Vegetation, firewood exploitation and human settlement in northern Spain in relation to Holocene climate and cultural dynamics

Charcoal data from archaeological sites located in the Cantabrian region (N Spain) presented aims to reconstruct the interactions between climate dynamics, vegetal landscape and woodland exploitation developed by humans throughout the different Holocene cultural stages. The transition to the Holocene was a period of important changes. The increase in temperature and moisture implied the expansion of deciduous Quercus over the previous pioneer taxa Pinus and/or Betula, coinciding with the Azilian-Mesolithic cultural transition in the Cantabrian region. The development of deciduous oak woods recorded during the Holocene climatic optimum was reported as the main vegetation formation exploited by Cantabrian Mesolithic and Neolithic groups. The different geographical locations of the sites (shoreline, pre-littoral elevations/inner Atlantic valleys and uppermost intra-mountain valleys) as well as their topographic features, substrate, slope orientation and altitude explain the floristic variations observed in the anthracological assemblage. The Chalcolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages were characterised by an intensification of the exploitation of the same plant ecosystems especially those of shrubby plants. Their dominance over arboreal taxa indicates the increasing human pressure on the vegetal communities which may have been mainly related to itinerant livestock herding practises in the area.