residues in ceramics
In the first centuries of the Neolithic, there was a change in the relationship between society and the environment, characterized by a transformation in the way humans managed and exploited natural resources. Linked to the Neolithic origin, the appropria-tion and direct intervenappropria-tion on the reproductive rhythms of animal and plants show the scope of the new socio-economic system (Saña 1999). In this framework, the domesti-cation process allowed for the exploitation of natural resources as means of production, while the relations of production changed according to the new forms of appropriation of these resources (Ingold 1984, 1988, Saña 1999, 2005).
The chronological variability documented in the Iberian Peninsula on the adoption of different domestic species may have been influenced by the variability of different fac-tors, such as climate or orography, which may interfere with the adaptation of domestic species in the territory, as well as the type of livestock farming. These types of livestock could be mixed or specialized in the exploitation of specific products, or in the degree of incidence, with intensive or extensive livestock practices. Traditionally, it has been pointed out that in mountain areas hunting would predominate unlike in the plains or river valleys (Llovera 1986, Yáñez et al. 2002, Yáñez 2005, Orengo et al. 2014, Walsh et al. 2005). A greater or lesser importance of hunting and livestock has also been linked to the types of site (cave versus open-air). However, assessing the importance of certain domestic species at the beginning of the Neolithic is sometimes difficult due to the dif-ficulty of separating between domestic and wild. The most commonly used criterion is biometrics, although it often does not have sufficient resolution to become interpreta-tive.
Studies related to the identification and classification of the fauna documented in the archaeological record have been fundamental to understanding the implementation of
194
livestock practices in Neolithic communities. However, the representativeness of the sets and the subsequent differentiation between domestic species is affected by the degree of preservation of the sets. Thus, in some studies taxa are classified as Sp. due to the impossibility of identifying whether the species is domestic or wild.
In the Iberian Peninsula the dynamics of animal domestication are not developed in the same way throughout the territory. In general, the implementation of livestock practices reduces the evidence of hunting activities. Around 70% of faunal remains were identi-fied as domestic animal species. They datedfrom 5700 cal BC, with predominance of sheep and goats in the early Neolithic period (Saña 2013, Sierra et al. 2019). While the northern peninsular area presents a clear exception, where more diverse strategies are evident with the simultaneous and exclusive exploitation of wild resources (Altuna 1972, 1980). The different management strategies of domestic animals in the Mediterranean coastcan be separated between the northeast of the peninsula, the east and the south of the peninsula. In the northeast of the peninsula, a percentage of domestic fauna of around 90% is documented (Navarrete and Saña 2014, Saña et al. 2015), based on the remains of ovicaprines (Colominas et al. 2008, Bordas 2013, Saña et al. 2015) and bo-vines (Navarrete and Saña 2014, Saña and Navarrete 2016). In most of these sites, the wild species documented are wild boar, roe deer and deer. In the eastern zone, sheep predominate over goats (Pérez-Ripoll 1977, 1980), with the percentage of domestic an-imals at around 50% of the total number of documented species. Among the wild ani-mals present in the sites of this region are the deer and the mountain goat (Navarrete 2015). Finally, few data are available on livestock exploitation in the south of the penin-sula. Among the sites studied, the percentage of domestic animals ranges between 60 and 69%, with the predominant presence of ovicaprines (Saña 2013). Wild species in-clude rabbits, wild goats and deer.
From the Middle Neolithic (4500-2500 cal BC) onwards, ovicaprines take a back seat to the increase in the presence of domestic species, with the ox and pig being the animals that increase their relative importance (Saña 2013). This leads to a decrease in hunting, although in the faunal groups of the sites dated between these chronologies there is
195
evidence of mixed exploitation between domestic and wild, such as wild boar, deer and roe deer (Navarrete 2014).
As mentioned above, the documented variability in the importance of hunting and stockbreeding has sometimes also been attributed to orographic characteristics or to climate differentiating between mountainous regions and plains or river valleys. The works carried out in the Ebro valley document a percentage of domestication between 60 and 90%, with a strong presence of ox and sheep (Castaños 2004, Altuna 2001), as well as the recent data obtained from the studies of the faunal remains in the Cueva de Chaves (Sierra et al. 2019). However, in mountainous regions, the presence of domestic herds has tended to be related to seasonal movements or displacements linked to the search for food (transhumance). The greater presence of wild animal remains in the caves has also been related to population models that contemplate the simultaneous use by a community of several complementary settlements, some of a more permanent nature, outdoors, and others of a more specific or seasonal nature, which would corre-spond to the caves (Bosch 1991, Molist et al. 2003). Although it is true that cave sites such as Cova del Frare (Martín 2011) have been related to the practice of seasonal trans-humance and hunting, a high degree of domestication and sedentarisation has been ob-served in other cave sites such as El Toro (Martín-Socas et al. 2004) or Coro Trasito (Gas-siot et al. 2016).
Subsistence strategies have been widely approached from archeobotany and archaeo-zoology in the Iberian Peninsula (Saña 2013, Antolín et al. 2015, Navarrete et al. 2018).
However, the analysis of organic residues eventually preserved in ceramic containers can complement the information we have. By identifying and characterising the origin of the animal fats and vegetable resources that were processed inside the ceramic con-tainers, we aim to provide data on acquisition and subsistence strategies in sites where we have little archaeozoological data, such as the south of the peninsula or the Pyre-nees. Because of the acidity of some of the peninsular soils, the inclemency of the weather or the anthropogenic processes of adaptation of the spaces, we have little ar-chaeozoological data for these regions, which makes it difficult to evaluate livestock in the initial stages of the Neolithic.
196
Such is the case of Cabecicos Negros, a site for which we have very little information due to problems of material fragmentation or organic matter preservation. The same goes for Coro Trasito, located in the high mountain areas of the Pyrenees, of which few places of occupation have been excavated and faunal remains present problems of fragmenta-tion preventing in many cases its biometric analysis to determine differences between the domestic and wild form for some species.
In contexts where faunal registration is scarce or affected by taphonomic processes, the biomolecular analysis of lipids in pottery offers a complementary route to archaeobo-tanical and archaeozoological studies in order to understand the management of re-sources and contribute new data to the economic exploitation strategies and diet of Neolithic communities in these contexts.
6.1. Livestock management in Cabecicos Negros
Cabecicos Negros represents an example of a site with a faunal record with a low degree of preservation, linked to an area where little is known of the general importance of hunting at the beginning of the Neolithic.
Cabecicos Negros is an open-air Neolithic village located in the southeast of the penin-sula, facing the sea and near the mouth of the river Antas. Due to the changes in tem-perature throughout the seasons along with the taphonomic processes of which the open-air sites tend to be victims, the registration of organic material in the site is scarce.
Faunal and botanical remains are under-represented, making it difficult to know about animal management at this site, in addition to the few data available in the Andalusian Neolithic. Under these premises, the analysis of organic residues in the ceramics docu-mented in the site of Cabecicos Negros focuses on contrasting the presence or absence of livestock practices, given the little knowledge about the subsistence strategies avail-able at the moment.
197
For this purpose, 29 ceramic fragments were sampled and analysed by gas chromatog-raphy, mass spectrometry MS) and mass spectrometry of isotopic relations (GC-IRMS). Appreciable amounts of absorbed lipids were extracted from 18 of the 29 ana-lysed potsherds (62%) by acid extraction (see chapter V). A range of saturated and un-saturated mid-chain length n-alkanoic acids (fatty acids) was detected, particularly dom-inated by C16:0 and C18:0, and isotopic values resulted in the predominant presence of suido-fats in 89.4% of the identified fats (Figure 6.1).
198
Figure 6.1. Scatter plot showing δ13C16:0 (X) and δ13C18:0 values (Y) (up) and δ13C18:0 (X) and Δ13C values (Y) (down) of fatty acids extracted from Cabecicos Negros site pottery. The ranges for the modern reference fats are obtained from the literature (Copley et al. 2003; Evershed et al. 1997; Mottram et al. 1999) and the reference model (see chapter V).