Human activity in the early catalan Neolithic via micromorphological analysis

Abstract

On the basis ofmicromorphological analysis of the sediment of an archaelogical site, this study aims to show that it is possible to extract data referring to human activity. We focus on three sites with sequences corresponding to the early Neolithic in Catalonia, Parco, Guineu and Vidre caves. These analyses demonstrate there was a great increase in elements of human origin: charcoal and ash, silica phytoliths, coprolites, fragments of bone and pottery, and fragments of mud with plant impressions. The diagnostic elements of this period are the long silica phytoliths (gramineae) and the coprolites of herbivorous animals (in general ovicaprines). On the basis of this evidence we hypothesis that these occupations reflect the early practice of animal stabling.