Archaeoecology of Neolithisation. Human-environment interactions in the NE Iberian Peninsula during the Early Neolithic

The Neolithisation process involved significant socioeconomic and ecological transformations. Changes in food production, in natural resources management and in settlement patterns originated a new way in which humans and the environment interacted. The intensive farming systems in use during the Early Neolithic, implying small-scale and labour-intensive cultivation resulted in a low impact of agriculture in off-site pollen records. Nevertheless, deforestation processes are well documented across Europe and, specifically, in the Iberian Peninsula. The review of intra-site and off-site pollen records from the Lake Banyoles area show the limited impact of farming activities, and the causality of deforestation is attributed to the intensive exploitation of oak forests to obtain firewood and raw materials for construction.