Framing agricultural intensification in western Iberia during the Late Neolithic: A new insight through the faunal record from Los Barruecos site

Abstract

Late Neolithic archaeological records are scarce in the Tagus basin, especially in the inland Iberian Peninsula. Whilst several contexts have been documented at the mouth of the river, fewer sites dated in the 4th millennium cal BC are known in the interior, with the exception of a few megalithic contexts. For the Middle Tagus, Los Barruecos (Malpartida de Cáceres, Spain) presents a Neolithic sequence spanning the Early to Late Neolithic. Besides pottery and lithic industry, faunal remains were also recovered. The Los Barruecos Late Neolithic fauna assemblage has been analysed and a new absolute date obtained, thus framing the results chronologically. A predominance of swine, probably mainly wild boar as opposed to pig, followed by caprines and cattle, was identified. The assemblage is clearly of an anthropic nature with a secondary access by a large canid. Palynological data for the site indicates the existence of agropastoral practices further strengthening a picture of cattle and caprine herding. Complementary hunting of wild boar, red deer and occasionally leporids points to a mixed economic pattern with similarities further west in the Portuguese regions of Estremadura and Alentejo. The difference between the Western Iberia Late Neolithic faunal assemblages and the preceding Middle Neolithic, when hunting was comparatively more important, further supports the notion of agricultural intensification that is seen from the Late Neolithic onwards, also inland in the Tagus Basin.