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The present paper summarises the evolution of the vegetation and the evidences of anthropisation in the Western Pyrenees (Northern Iberian Peninsula) during the Holocene. All the palynological studies published about this region, about both natural and archaeological deposits, have been compiled, and special attention is paid on the available radiocarbon dates. We also present new results of the palynological study of the peat bog of Atxuri (Navarre). The main results document the arboreal colonisation in the early Holocene; the first evidences of anthropisation associated with the Early Neolithic (ca. 5500–4500 cal BC); the consolidation of a productive economy (agriculture and pastoralism) in the Middle/Late Neolithic (ca. 4500–3200 cal BC) and above all in the Chalcolithic (ca. 3200–2200 cal BC); and the rise of complex urban societies in the Bronze Age (ca. 2200–900 cal BC) and Iron Age (ca. 900–200 cal BC) and their impact on the vegetation.

This paper presents a long-term synthetic overview of the socio-ecological dynamics responsible for the shaping of present-day rural landscapes in the Spanish Central System. Available historical and palaeoenvironmental records have been compiled and cross-referenced to characterise key transformations unfolding in this mountainous macro-region during the medieval time span. A sharp deforestation of upland pines and midland oaks was due to extensive Late Antique strategies. Pre-tenth-century trajectories are diverse and exhibit the recovery of high-mountain pine forests and highly localised agro-pastoral impact on selective mid-altitude niches. The eleventh-century early repopulation policy implied migrations, increased momentum of rural village foundation and extension of colonised agrarian landscapes in the tablelands of the Extremadurii. The pace and intensity of these phenomena depended on ecological and historical circumstances, leading to subsequently different realities. By the mid-thirteenth century the definitive pacification and the rising demographic trend facilitated the later permanent occupation and the ensuing integral and sustainable exploitation of the highlands – and especially the Transierra – within the feudal system. High-altitude landscapes exhibit intensive forest clearances due to transterminant livestock movements and the benefit of seasonal resources, whereas low-altitude settings specialised in arboriculture and diversified crops to supply urban markets.

The present study aims to review palaeoecological evidence for environmental changes induced by human activities over the last few millennia in the montane landscapes of Morocco. The study is based on well-dated pollen and geochemical records from the Rif and the Middle Atlas mountains, to show spatial and temporal variation in the onset and intensity of exploitation of forest, soil and mineral resources. Before ca. 2000 BP, anthropogenic impact was minimal. At about that time, abrupt changes of the arboreal pollen proportions, with a decline in all tree taxa, indicate a reduction of the forest cover interpreted as being anthropogenic. In the Rif Mountains, increased influx of carbonates (Ca) in the sedimentary records indicates enhanced soil erosion coincident with the reduction in tree cover. In the Middle Atlas, reduced forest cover is linked to geochemical evidence for mining and metallurgy of lead (Pb), copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn). These industrial activities correspond to the expansion of the Roman Empire into Morocco at around AD 40 and show a decline when the Romans were displaced by the Vandals about five centuries later.

En este trabajo se presenta el análisis palinológico (pólenes y microfósiles no polínicos) del alcázar del Castillo de Aracena (Huelva), que ha permitido la reconstrucción del paleopaisaje en el entorno de este yacimiento arqueológico desde un momento indeterminado de la Prehistoria hasta el siglo XIII, en directa relación con la dinámica antrópica sobre los bosques y las prácticas económicas desarrolladas en este marco cronológico. Durante la Prehistoria, con anterioridad al III milenio a.n.e., las evidencias de antropización son nulas y el bosque dominante es un denso alcornocal mesotermófilo. Este bosque se degrada someramente durante los siglos XI y XII como consecuencia de un gran impacto antrópico, recuperándose en el siglo XIII en el nivel de uso de la vivienda islámica. Tras el abandono de la vivienda y la construcción de la fortaleza medieval el bosque vuelve a ser degradado.

An integrated archaeobotanical study carried out in the medieval village of Gasteiz (Basque Country, Northern Iberian Peninsula) was able to establish a diachronic view of the evolution of the vegetal landscape, the plant economy and the forest management in this rural community between the 8th and 12th centuries AD, through the study of seeds, fruits, firewood, pollen, spores and non-pollen palynomorphs. The main results show the presence of an anthropogenic vegetal landscape, shaped by the economic activities of the inhabitants of the village, based on cereal crops, legumes and animal husbandry. Also new data are provided about forest management related to metallurgical activities.

A total of 75 surface samples collected from mosses in the Quercus pyrenaica forests of the Spanish Central System mountains were analysed for their pollen content. The samples were taken from six different Quercus pyrenaica phytosociological associations between 443 and 1657 m a.s.l. and fall within distinct rainfall and temperature regimes. The aims of this paper are to provide new data on the modern pollen rain from Central Spain, and to perform these data using multivariate statistics (hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis) and pollen percentages. We could distinguish first between unaltered and disturbed forest landscapes and among different Quercus pyrenaica forest associations based on climatic gradients (rainfall pattern, summer moisture). This analysis allowed us to identify a set of pollen taxa markers which could assist in distinguishing these oak forest communities.

[EN] Castillejo del Bonete is a tumulus complex located on the southern edge the Iberian Plateau, occupied during Chalcolithic and Bronze Age periods, and linked to the Culture known as Motillas. Diverse archaeological objects have been recovered in association with their architectures (barrows, corridors, walls, etc.). Based on charcoal, pollen and microvertebrates a paleoecological study will be discussed. Furthermore, the analysis of different materials such as wood, shell, stone and ivory ornaments together with pottery vessels and metallic objets will also be carried out. All this evidence could be related to feasting practices and offerings, [ES] Castillejo del Bonete es un complejo tumular situado en el borde meridional de la Meseta Ibérica, ocupado en fechas calcolíticas y de la Edad del Bronce, vinculado a la Cultura de las Motillas. Materiales arqueológicos muy diversos han sido recuperados asociados a las arquitecturas del lugar (túmulos, corredores, potentes muros, etc.). Se presenta un avance de la investigación paleoecológica sobre las colecciones de carbón, polen y microvertebrados. Además se presentan cuentas de piedra y madera, colgantes de concha, material lítico, la colección cerámica, nuevas metalografías e industria metálica y botones de marfil. El conjunto de estas evidencias arqueológicas pone de manifiesto la celebración ritual de banquetes y ofrendas durante la Prehistoria Reciente en una cueva monumentalizada mediante túmulos en el interior de la Península Ibérica

[EN] In this paper we present a new interdisciplinary project focused on the investigation of the Late Pleisto-cene deposits still preserved in the Room A of Los Casares cave (Riba de Saelices, Guadalajara, Spain). We first make a historical reconstruction of the research carried out in the cave, then we present our objectives, working hypotheses and methods, and finally we show some preliminary results after a first fieldwork season in Los Ca-sares. We have collected soil monoliths for micromorphology and high-resolution sedimentology, sediment samples for palynological and phytolith analyses, as well as charcoal, bone and flowstone samples for chrono-metric dating. With these data we will investigate the site formation processes, the chronology of the Mouste-rian occupations, and eventually the adaptations of Los Casares Neandertals to their environment. Our research is framed in a wider project aimed at studying the relations between population dynamics and ecological varia-tions in Central Iberia during the Late Pleistocene, [ES] En este artículo presentamos un nuevo proyecto interdisciplinar dirigido a investigar los depósitos del Pleistoceno Superior aún conservados en el Seno A de la Cueva de Los Casares (Riba de Saelices, Guadalajara). Tras una reconstrucción histórica de las investigaciones desarrolladas en la cavidad, sintetizamos los objetivos, hipótesis de trabajo y métodos de nuestro proyecto, para acabar presentando los resultados preliminares obte-nidos en la primera campaña de excavación en Los Casares. A través de la recogida de columnas de sedimento para análisis micromorfológicos y sedimentológicos, muestras de sedimento para análisis polínicos y de fitolitos, o carbones, hueso y espeleotemas para dataciones cronométricas, pretendemos obtener información que per-mita comprender los procesos de formación del depósito arqueológico del Seno A, conocer su cronología, e in-vestigar las adaptaciones al medio de los Neandertales que habitaron en Los Casares. Nuestras investigaciones en esta cavidad se enmarcan en un proyecto más amplio que estudia la relación entre las dinámicas de pobla-miento y los cambios ecológicos ocurridos en la región central de la Península Ibérica durante el Pleistoceno Su-perior

[EN] In this work we present the results of pollen analysis of the Medieval archaeological site of Navalvillar (7th-8th centuries AD; Colmenar Viejo, Madrid). The site is a Visigoth rural village on the southern slopes of the Guadarrama range. The results demonstrate the existence of a dehesa landscape with cattle vocation, very plentiful of anthropozoogenous taxa and coprophilous fungi related to such activity. Economic activities of this site within the Visigoth settlement in Madrid are discussed., [ES] En este trabajo se presentan los resultados del estudio palinológico del yacimiento altomedieval (siglos VII-VIII d.C.) de Navalvillar (Colmenar Viejo, Madrid), una aldea rural visigoda emplazada al sur de la Sierra de Guadarrama. Los resultados demuestran la existencia de un paisaje de dehesa con vocación ganadera, abundando pastos antropozoógenos y hongos coprófilos como resultado de dicha actividad. Se plantean las actividades económicas del yacimiento dentro del poblamiento general visigodo en la provincia de Madrid.

En este trabajo se presenta el análisis palinológico de un perfil estratigráfico del yacimiento arqueológico de Torreparedones, situado en la campiña de Córdoba, con una cronología comprendida entre el IV y el I milenios cal. BC. En él se documenta un proceso de creciente degradación del encinar, que se iniciaría durante el Calcolítico mediante el desarrollo de actividades agrícolas y ganaderas, que se haría aún más manifiesto durante el Bronce Final y la Época Ibérica, dentro de un proceso de aridificación generalizado. Se plantea la relación del abandono del yacimiento durante el III milenio cal. BC respecto al evento climático abrupto 4200 cal. BP

El estudio del Neolítico en el Levante de la península Ibérica cuenta con una larga trayectoria investigadora, siendo bien conocido en algunos valles como el Serpis o el Clariano. La excavación de un buen número de yacimientos en cueva y al aire libre ha posibilitado que esta zona sea un referente destacado a escala peninsular y del Mediterráneo occidental. Sin embargo, otras cuencas fluviales muy cercanas como la del río Vinalopó no han contado hasta el momento con suficientes bases secuenciales para su caracterización. Las primeras propuestas, establecidas a partir de los restos materiales hallados en diversos yacimientos al aire libre y en cueva, habían llevado a considerar que el proceso de neolitización se iniciaría a finales del VI milenio cal BC, casi medio siglo después de la presencia de comunidades agrícolas a lo largo del río Serpis. El proceso de implantación neolítica en el Vinalopó debía explicarse, por tanto, como resultado de la expansión poblacional desde el Serpis. Sin embargo, nuevas excavaciones y estudios vienen a ampliar el abanico de posibles explicaciones. Así, a propósito de las evidencias arqueológicas documentadas en la excavación de la Cova dels Calderons (La Romana, Alicante), se exponen nuevos datos sobre la ocupación neolítica, en especial sedimentológicos, paleobotánicos, arqueozoológicos y nuevas dataciones absolutas, que permiten reflexionar sobre el proceso de neolitización de las tierras meridionales valencianas y, más en concreto, de la cuenca del río Vinalopó. Ello permite configurar una nueva hipótesis que viene a considerar que la presencia de grupos neolíticos en dicho territorio es más antigua que lo planteado hasta la fecha. Esta hipótesis, a su vez, lleva a inferir dos nuevos escenarios posibles: o bien, que el momento de llegada de los primeros grupos neolíticos a las tierras del norte de Alicante fue más antiguo de lo propuesto, o bien que la procedencia planteada para las primeras poblaciones neolíticas del sur de Alica, The study of the Neolithic in the Levant of the Iberian Peninsula has a long research trajectory, being well known in some river valleys such as Serpis or Clariano. The excavation of a large number of cave and open-air deposits has made this area an outstanding reference on a peninsular scale and in the western Mediterranean. However, other nearby river basins such as the Vinalopó basin have not yet had sufficient sequential bases for their characterization. The first proposals, established from the material remains found in various open-air sites and in caves, had led to consider that the process of neolithization would begin at the end of the sixth millennium cal BC, almost half a century after the presence of agricultural communities along the Serpis river. The process of Neolithic implantation in the Vinalopó had to be explained, therefore, as a result of the population expansion from the Serpis. However, new excavations and studies come to expand the range of possible explanations. Regarding the archaeological evidence documented during the excavations at Cova dels Calderons (La Romana, Alicante), we present new data, especially sedimentological, paleobotanical, archeozoological and new absolute dates. These allow us to reflect on the neolithization process of the territories in the Southern Valencian region, specifically in the Vinalopó river basin. These data make possible to formulate a new hypothesis which considers that the presence of Neolithic groups in that territory would occur much earlier than it was considered to date. This hypothesis leads us to two new possible scenarios: either the arrival of the first Neolithic groups to the northern areas of Alicante occurred in earlier times, or the origin of the first Neolithic populations in the southern areas of Alicante is not what it has been thought to date –northern basins such as the Serpis river one–. Considering this, the southern route to access these areas seems the most possible option.

A multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental study (pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, charcoal particles, mollusk macrofauna) of coastal marshland in Doñana National Park (southwestern Iberian Peninsula) was undertaken to trace environmental change, human activities related to woodland clearance, and past land-use during the mid-late Holocene (~5000–2800 cal BP). The results of this study are combined with archaeological data from the Copper and Bronze Ages and are subsequently compared with those of similar research carried out at the south-westernmost part of Europe with the aim of discerning regional differences or similarities. Our research has allowed us to recognize climate changes and four extreme wave events in the Guadalquivir paleoestuary, which might have contributed to both the cultural change that is observed in the archaeological record at the end of the Chalcolithic and the subsequent population decline during much of the Bronze Age.