sylvestris/uncinata, thus suggesting the possible presence of arboreal vegetation in
the proximity of the site. The growth rings displayed undulations caused by the
pressure of the weight of snow. The rings were also very narrow, attesting the slow
growth of trees in highland areas (Gassiot et al. 2010).
4.3 The Arrival of the Neolithic: The Pyrenees
as Farming Land
Several centres of the initial domestication of animals and plants are now known on
the different continents. Of these, the one that led to the adoption of domesticated
species in the whole Mediterranean and Europe, in general, was located in the Near
East. The gradual domestication of cereals, legumes, pigs, cattle and ovicaprids
took place there about 10,000 or 9000 cal BC (Edwards et al. 2007; Haak et al.
2010; Zeder 2011). In the following 3000 years, these species rapidly spread
beyond the “Fertile Crescent” to the Balkans, the Danube basin, the shores of the
Mediterranean and North Africa, etc. The study of this process currently focus on:
determining the time and mechanisms in which this expansion took place; the social
and economic changes involved for the communities participating in the process;
the relationship between groups of migrants or “colonists” and local communities;
and the impact caused on the natural environment (Edwards et al. 2007; Haak et al.
2010; Zeder 2011).
Within these parameters, the study of the first agrarian communities in mountain
areas, and in the Pyrenees in particular, is of great historical and anthropological
importance. Until a few years ago, there was a somewhat non-explicit consensus
that the range, like other mountain areas in the Iberian Peninsula, remained mostly
on the sidelines of the first expansion of farming activities (Bahn 1983; Bertranpetit
and Vives 1995; Jiménez 2006; Llovera 1986; Yáñez et al. 2002; Yáñez 2005;
Orengo et al. 2014, Walsh et al. 2005). According to this concept, the adversity of
mountain environments for the establishment of agriculture and their isolation
would have marked the rate and form of the process, which to a great extent would
have been much less intense and later than in the foothills. However, as it will be
shown below, new data that is being collected thanks to recent archaeological
projects is demonstrating that the Pyrenees were not marginal areas and that their
Neolithisation has been a much more rapid and extensive process than previously
thought.
4.3.1 The First Neolithic Occupations in the Pyrenees
The oldest evidence of prehistoric arable farming and animal husbandry in the
Pyrenees and surrounding area is dated in the first half of the Holocene, at around
84
E. Gassiot Ballbè et al.
the proximity of the site. The growth rings displayed undulations caused by the
pressure of the weight of snow. The rings were also very narrow, attesting the slow
growth of trees in highland areas (Gassiot et al. 2010).
4.3 The Arrival of the Neolithic: The Pyrenees
as Farming Land
Several centres of the initial domestication of animals and plants are now known on
the different continents. Of these, the one that led to the adoption of domesticated
species in the whole Mediterranean and Europe, in general, was located in the Near
East. The gradual domestication of cereals, legumes, pigs, cattle and ovicaprids
took place there about 10,000 or 9000 cal BC (Edwards et al. 2007; Haak et al.
2010; Zeder 2011). In the following 3000 years, these species rapidly spread
beyond the “Fertile Crescent” to the Balkans, the Danube basin, the shores of the
Mediterranean and North Africa, etc. The study of this process currently focus on:
determining the time and mechanisms in which this expansion took place; the social
and economic changes involved for the communities participating in the process;
the relationship between groups of migrants or “colonists” and local communities;
and the impact caused on the natural environment (Edwards et al. 2007; Haak et al.
2010; Zeder 2011).
Within these parameters, the study of the first agrarian communities in mountain
areas, and in the Pyrenees in particular, is of great historical and anthropological
importance. Until a few years ago, there was a somewhat non-explicit consensus
that the range, like other mountain areas in the Iberian Peninsula, remained mostly
on the sidelines of the first expansion of farming activities (Bahn 1983; Bertranpetit
and Vives 1995; Jiménez 2006; Llovera 1986; Yáñez et al. 2002; Yáñez 2005;
Orengo et al. 2014, Walsh et al. 2005). According to this concept, the adversity of
mountain environments for the establishment of agriculture and their isolation
would have marked the rate and form of the process, which to a great extent would
have been much less intense and later than in the foothills. However, as it will be
shown below, new data that is being collected thanks to recent archaeological
projects is demonstrating that the Pyrenees were not marginal areas and that their
Neolithisation has been a much more rapid and extensive process than previously
thought.
4.3.1 The First Neolithic Occupations in the Pyrenees
The oldest evidence of prehistoric arable farming and animal husbandry in the
Pyrenees and surrounding area is dated in the first half of the Holocene, at around
84
E. Gassiot Ballbè et al.