By the mid-8th millennium calBP, both sides of the Western Mediterranean were inhabited by hunter-gatherer groups which probably maintained intercontinental contacts. However, from around 7.6 ka calBP, Neolithic groups from the Eastern Mediterranean arrived in the region along the littoral of what is today Andalusia. Neolithic innovations were adopted step by step by local Epipalaeolithic groups and subsequently dispersed via already existing networks. At the same time indigenous elements were integrated into this transitional process. New ¹⁴C-data confirm the simultaneity of the Epipalaeolithic–Neolithic transition in southern Spain and northern Morocco. Results are discussed considering models and concepts from social anthropology dealing with migration and acculturation.

Technology, typology and use wear analysis of lithic tools during the early Neolithic in the cave of Murciélagos de Zuheros (Córdoba, Spain): Reflexions on the Neolithisation of the southern Iberian Peninsula

• António Faustino Carvalho^a,  , 
• Juan Francisco Gibaja^b, , 
• Beatriz Gavilán^c, 

• ^a Instituto de Arqueologia e Paleociências das Universidades Nova de Lisboa e do Algarve, Universidade do Algarve, FCHS, Campus de Gambelas, 8000-117 Faro, Portugal
• ^b Departamento de Arqueología del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC-IMF), Investigador contratado por el Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación - Subprograma Ramón y Cajal, C/Egipciàques, 15, 08001 Barcelona, Espagne
• ^c Universidad de Huelva, Facultad de Humanidades, Campus del El Carmen, Avda, Tres de Marzo S/N, Espagne

Abstract

The cave of Murciélagos de Zuheros (Cordoba, Spain) is one of the most important sites in Southern Iberian Peninsula. Its thick chronostratigraphic sequence includes occupations ranging from the Middle Palaeolithic to Roman times. Occupation levels corresponding to the earliest farming communities that established in modern-day Andalucia are remarkable due to its archaeological richness. This article focuses on the study of the lithic industry from these Early Neolithic levels, which is approached according to various tightly connected questions: raw material characterization, technical systems of production, and morphology and function of tools. Obtained results in their archaeological context are related to the questions on the origin of the Neolithic in Southern Iberian Peninsula.

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