The neolithization in the Eastern Pyrenees. A model of continuity from the Mesolithic hunter-gatherers to the early farmers

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present a study of the Mesolithic and Neolithic occupations from La Font del Ros (Berga, Barcelona) in order to understand the organizational strategies of hunter-gatherer communities during the Vlllth millennium in the context of the Eastern Pyrenees and the processes which led to their neolithization during the Vlth millennium. Traditionally this region has been characterized by the lack of stratified sites with Mesolithic and Neolithic occupations which bring new data on the origins of the Neolithic in North-Eastern Catalonia, as well as the difficulty of fitting the rare documented complexes into the classic sequences established for both the South of France and the Mediterranean region of the Iberian Peninsula. In the last few years, thanks to various projects conducted on both the Pyrenean and Sub-Pyrenean slopes, new sites such as Grotte de Dourgne, Balma Margineda and La Font del Ros have provided new information which allows us to establish some recurring feature s in the settlement pattern and resource management of the Mesolithic hunter-gatherers and the early Neolithic groups along the Eastern Pyrenees. All these data seem to point to a model of neolithization in which the Mesolithic substratum, with some diversified economic strategies, incorporates the new elements of a productive economy in a gradual way, as a result of the internal developments and contradictions of these societies.