Climate change and population dynamics during the Late Mesolithic and the Neolithic transition in Iberia (original) (raw)

This work presents a review of current research lines, new discoveries and discussion points about Late Mesolithic and Early Neolithic art in Eastern Spain. First, we will review the post- Palaeolithic sequence to give an account of recent advances in chronology and interpretative changes in cultural affiliation of some styles. Then, we will focus on the main spatio-temporal patterns of stylistic variation at the macro-regional scale. Such a perspective is more suitable for analysing the relationship between social contexts of art production with the underlying mechanisms of the neolithisation process (spread of farming, cultural interaction between foragers and farmers, ethnicity and social networks among different Neolithic groups). We will argue that the Neolithic transition in the study area involved an abrupt change in artistic traditions and belief systems. For this presentation, we provide an updated overview of the post-Palaeolithic artistic sequence as an empirical framework for further discussions about the neolithization process in Eastern Spain. The Iberian Mediterranean region harbours one of the richest post-Palaeolithic rock art records of Southern Europe. The current data is irregularly distributed over the archaeological sequence. During the Late Mesolithic (of Castelnovian tradition), the art record is fragmentary, quantitatively meaningless and geographically sparse. Technically, it consists of linear and geometric (non figurative) motifs engraved on small slabs. To date, no parietal evidence has been definitely attributed to this chronological horizon. On the basis of technical and graphic conceptions, no phylogenetic relationships can be established regarding the engraved Upper Magdalenian or Early Epipaleolithic parietal and mobile art. In contrast, the record of figurative and geometric representations on both rock and portable art dated to the Early Neolithic is overwhelmingly higher and varied. It encompasses different rock art styles with figurative and geometric motifs, also represented in ceramic wares found in archaeological contexts. Three main styles are dated at the Neolithic period: the Macroschematic, the Schematic and the Levantine rock art. The Macroschematic art is geographically restricted to the central region of Mediterranean Spain. Its distribution is delimited by the settlement territory of the earliest Cardial Neolithic sites. It mainly consists of large representations of individual or double anthropomorphic figures with upraised arms, series of parallel curved lines and zigzags and other schematic motifs interpreted as human, vegetation or bull representations. This imagery reflects a strong symbolic and religious component, closely connected with iconographic concepts identified in the material culture of other Mediterranean Neolithic cultures. The Schematic rock art displays a wider geographical distribution and more extended chronology, from the Early Neolithic through the Bronze Age. Schematic motifs include very simplistic representations of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures (sheep, deer) and other geometric ones such as bars, broken lines, triangles, suns or dots created with digital imprints. Recent studies on rock art and material culture have allowed the identification of an iconographic body of Early Neolithic representations, which displays formal and conceptual similarities with the Macroschematic art. In fact, motifs of both styles are well documented on Early Neolithic ceramic decorations during the Cardial and Epicardial phases. A noticeable variability in rock art sites in terms of motifs, location patterns, number of representations and composition complexity suggest different social contexts of production and use. Finally, the Levantine style is characterized by figurative and naturalistic representations of animals and human figures often in scenes with a clear narrative sense (animalistic scenes, individual and collective hunting events, social aggregations and warfare confrontations). It is widely distributed along the Mediterranean regions of the Iberian Peninsula except for Central and Northern Catalonia. Stylistic variability within the Levantine rock art gives account of both regional variations and chronological differences also reflected in technical and composition conceptions. From a regional perspective, it suggests the emergence of intergroup identity processes that operated at different geographic scales. The chronology and cultural affiliation of the Levantine rock art has been deeply discussed during last decades. Chromatic stratigraphy, by means of superimposition of Levantine figures to Macroschematic and Early Schematic motifs, clearly indicates a Neolithic chronology. Previously accepted, Levantine mobiliar evidences on impressed ceramics have been recently discarded and attributed to the Schematic style. In addition, the representation of some objects associated with Levantine human figures, such as bracelets, some specific types of geometric microliths (crescents or long trapezes) and bifacial arrow points argues for a Neolithic chronology as well, encompassing more advanced archaeological phases (Middle Neolithic, Late Neolithic and Eneolithic). Recently, the relative chronology based on radiocarbon dating on oxalate crusts brackets the production of Levantine figures between the 6th and the 2nd millennium cal. BC.