but rather human figurines. Their close association with burial contexts suggests that they were manufactured and discarded during mortuary rituals and remembrance ceremonies that included the extraction, manipulation and redeposition of human remains.

Paléorient, 2016

L’étude des échanges d’obsidienne permet d’obtenir une meilleure connaissance des systèmes d’inte... more L’étude des échanges d’obsidienne permet d’obtenir une meilleure connaissance des systèmes d’interaction entre les villages sédentaires au début du Néolithique au Proche-Orient. Le modèle d’échange d’obsidienne, down-the-line, a dominé pour expliquer la diffusion de l’obsidienne entre les villages néolithiques. Cependant, l’information disponible sur la quantité d’obsidienne présente dans les sites, les simulations mathématiques de cette distribution et l’observation des parallèles ethnographiques suggèrent l’existence d’un modèle d’échange plus complexe au cours de cette période. Dans cet article, nous utilisons l’analyse de régression pour étudier les données archéologiques et proposer l’existence d’un réseau complexe, testé par modélisation mathématique, pour expliquer les échanges d’obsidienne. À l’appui des données ethnographiques et archéologiques, on discute des implications d’ordre social et économique de ce réseau complexe d’échanges entre les villages néolithiques.

Informe de las actividades arqueológicas llevadas a cabo al oeste de Homs en 2009 por el equipo s... more Informe de las actividades arqueológicas llevadas a cabo al oeste de Homs en 2009 por el equipo sirio-líbano-españolInstituto de Patrimonio Cultural, Ministerio de Cultura. Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, proyectos I+D. Programa EXCAVA, Generalitat de Catalunya. Iniversidad St Joseph de Beyrout

Jeftelik is an example of a site with early Natufian levels, dated around 12,000 cal BC. At the m... more Jeftelik is an example of a site with early Natufian levels, dated around 12,000 cal BC. At the moment we have detected elements of a building structure. This is a pit whose walls were reinforced with stones. Its size and shape suggest that this building was a human dwelling. Parallels are known of half-buried huts, with stone walls reinforcing the pit walls, at several Natufian sites, like Ain-Mallaha, Baaz or Dederiyeh. The test excavations at Tell Marj have revealed a pottery Neolithic site, dated to about 6000 calBC. The site of Tell Ezou has revealed Bronze Age and Chalcolithic archaeological levels. The megalithic necropolis at Orontes (Qattina) and the Bouqaia, pose interesting interpretation problems in terms of the identification of the human groups who built these tombs. The geoarchaeological survey of the Bouqaia basin has demonstrated the enormous potential of the area for the study of environmental changes during the Holocene.

Article 25fa pilot End User Agreement This publication is distributed under the terms of Article ... more Article 25fa pilot End User Agreement This publication is distributed under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act (Auteurswet) with explicit consent by the author. Dutch law entitles the maker of a short scientific work funded either wholly or partially by Dutch public funds to make that work publicly available for no consideration following a reasonable period of time after the work was first published, provided that clear reference is made to the source of the first publication of the work. This publication is distributed under The Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU) 'Article 25fa implementation' pilot project. In this pilot research outputs of researchers employed by Dutch Universities that comply with the legal requirements of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act are distributed online and free of cost or other barriers in institutional repositories. Research outputs are distributed six months after their first online publication in the original published version and with proper attribution to the source of the original publication. You are permitted to download and use the publication for personal purposes. Please note that you are not allowed to share this article on other platforms, but can link to it. All rights remain with the author(s) and/or copyrights owner(s) of this work. Any use of the publication or parts of it other than authorised under this licence or copyright law is prohibited. Neither Radboud University nor the authors of this publication are liable for any damage resulting from your (re)use of this publication. If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the ma terial

Este Proyecto ha sido financiado por el Instituto de Patrimonio Cultural de Espana (Ministerio de... more Este Proyecto ha sido financiado por el Instituto de Patrimonio Cultural de Espana (Ministerio de Cultura) y por el Ministerio de Economia, Industria y Competitividad (HAR2013-47480-P y HAR2016-74999-P).

BOLETÍN GEOLÓGICO Y MINERO, 2018

Informes Y Trabajos, 2012

The Asturian is a classic cultural complex of the European coastal Mesolithic. Since its discover... more The Asturian is a classic cultural complex of the European coastal Mesolithic. Since its discovery by Count Vega del Sella in 1914, about one hundred thirty sites have been registered solely in Eastern Asturias, and several tens of them have been explored. However, archaeological information about this Mesolithic complex is tremendously biased. Most of the sites are shell middens in which only small often calcited sections of the original layers were preserved. One particularly poorly understood aspect is the charac- terisation of the dwelling places. Despite the high density of sites (one of the highest in the European Mesolithic), few dwelling oors features have been described. For this reason, the investigation of this issue was speci cally included into the ’COASTTRAN’ research project, which aimed at studying the Mesolithic and the transition to the Neolithic on the Atlantic coast of Europe. This investigation started out with the hypothesis that most Asturian dwelling-places would have been located in open air locations near caves containing shell middens — where waste was accumulated. To test this hypothesis, certain areas that presented the conditions for the preservation of Holocene sediments and therefore seemed to be appropriate for geophysical surveying were selected. This paper presents the results obtained at an open air site located near the cave of El Alloru (Llanes, Asturias) characterized by a shell midden deposit. This site was studied by geophysical surveying and an excavation was carried out in 2013. The paper brie y describes the stratigraphy, discusses the absolute dates and presents the preliminary results of the study of the lithic assemblage and of the micromorphological, zooarchaeolo- gical (mammals and marine invertebrates) and archaeobotanical analyses (palynology, anthracology and carpology). El Alloru displays a long sequence with evidence of open air human occupation, which started at a still undetermined time point in the Upper Palaeolithic, continued during the Mesolithic and nally yielded also Prehistoric remains (at the transition from theLate Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age). The most signi cant phase, and the one with the greatest density of evidence of occupation, is dated to the Late Mesolithic, between 7000 and 5500 cal. BC and can be assigned to the Asturian cultural complex. With regard to this phase, the excavations made it possible to highlight the existence of an open air activity area, near a cave that contained a shell-midden. This is shown by the relative variety of the documented archaeological remains, the features identi ed and the signs of trampling at the basis of the main occupation level. It still remains unclear whether this was a camp or an area in which speci c activities took place, but in any case, the hypothesis could be con rmed: Asturian settlements existed in the surroundings of caves containing shell middens. The existence of differences between the archaeological contents of the open-air deposit and the shell-midden should also be noted, particularly the density of lithic artefacts. This seems to con rm that the caves basically contained accumulations of waste associated with nearby occupations. The Mesolithic industry at El Alloru was mostly made from quartzite. The assemblage is outstanding for its important number of Astu- rian picks, one the highest known. The archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological records suggest that the groups that occupied El Alloru in the Mesolithic exploited a wide range of biotopes in the eastern part of the Asturias province. The anthracological study points in that direction, indicating that wood was collected in the oak forests that at that time covered areas of acidic soils but also in the holm oak groves on the limestone massifs. The mammal fauna displays the typical traits of the Asturian and the Mesolithic in Northern Spain in general, with a clear dominance of red deer, complemented by forest species such as roe deer and wild boar. Evidence of the consumption of hazel nuts, which is also very common in the Mesolithic of Northern Spain, should also be noted. Marine resources were equally exploited, as shown by the remains of sh and molluscs that have been documented. It is interesting that the sample of the latter that has been studied to date, while dominated by the characteristic Asturian species (limpets and top shells), displays a peculiarity already observed at this site and at others, which is that of higher percentages of the top shell (Phorcus lineatus) than is usual in this archaeological complex.

Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences

Cremation is an unusual burial practice in the Neolithic of the Near East. At Kharaysin, a Pre-Po... more Cremation is an unusual burial practice in the Neolithic of the Near East. At Kharaysin, a Pre-Pottery Neolithic site in Jordan, we found a secondary burial with evidence of burnt human bones. This paper assesses (1) the intentionality of fire-induced alterations on human bones, (2) the pre-burning condition of the human remains, and (3) their significance within the burial customs of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic in the Near East. Burial SU-815 was a secondary multiple burial with burnt and unburnt human remains from at least three adult individuals. Directly dated at 8010 ± 30 BP (7058–6825 cal BC), it corresponds to the Late Pre-Potttery Neolithic B (LPPNB). Macroscopic changes in human remains were analysed to investigate the circumstances of burning. Some bones were selected for mineralogical and compositional analysis through X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Colour changes, fractures, cracking, and chemical changes on bones were identified as resulting from fire-induced alterations. Our results show that the bones were intentionally burnt when they were already skeletonised or almost dry. This intentional manipulation using fire happened after other burial practices took place. After burning, the bones were collected and transported to this burial during a final episode. Fire-induced manipulation or cremation was not a significant development of the habitual burial practice, but evidence from Kharaysin shows an innovation in handling the human remains. Therefore, this case provides new insight into the complexity and variability of burial customs within the Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B in Southern Levant.

A series of studies have documented how Steppe pastoralist-related ancestry reached central Europ... more A series of studies have documented how Steppe pastoralist-related ancestry reached central Europe by at least 2500 BCE, while Iranian farmer-related ancestry was present in Aegean Europe by at least 1900 BCE. However, the spread of these ancestries into the western Mediterranean where they have contributed to many populations living today remains poorly understood. We generated genome-wide ancient DNA from the Balearic Islands, Sicily, and Sardinia, increasing the number of individuals with reported data from these islands from 3 to 52. We obtained data from the oldest skeleton excavated from the Balearic islands (dating to ∼2400 BCE), and show that this individual had substantial Steppe pastoralist-derived ancestry; however, later Balearic individuals had less Steppe heritage reflecting geographic heterogeneity or immigration from groups with more European first farmer-related ancestry. In Sicily, Steppe pastoralist ancestry arrived by ∼2200 BCE and likely came at least in part fr...