Radiocarbon dates, climatic events, and social dynamics during the Early Neolithic in Mediterranean Iberia

Our goal in this paper is to examine the socioecological dynamics of the Early Neolithic period in Iberia in order to test the usefulness of temporal probability curves built from dated sites as a relative proxy for exploring possible links between trends in population patterns and climatic fluctuations. We compare the information for the entire Iberian Peninsula with four Mediterranean regions, investigating the climate–population relationships that emerge when we zoom into particular regions. We evaluate climatic and other possible causes of similarities in the shapes of temporal probability curves across the Peninsula, associated with demographic changes in the Early Neolithic sequence. Changes in subsistence patterns identified in empirical data from sites like Cendres cave (Alicante province), together with computational modeling that simulates long-term socio-ecological processes, suggest key variables that can help account for local dynamics. Theoretical approaches from Complex System Theory and Evolutionary Archaeology can help us to better understand evolutionary processes including the spread of farming.