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Sheep exploitation and husbandry in first farming societies: from production to consumption in Central Pyrenees in the Early Neolithic

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A Correction to this article was published on 30 August 2019

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Abstract

Sheep were the most important species in the first domestic flocks in the Early Neolithic in the Iberian Peninsula. However, their study has tended to stress their role as a fossil guide of the neolithization process rather than their economic importance. The process of their introduction and the initial sheep management and exploitation practices in the Pyrenean sector of the Ebro river basin are studied here based on two sites in this region (Cueva de Chaves and Espluga de la Puyascada). The age and sex composition of the flocks and comparative biometric analysis are the main variables used, and the data obtained are contextualized within the general panorama in the Iberian Peninsula and the western Mediterranean. The results show that sheep were rapidly introduced and included in subsistence strategies and that they maintained homogenous metrical characteristics during the Early Neolithic. The implications of the data for the debate on the neolithization process in the Iberian Peninsula are then discussed.

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Change history

  • 30 August 2019

    The original version of this article, unfortunately, contained errors. Fig. 5 found out to be identical with Fig. 3. Given in this article is the correct Fig. 5.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to show our gratitude to the Museo de Huesca for providing access to the faunal remains of Cueva de Chaves and Espluga de Puyascada. We also thank the group of Primeros Pobladores del Valle del Ebro and the Laboratori d’Arquezoología de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

Funding

This work has been carried out thanks to the FPI predoctoral grant Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad de España within the framework of the project HAR2014-59042-P Transiciones climáticas y adaptaciones sociales en la Prehistoria de la Cuenca del Ebro.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Área de Prehistoria - Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias Ambientales (IUCA), Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain

    Alejandro Sierra, Lourdes Montes & Pilar Utrilla

  2. Archéozoologie, Archéobotanique: Sociétés, Pratiques et Environnement (UMR 7209), Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle - CNRS, CP56, 55 rue Buffon, F-75005, Paris, France

    Stéphanie Bréhard

  3. Departament de Prehistòria, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    María Saña

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Correspondence to Alejandro Sierra.

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The original version of this article was revised: The original version of this article, unfortunately, contained errors. Figure 5 found out to be identical with Figure 3. Given in this article is the correct Figure 5. The original article has been corrected.

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Sierra, A., Bréhard, S., Montes, L. et al. Sheep exploitation and husbandry in first farming societies: from production to consumption in Central Pyrenees in the Early Neolithic. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 11, 5813–5829 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-019-00907-3

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