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Radiometric dates and micromorphological evidence for synchronous domestic activity and sheep penning in a Neolithic cave: Cueva de El Toro (Málaga, Antequera, Spain)

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Abstract

We present radiocarbon dates and preliminary micromorphological information from the Neolithic cave site of Cueva del Toro (Antequera, Málaga, Spain). This site has yielded a rich early and late Neolithic archaeological record. The late Neolithic assemblage reflects specialized handcraft activity including in situ ceramic manufacture, textile production, and food processing along with sheep and goat penning, suggesting that the cave occupants and their domestic animals shared the same living space. Until now, dating of the stratigraphic sequence was incomplete, and the function of the combustion activities carried out at the cave remained unclear. New absolute dates from the main late Neolithic domestic activity area, corresponding to the most intense Neolithic occupation of the cave, allow us to place the entire sequence between 5320 and 5170 BP (or 4250–3950 to 2σ Cal BC). Micromorphological results show that many combustion features from this site represent recurrently burnt episodes on sheep/goat stabling deposits all along the sequence, corroborating human-goat/sheep cohabitation. This practice had not been previously documented in southern Spain for such early dates. Our results exemplify the importance of characterizing archaeological deposits at a microstratigraphic scale of observation.

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Acknowledgments

The research presented here is funded by Spanish I + D Projects HAR2011-29068 and HAR2012-38857 (MICINN). We thank the support of SERP (Seminari d’Estudis i Recerques Prehistòriques) research team based at Universitat of Barcelona. We also thank the Complexity and Socio-Ecological Dynamics—Spanish National Research Council (CaSEs-CSIC) group members and Xavier Clop García (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) for their helpful comments and observations.

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  1. SERP (Seminari d’Estudis i Recerques Prehistòriques), Departament de Prehistòria, Història Antiga i Arqueologia, Universitat de Barcelona, 08001, Barcelona, Spain

    Natalia Égüez

  2. Departamento de Geografía e Historia, Universidad de La Laguna, Campus de Guajara, 38071, Tenerife, Spain

    Carolina Mallol, Dimas Martín-Socas & M. Dolores Camalich

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  1. Natalia Égüez
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  2. Carolina Mallol
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Correspondence to Natalia Égüez.

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Égüez, N., Mallol, C., Martín-Socas, D. et al. Radiometric dates and micromorphological evidence for synchronous domestic activity and sheep penning in a Neolithic cave: Cueva de El Toro (Málaga, Antequera, Spain). Archaeol Anthropol Sci 8, 107–123 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-014-0217-0

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