Investigating Neolithic caprine husbandry in the Central Pyrenees: Insights from a multi-proxy study at Els Trocs cave (Bisaurri, Spain)
Entity
UAM. Departamento de Prehistoria y ArqueologíaPublisher
University at BuffaloDate
2021-01-06Citation
10.1371/journal.pone.0244139
PLoS ONE 16.1 (2021): e0244139
ISSN
1932-6203 (online)DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0244139Editor's Version
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0244139Subjects
ArqueologíaRights
© 2021 Tejedor-Rodríguez et alAbstract
Sheep remains constitute the main archaeozoological evidence for the presence of Early
Neolithic human groups in the highlands of the Southern Pyrenees but understanding the
role of herding activities in the Neolithisation process of this mountain ecosystem calls for
the analysis of large and well-dated faunal assemblages. Cova de Els Trocs (Bisaurri,
Huesca, Spain), a cave located at 1564 m a.s.l on the southern slopes of the Central Pyrenees,
is an excellent case study since it was seasonally occupied throughout the Neolithic
(ca. 5312–2913 cal. BC) and more than 4000 caprine remains were recovered inside. The
multi-proxy analytical approach here presented has allowed us to offer new data elaborating
on vertical mobility practices and herd management dynamics as has not been attempted
up until now within Neolithic high-mountain sites in the Iberian Peninsula. For the first time,
δ18O and δ13C stable isotope analyses offer direct evidence on both the regular practice of
altitudinal movements of sheep flocks and the extended breeding season of sheep. Autumn
births are recorded from the second half of the fifth millennium cal. BC onwards. Age-atdeath
distributions illustrate the progressive decline in caprine perinatal mortality together
with the rising survival rate of individuals older than six months of age and the larger frequency
of adults. This trend alongside the ‘off-season’ lambing signal at the implementation
of husbandry techniques over time, probably aiming to increase the size of the flocks and
their productivity. Palaeoparasitological analyses of sediment samples document also the
growing reliance on herding activities of the human groups visiting the Els Trocs cave
throughout the Neolithic sequence. In sum, our work provides substantial arguments to conclude
that the advanced herding management skills of the Early Neolithic communities arriving in Iberia facilitated the anthropisation process of the subalpine areas of the Central
Pyrenees
Files in this item
Google Scholar:Tejedor Rodríguez, Cristina
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Moreno García, Marta
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Tornero, Carlos
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Hoffmann, Alizé
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García Martínez de Lagrán, Íñigo
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Arcusa Magallón, Héctor
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Garrido Pena, Rafael
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Royo Guillén, José Ignacio
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Díaz Navarro, Sonia
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Peña Chocarro, Leonor
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Alt, Kurt W.
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Rojo Guerra, Manuel
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