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Human diet and the chronology of neolithic societies in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula: the necropolises of Puig d’en Roca and Can Gelats (Girona, Spain)

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Abstract

Radiocarbon and palaeodiet information has been obtained for two Neolithic necropolises in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula: Puig d’en Roca and Can Gelats (Girona, Spain). Although Puig d’en Roca is one of the most important necropolises in this period, it is also one of the least known as, following its excavation in the 1950s and 1960s, it has scarcely been restudied archaeologically. Can Gelats is one of the latest funerary sites of this period to be excavated and therefore is little known to the scientific community. Two key issues in the study of Neolithic communities in the western Mediterranean are addressed here. Few radiocarbon determinations have been obtained at funerary sites and they have usually been applied to a very small number of individuals in each cemetery (one or two dates). In a similar way, palaeodiet analysis of Neolithic cemeteries has rarely been attempted, and therefore the information presented here is of great importance to understand the diet in those societies. This paper presents a new series of dates for two of the most important Neolithic necropolises in north-east Iberia and approaches the subsistence patterns of the populations buried there.

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Acknowledgments

This research forms part of a project studying funerary practices in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula (Aproximación a las primeras comunidades neolíticas del NE peninsular a través de sus prácticas funerarias–HAR2011-23149). The Museu d’Arqueologia de Girona is gratefully acknowledged for providing all the necessary information about the sites studied here. Part of the research was carried out in the framework of the following Research Groups: 2014SGR-108, 2014SGR1169 and 2014SGR1420. The authors would like to thank Peter Smith for the translation, and the two anonymous reviewers who evaluated this paper and improved it with their comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institució Milà i Fontanals. Departamento de Arqueología y Antropología (IMF-CSIC). Grupo AGREST, ICArHEB. C/Egipciaques 15, 08001, Barcelona, Spain

    Juan F. Gibaja

  2. GRAPAC, Grup de Recerca Aplicada al Patrimoni Cultural. Unitat d’Antropologia Biològica. Departament de Biologia Animal, de Biologia Vegetal i d’Ecologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), Barcelona, Spain

    Maria Fontanals-Coll

  3. Departament de Prehistòria, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), Barcelona, Spain

    Stephanie Dubosq & Berta Morell

  4. SERP, Dept. de Prehistòria, Història Antiga i Arqueologia, Universitat de Barcelona, C/Montalegre 6-8, 08001, Barcelona, Spain

    F. Xavier Oms

  5. Independent Archaeologist Cal Ros sn, 17199, Canet d’Adri, Girona, Spain

    Anna Augé

  6. Centro Nacional de Aceleradores, (Universidad de Sevilla, CSIC, Junta de Andalucía), Avd. Thomas Alva Edison 7, 41092, Sevilla, Spain

    Francisco Javier Santos

  7. GRAPAC, Grup de Recerca Aplicada al Patrimoni Cultural. Unitat d’Antropologia Biològica. Departament de Biologia Animal, de Biologia Vegetal i d’Ecologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), Barcelona, Spain

    M. Eulàlia Subirà

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  1. Juan F. Gibaja
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  2. Maria Fontanals-Coll
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  3. Stephanie Dubosq
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  4. F. Xavier Oms
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  5. Anna Augé
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  6. Francisco Javier Santos
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  7. Berta Morell
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  8. M. Eulàlia Subirà
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Correspondence to Juan F. Gibaja.

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Gibaja, J.F., Fontanals-Coll, M., Dubosq, S. et al. Human diet and the chronology of neolithic societies in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula: the necropolises of Puig d’en Roca and Can Gelats (Girona, Spain). Archaeol Anthropol Sci 9, 903–913 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-015-0311-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-015-0311-y

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