Lídia Colominas (Ramón y Cajal researcher at ICAC) has published a new open access paper in the journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, in collaboration with Chiara Messana and Carlos Tornero, researchers at Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA) from the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV).
Messana, C., Tornero, C. & Colominas, L. Choose what suits you best: reproductive patterns and livestock management in the Iron Age Iberian Peninsula (3rd c. BC).Archaeol Anthropol Sci 15, 56 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-023-01752-1
Abstract:
Isotopic analyses have proven to be an essential tool for obtaining more comprehensive and precise knowledge about past livestock strategies. Nevertheless, biogeochemical data for the Iron Age and, in particular, for the Iberian Peninsula are still very scarce.
This study aims to provide a first and pivotal glimpse of sheep reproductive strategies adopted by north-eastern Iberian societies during the Middle and Late Iron Age, a period in which a process of urbanisation and agricultural expansion took place. Birth seasonality and the duration of the lambing period are here investigated through sequential oxygen isotope analyses performed on sheep’s second and third lower molars from four relevant Catalan sites (Mas Castellar de Pontós, Tossal de Baltarga, Sant Esteve d’Olius, Turó de la Rovira). These are contemporary (third century BC) and are located in different ecological and cultural areas.
Results display diversified sheep reproductive patterns and distinct demographical management in the four settlements, with manipulations both on the season and on the duration of the lambing period. Thus, we propose that herd management and exploitation were determined by specific economic demands and the social organisation and environmental conditions of each area.
Therefore, through this biogeochemical approach, we have been able to demonstrate that the resources, knowledge and time involved in the organisation of sheep husbandry were much more complex and planned than classical zooarchaeological studies have so far documented, highlighting the importance of livestock farming as a key activity in the economy of the Iron Age Iberian communities.
Funding:
Open access funding provided by Universitat Rovira i Virgili. This research is part of a PhD project with the financial support of Secretaria d’Universitats i Recerca de la Generalitat de Catalunya and European Social Fund (ESF) “Investing in your future” (2022 FI_B2 00070). CT is supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the “Ramon y Cajal” program (RYC2020-029404-I). LC is supported by a Ramón y Cajal contract (RYC2019-026732-I-AEI/10.13039/ 501100011033). Isotopic analyses for this study received financial support from the following research projects: “El nucli arqueològic de Mas Castellar (Pontós). L’entorn emporità i el rerapaís en època protohistòrica.” Quadriennals de recerca en matèria d’arqueologia i paleontología; “Prehistòria y transhumància a l’Alt Ripollès. Fundació Palarq, convocatòria Palarq Analíticas 2019/2020”; “Eco-Social behaviour of the Sierra de Atapuerca Hominins during Quaternary, V” (PGC2018-093925-B-C32), Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (Spanish Government); “Middle Iron Age livestock practices in the north-east of Iberian Peninsula: a biogeochemical approach. Fundació Palarq, convocatòria Palarq Analíticas 2022/2023”.
