Pen management and livestock activities based on phytoliths, dung spherulites, and minerals from Cova Gran de Santa Linya (Southeastern pre-Pyrenees)

TY - JOUR

T1 - Pen management and livestock activities based on phytoliths, dung spherulites, and minerals from Cova Gran de Santa Linya (Southeastern pre-Pyrenees)

AU - Burguet-Coca, Aitor

AU - Polo-Díaz, Ana

AU - Martínez-Moreno, Jorge

AU - Benito-Calvo, Alfonso

AU - Allué, Ethel

AU - Mora, Rafael

AU - Cabanes, Dan

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2020, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

PY - 2020/7/1

Y1 - 2020/7/1

N2 - The archaeological evidence from Cova Gran de Santa Linya suggests that during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, the site was used as a livestock enclosure where the accumulated excrements were burned, generating a sequence known by the term fumier. Here we present the results of an integrated study of silica phytoliths, dung spherulites, and mineral composition of sedimentary matrix from the remaining Holocene sequence. The use of fire to sanitize the space had important consequences for the preservation of dung spherulites and the accumulation of phytoliths. Phytolith assemblages indicate that the animals enclosed in the cave were mostly sheep that exploited the pastures nearby the site during the year. In this sense, the results from our modern plant reference collection challenge the assumption that grass inflorescence phytolith can be used as a seasonality indicator.

AB - The archaeological evidence from Cova Gran de Santa Linya suggests that during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, the site was used as a livestock enclosure where the accumulated excrements were burned, generating a sequence known by the term fumier. Here we present the results of an integrated study of silica phytoliths, dung spherulites, and mineral composition of sedimentary matrix from the remaining Holocene sequence. The use of fire to sanitize the space had important consequences for the preservation of dung spherulites and the accumulation of phytoliths. Phytolith assemblages indicate that the animals enclosed in the cave were mostly sheep that exploited the pastures nearby the site during the year. In this sense, the results from our modern plant reference collection challenge the assumption that grass inflorescence phytolith can be used as a seasonality indicator.

KW - Dung spherulites

KW - FTIR

KW - Late Prehistory

KW - Livestock

KW - Phytoliths

KW - Seasonality

KW - fumier

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85086910320

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85086910320#tab=citedBy

U2 - 10.1007/s12520-020-01101-6

DO - 10.1007/s12520-020-01101-6

M3 - Article

SN - 1866-9557

VL - 12

JO - Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences

JF - Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences

IS - 7

M1 - 148

ER -