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The spread of trapeze industries (the creation of trapeze-shaped flint tips) during Late Mesolithic is one of the most disruptive phenomena of technological change documented in the European Prehistory. Understanding the chronological patterns of this process requires (i) a critical evaluation of stratigraphic relationship between trapeze assemblages and radiocarbon samples, and (ii) considering different levels of chronological uncertainty according to the inbuilt age of the samples and the calibration process. In this paper, we critically evaluate and analyze the radiocarbon record of the first trapeze industries in the Iberian Peninsula. A dataset of 181 radiocarbon dates from 67 sites dated to 8800–8200 cal BP was collected and evaluated following a strict data quality control protocol, from which 135 dates of 53 sites were retained and classified according to a reliability index. Then, three different phase Bayesian chronological models were created to estimate the duration of the first spread of trapezes across Iberia, considering different levels of chrono-stratigraphic resolution. We find that trapeze industries appeared in the eastern half of Iberia, over an area of 330,000 km2 between 8505–8390 and 8425–8338 cal BP, spanning 0–85 yr (95.4% CI). When the oldest evidence of trapezes from Portugal are considered, the probability distribution expands (8943–8457 and 8686–7688 cal BP), due to the chronological uncertainty of human samples with marine diet and regional ΔR values applied. For the eastern half of Iberia, the current evidence indicates a very rapid spread of trapeze industries initiated in the Central-Western Pyrenees, suggesting cultural diffusion within Mesolithic social networks as the main driving mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open‐air sites represent a fundamental proxy of the Early Holocene adaptive systems in the Iberian Peninsula. However, its research potential for the study of human–environmental interactions has been minimally explored. In this work, we present the results of an integrated research programme focused on open‐area excavations at the Mesolithic site of Arenal de la Virgen (Alicante, Spain). Novel multi‐scalar geoarchaeological and archaeo‐stratigraphic studies, coupled with featured‐based palaeobotanical analysis, were used to design an extensive radiocarbon dating programme and produce different Bayesian chronological models. Our results distinguish two different Mesolithic occupation phases, dating to 9.3–9.1 and 8.6–8.3k cal a bp respectively, consisting of combustion features and lithic scatters. The comparison of occupational dynamics with the nearby palaeoecological records of Salines and Villena indicated that both Mesolithic phases occurred under relatively stable environmental conditions. The second Mesolithic phase, however, ended during the onset of the 8.2k cal a bp climatic event, when sedimentation processes shifted from soil formation to accretion of aeolian sands. We demonstrate that the end of the Mesolithic occupations at Arenal de la Virgen coincides with the cessation of radiocarbon‐dated activity in other open‐air Postglacial sites in the central Mediterranean region of Iberia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The land snail Sphincterochila candidissima from archeological records in Villena (SE Spain) was studied isotopically to estimate the Younger Dryas (YD)-early Holocene transition in the western Mediterranean. Live-collected individuals exhibited body (−21.8 ± 1.6‰) and shell (−5.8 ± 1.4‰) δ13C values typical of a C3 plant diet, probably combined with carbonate ingestion. Calculations of a carbon flux balance-mixing model suggest that living specimens experienced similar metabolic rates, with comparable ratio of input and output fluxes of bicarbonate from the snail hemolymph. All fossil shells showed comparable δ13C values among each other, but values were ∼2‰ higher than living specimens. This may be explained by higher water stress at the YD-Holocene transition or by the Suess effect. Shell δ18O values averaged +1.3 ± 0.8‰ for living individuals, −0.5 ± 0.8‰ for Holocene (8.4-10.2 cal ka BP) specimens and +0.4 ± 0.6‰ for YD (12.0-12.4 cal ka BP) snails. An oxygen flux balance-mixing model suggests that YD shells precipitated during relative humidity (RH) values of ∼79-82%, after which RH increased gradually reaching maximum values of ∼87-88% at ∼8.4-8.6 cal ka BP and, from there, RH eventually declined to present values of ∼82%. Comparisons with other snail data suggest that the xerophilous Sphincterochila records different environmental signatures fro other contemporaneous taxa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]