Socio-ecology of Early and Middle Bronze Age communities in the northwest Atlantic region of Iberia: Wood resources procurement and forest management

Published Date
Quaternary International
Available online 6 September 2015, doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.08.026
In Press, Corrected Proof — Note to users

Author 

• María Martín-Seijo ^a,b,c,,
• João Pedro Tereso ^b
• Ana M.S. Bettencourt ^c,d
• Hugo A. Sampaio ^c
• Emilio Abad Vidal ^e
• Lorena Vidal Caeiro ^f

• aStudy Group for the Prehistory of NW Iberia-GEPN (GI-1534), Department of History I, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
• bInBio – Research Network in Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology (Associated Laboratory), CIBIO – Research Center in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
• cLandscape, Heritage and Territory Laboratory (Lab2PT), University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
• dDepartment of History, Social Sciences Institute, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
• eCESGA – Centro de Supercomputación de Galicia, Spain
• fZeta Arqueoloxía S.L, Spain

Available online 6 September 2015.

Abstract

This paper focuses on the web of relationships established between Early and Middle Bronze Age communities and their environment in Northwest Iberia. Charcoal remains recovered from settlements and funerary sites in this area can inform a greater understanding of wood resource procurement and woodland management strategies adopted by these small-scale communities. Although charcoal analysis of contexts with chronologies ranging from 2200 to 1200 cal. BC is not commonly undertaken in this area, data from this period are of great importance because it represents a phase of major deforestation and landscape change. Wood resources were local and exploitation was conditioned by their availability in the environs of the sites. These communities established a clear preference for Quercus wood, combined recurrently with shrubby species of the Fabaceae family. This co-occurrence, previously observed in Middle and Late Bronze Age contexts, could extend back to the Early Bronze Age and even to the Late Neolithic. The presence of small trees and shrubs such as Rosaceae/Maloideae and Corylus avellana could be related with the open landscape that characterises this period, and with the existence of woodland management practices designed to prevent forest regeneration.

Keywords

Early Bronze Age

Middle Bronze Age

Charcoal analysis

Woodland management

Wood resource procurement

Northwest Iberia

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  Corresponding author. Study Group for the Prehistory of NW Iberia-GEPN (GI-1534), Department of History I, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

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