Harvesting technology during the Neolithic in South-West Europe

183 Harvesting technology during the Neolithic in South-West Europe Juan José Ibáñez,a Ignacio Clemente Conte,b Bernard Gassin,c Juan Francisco Gibajas,d Jesús González Urquijo,a Belén Márquez,e Sylvie Philibert,c Amelia Rodríguez Rodríguezf aInstituto Internacional de Investigaciones Prehistóricas de Cantabria, Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, Spain [email protected], [email protected] bConsejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Institución Mila i Fontanals, Barcelona, Spain [email protected] cCentre d’études Préhistoire Antiquité Moyen-Âge (CEPAM) UMR 6130 CNRS – UNSA, Valbonne, France [email protected] dBecario postdoctoral de FCT, adscrito a la Universidade do Algarve. Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais, Faro, Portugal. Colaborador del Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain [email protected] eMuseo Arqueológico Regional, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain [email protected] fGrupo Tarha. Departamento de Ciencias Históricas. Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas, Gran Canaria [email protected] Summary. Agriculture technology during the Neolithic is poorly understood. This topic may be a good way to get some information about the spread of agriculture and the conditions in which agriculture was transmitted and practiced. In this paper we collect the data gathered by several specialists in use-wear analysis about harvesting techniques in different Neolithic sites in Spain and SE France. Three different areas can be clearly distinguished with respect to harvesting techniques: 1) the Lyon Gulf (CataloniaLanguedoc-Provence), where sickle blades in parallel insertion were used and where sickle gloss showed different degrees of abrasion, 2) the Levantine Spanish coast, where bent sickles with dented edges were used and sickle gloss was not abraded, and 3) Cantabrian Spain, where no sickles were used for harvesting. We will try to explain this variability by resorting to ecological conditions, socio-economic contexts and intercultural contacts in which the first agriculture was carried out. Résumé. La technologie agricole pendant le Néolithique est peu connue. Ce sujet peut être une bonne voie pour obtenir des renseignements sur l’expansion de l’agriculture et sur les conditions dans lesquelles l’agriculture a été transmise et pratiquée. Dans cet article nous collectons les informations réunies par quelques spécialistes en analyse fonctionnelle sur les techniques de récolte des céréales dans quelques sites Néolithiques de l’Espagne et du Sud de la France. Nous pouvons distinguer trois zones par rapport à la technique de récolte : 1) le golfe de Lyon (Catalogne-Languedoc-Provence), où les des lames-faucille majoritairement en insertion parallèle ont été utilisées et le lustre de céréale montre plusieurs degrés d’abrasion, 2) la côte levantine espagnole, où les faucilles courbes avec les tranchants dentés ont été utilisées et le lustre de céréale ne montre pas la composante abrasive, et 3) l’Espagne Cantabrique, où les faucilles n’ont pas été utilisées pour la récolte des céréales. Nous essayons d’expliquer cette variabilité en relation avec les conditions écologiques, les contextes socio-économiques et les contacts culturels dans lesquels la première agriculture a été développée. Key words: harvesting techniques, crop agriculture, curved sickles, use-wear analysis, Neolithic. Introduction Crop agriculture was a basic resource among the first farming communities in Europe. Soil tilling and crop sowing, harvesting, processing and stocking were strategic technical activities for these communities. The spread of new crops, brought from the East into Europe, was surely accompanied by the parallel spread of new technologies associated with them. Agriculture was carried out all along Europe in a considerable variability of ecological, economical and social contexts existing among the Neolithic groups. That is why the variability of agriculture technology in Neolithic Europe may be a good way to fathom out the spread of agriculture itself and the conditions in which that new technology was transmitted and practiced. The reconstruction of agriculture technology should be ascertained through interdisciplinary study including that from archeobotanists, micromorphologists, palynologists, use-wear analysts, etc. In this paper we deal with a part of this massive topic: harvesting technology in SW Europe, according to a group of use-wear analysts who have been working on the subject for the last 15 years. We now show the results of our analysis carried out in Spain and in SE France (Languedoc and Provence). The archaeological sites (Fig. 1) In Catalonia, we have analyzed the lithic tools recovered in some Neolithic sites dating1 from the end of the 6th millennium up to the beginning of the 4th millennium. Some of the sites are domestic habitats in open air sites, as La Draga and Ca n'Isach or cave sites as La Cova del Frare (Martín et al. 1985). We have also studied the function of the tools deposited as burial offerings as those recovered in the necropolis of Sant Pau del Camp, Bòbila Madurell and Camí de Can Grau (Martín et al.1997. All tools found in the sediments filling the galleries of the variscite mines of Can Tintorer, which have also been submitted to use-wear analysis, should be considered as the rejects of domestic activities in a garbage context (Gibaja 1997, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2004). 1 All the chronological data will be presented in calibrated C14 years bC. “PREHISTORIC TECHNOLOGY” 40 YEARS LATER 184 Fig. 1: Location of sites studied. Some Provençal Neolithic sites, dating from the beginning of the 6th millennium to the beginning of the 4th millennium BC, have been studied as the rock shelter/cave sites of Lombard (Gassin 1991), Pendimoun, Le Baratin (Gassin et al. 2004), La Grotte de l’Eglise supérieure (Gassin 1996) and the open air sites of Giribaldi (Gassin et al. 2004), Fontbregoua (Gassin 1999), Chiris (Gassin1997; Beugnier and Gassin unpublished) In Cantabrian Spain, facing the Atlantic sea, we have studied the tools from the cave sites of Kobaederra (Zapata et al. 1997; Ibáñez, 2001), El Mirón (González and Ibáñez, unpublished) and Pico Ramos (Ibáñez and Zapata 2001), dating back to the end of the 5th millennium, representing the first regional Neolithic. Not far from these sites but in the Ebro River basin, in a Mediterranean climatic area, the open air site of Los Cascajos (García Gazólaz and Sesma 1999) has offered an important collection of glossed tools which have been analyzed as well (González and Ibáñez unpublished). Two different habitation levels have been distinguished in this site, an old Neolithic one, dating from the end of the 6th millennium, and another mid Neolithic one dating from the second half of the 5th millennium. In Andalusia, we have studied the tools coming from two cave sites located on inland mountains: Cueva del Toro (Rodríguez Rodríguez 1994, 2004; Rodríguez Rodríguez et al. 1996), dating from the beginning of the 5th millennium and Murciélagos de Zuheros (González Urquijo et al, 1994 and 2000), dating between the end of the 6th and the end of the 5th millennium. The open air site of Cabecicos Negros (Goñi Quinteiro et al. 1999; Rodríguez Rodríguez 1999), located in the coastal plain is attributed to the regional middle Neolithic. The study of Neolithic tools recovered during the prospecting activities carried out in the Cadiz landscape (Ramos et al. 1999), also contributed to this study.2 In Valencia, the open air site of Mas d’Is (Bernabeu and Orozco 2005) shows three occupational levels: a first dating from around 5.400 cal. BC; the second one, dating from around 5.100 BC, and the most recent one, dating from around 4.500 BC. The sickle elements that we have studied come from the 6th millennium levels (Gibaja, in García et al. in press). In the French region of Languedoc, the site of Les Plots has been studied, dating from the second half of the 5th millennium BC (Vaquer 1995; Philibert unpublished). This group of archaeological sites is spread irregularly in a much extended geographical area. Some regions have been intensively studied as Catalonia and Provence, while others have been approached in a more superficial way, as the Cantabrian Spain or Andalusia, both only studied in their western areas. For other regions only one site has 2 Use-wear analysis was carried out by I. Clemente. JUAN JOSÉ IBÁÑEZ ET AL: HARVESTING TECHNOLOGY DURING THE NEOLITHIC IN SOUTH-WEST EUROPE 185 been studied as Valencia or Languedoc. Indeed, some important areas are still completely unexplored as those in Portugal or inland Spain. Given these facts, one should consider all conclusions drawn from this paper as preliminary ones. They are to be corroborated in upcoming studies. Nevertheless, the work carried out up to the present allows us to show some interesting tendencies dealing with the distribution of different harvesting methods in the area. We are able to distinguish three main areas in this respect: 1) Andalusia and Valencia, that is, the Spanish Levantine coast, 2) Catalonia, Provence and Languedoc, the Lyon Gulf, and 3) Cantabrian Spain. Curved sickles with dented edges in the Spanish Levantine coast The sickles used in Andalusia and Valencia were made with wooden curved shafts in which the flint elements were obliquely inserted. These elements were made with fragments of flint blades which were glued to the shaft with mastic. The obliquely inserted elements protruded from the shaft creating a dented edge. A complete sickle of these characteristics was found in the XIX century in the dry cave of Los Murciélagos de Albuñol, in Granada (Fig. 2). The sickle is lost, but a witness of the discovery depicted it to M. de Góngora, who published it (Góngora 1868: 199; Vayson 1918-19). A similar and also complete sickle was found in the lake site of La Marmotta, near Rome (Fugazzola Delpino and Pessina 1999). Fig. 2: Reconstruction of the sickle found at Murciélagos de Albuñol (Góngora 1868; Vayson 1912-13). Fig. 3: Reconstruction of the sickle used at Murciélagos de Zuheros (González et al. 2000). The morphology of the sickle elements and the oblique distribution of the gloss allowed us to infer that in some other Spanish Levantine sites this type of sickle was also in use (Fig. 3). This was the case of 12 sickle elements in the cave site of Los Murciélagos de Zuheros (Fig. 4), one of which was still inserted in the mastic that had glued it to the shaft, clearly indicating an oblique position (González Urquijo et al. 2000). Naked wheat (T. aestivum/durum) and barley (H. vulgare) were cultivated at the site (Peña-Chocarro 1999). The Neolithic levels of the cave site of Cueva del Toro reflected an occupation focused on the exploitation of animal resources, especially livestock (Martín Socas et al. 1999). Plant remains are very scarce and they mostly correspond to wild species, although einkorn, emmer, naked wheat and barley are present too (Buxó 1997: 164-165). Only one sickle element was found in these levels and the distribution of gloss fits well with the aforementioned model (Rodríguez Rodríguez et al. 1996). Los Murciélagos de Zuheros, Los Murciélagos de Albuñol and Cueva del Toro are located in a mountainous environment. On the contrary, the open air site of Cabecicos Negros is located on the coast, in the Province (County) of Almeria. The site has been interpreted as a settlement specialized in the craft of mineral objects (ornaments), while the indications of the acquisition of primary resources are scarce (Goñi Quinteiro et al. 1999). Again, one isolated sickle element shows the gloss in an oblique disposition (Rodríguez Rodríguez 1999). Surveys carried out in Cadiz allowed the discovery of several Neolithic sites. Among the material of La Mesa site (Ramos et al. 1999), two small sickle elements with the gloss in the same disposition could be found. In the open air site of Mas d’Is, in Valencia, we found 15 sickle elements made on blades and flakes. This site is located 15 km off the coast, by the Serpis River. The archeobotanical study has documented the use of barley, einkorn (Triticum monooccum) and naked wheat (Pérez Jordá 2005). All these elements show the sickle gloss in an oblique position. This distribution of gloss had already been mentioned by Juan Cabanilles (1984) for the sickle elements of Cova de l'Or and Cova de Sarsa. Both sites are located in Valencia and they dated from the end of the 6th millennium. In Cova de l’Or the cultivation of naked (Hordeum vulgare var. nudum) and hulled barley (Hordeum vulgare var. vulgare), naked wheat, einkorn and emmer (Triticum dicoccum) has been documented (Hopf 1966; López 1980), while in Cova de Sarsa only naked wheat and emmer have been identified (López 1980). The morphology of the sickles is quite homogenous in these Spanish Levantine sites. The features of the harvesting use-wear traces are also similar. These elements show the typical harvesting polish: shiny, quite flat and with comet-shaped pits. Certain variability was possible with respect to the quantity of striations present on the polished surface, but, in any case, the abrasive “PREHISTORIC TECHNOLOGY” 40 YEARS LATER 186 Fig. 4: Sickle elements from Murciélagos de Zuheros. component of the polish was not that intensive. The variability in the degree of striations can be explained by the lower or higher harvesting of the plants or by how much loosen the soil was when the cereal was harvested. (Unger-Hamilton 1988; Anderson 1992; Domingo 2005). Other than this Levantine area, only the older levels of Los Cascajos site, in Navarre, dating from the end of the 6th millennium, show sickle elements that were originally obliquely inserted into the shaft. All the sickle elements recovered in the older levels (no. 21) showed this gloss position. They bear the typical harvesting polish (Fig. 5), again with certain variability in the quantity and intensity of striations. Emmer is the most common cereal in this site, although, einkorn and barley were usual as well (Peña-Chocarro and Lydia Zapata unpublished). Blades in parallel insertion in Catalonia, Provence and Languedoc The morphology of sickles must have been quite different in Catalonia, Languedoc and Provence, as the sickle elements were made in longer blades and the harvesting gloss was parallel to the edge, indicating that the blade was inserted in parallel to the shaft (Fig. 6). The characteristics of the use-wear traces also differ from those in southern sites. Although some of the sickle elements show the typical harvesting polish with more or less striations, as in the south, many other tools related to harvesting activities bear an abraded polish, showing this abrasive component different degrees of intensity and disposition along the cutting edge. In the lake site of La Draga (Bosch et al. 2005), dating from the end of the 6th millennium, 42 sickle blades have been studied. The most common cereals were hulled barley and naked wheat, while naked barley and emmer were rarer. In the cave site of Cova del Frare (Martín A. et al. 1985), located in the middle of a mountain chain and dated from the mid 5th millennium, 12 sickle elements were detected. The sickle blades recovered among the offerings found in the individual graves of the Fig. 5: Typical harvesting traces on two sickle elements from Los Cascajos. A1: LC239 (100x); A2: LC239 (200x); B1: LC549 (100x). JUAN JOSÉ IBÁÑEZ ET AL: HARVESTING TECHNOLOGY DURING THE NEOLITHIC IN SOUTH-WEST EUROPE 187 Fig. 6 : Sickle blade from La Grotte de l’Eglise supérieure. Typical harvesting polish. necropolis of Sant Pau del Camp (Granados et al. 1991) (no.13), dating from the 1st half of the 5th millennium (Granados et al. 1991), Bòbila Madurell (no. 81), dating from the end of the 5th to the mid 4th millennium, and Camí de Can Grau (Martín M. et al. 1997) (no.15), dating from the 1st half of the 4th millennium, have been analyzed too. Garbage pits corresponding to the habitat of Bòbila Madurell (Bordas et al. 1993) have also been studied, where 46 sickle blades were found. Einkorn, emmer, naked wheat and barley were the cereals documented for this site. The open air site of Ca n'Isach (Tarrús et al. 1996),which is located very close to the northern coast of Catalonia, and has two archaeological levels, the older dating from the 5th millennium and the closest one dating from the 4th millennium, 45 sickle elements have been studied. Pollen analysis documented cereal cultivation in this site (Burjachs, 1990, cited in Tarrús et al. 1996). In the variscite mines of Can Tintorer (Villalba et al. 1986; Bosch and Estrada 1994) 9 sickle blades were found. Cereal remains consisted of naked barley, hulled barley, naked wheat and emmer. In Provence, these sickle elements are present from the beginning of the 6th millennium to the 1st half of the 4th millennium. In the early Neolithic rock shelter site of Pendimoun (Alpes Maritimes), in a mountain context, two bladelets with parallel wear are present in the Impressa culture levels, dating from 6000-5500 BC, associated to emmer and naked barley. In the Cardial levels of Pendimoun, dating from 5600 – 5400 BC, 4 short fragments of bladelets with parallel wear are present, one of them bearing a micro-denticulated retouch. Associated cereal remains are naked wheat, naked barley and emmer (Binder et al. 1993). In the open air Cardial site of Le Baratin, In the Rhône Valley, near a marsh, dating from 5360 – 5080 BC, 4 blades have a wear resulting from a parallel insertion. Sickle elements have been found in some sites dating from the 2nd half of the 5th millennium and the 1st half of the 4th millennium: the caves of Fontbregoua (Salernes, Var) and Grotte de l’Eglise supérieure (Baudinard, Var) and the open air sites of Giribaldi (Nice, Alpes Maritimes) and Chiris (Grasse, Alpes-Maritimes). The cave of Fontbregoua was used as a stable in the Middle Neolithic (Pré-Chasséen), in the levels dating from 4600-4300, one bifacial flake with traces showing parallel insertion has been analysed; associated cereals are naked wheat (Triticum aestivum/durum and Triticum sp) and, in lower quantity, naked barley (Hordeum sp. Hordeum vulgare var. nudum). The open-air site of Giribaldi, dating from 4600-4200 BC, has been interpreted as a specialized site for intense craft production (mainly ceramic) (Gassin and Binder 2004). Many cereals were consumed: naked wheat, emmer, einkorn and naked barley. One blade shows the gloss in a clear parallel disposition; 3 other blades have probably the same kind of use, but they are fragmented or retouched for recycling and re-use. More sickle elements were found in the Chassey culture levels; most of them show a parallel use-wear. In the cave of Fontbregoua, (4000-3700 B.C.) three blade fragments have a parallel use-wear, but they are broken and the mode of insertion is not sure. Naked wheat was present in the site. In the Grotte de l’Eglise Supérieure, 17 sickle elements were analysed (Gassin 1996). One of them is complete and has a parallel insertion. Three other are broken blades or bladelets and could have the same insertion. At Chiris, 13 sickle elements have been found. They all have a parallel use-wear, but they are so badly damaged that the mode of insertion cannot possibly be inferred. Fig. 7: Reconstruction of sickle blade inserted in a bended shaft (Gassin 1996). Two sickle blades from L’Eglise and one from Chiris show a particular distribution of gloss. In all three cases the polish is more invasive in the medial zone of the edge, while in both ends it is marginal or simply absent. This distribution should correspond to sickle blades inserted in bended shafts (Fig. 7). One of the blades of L’Eglise and the one from Chiris bear the typical harvesting polish, while the other from L’Eglise show a “PREHISTORIC TECHNOLOGY” 40 YEARS LATER 188 heavy abrasion in the proximal area of the edge; this abrasion seems to be a voluntary modification of the edge. No information is available about the cereals used in these sites. Most of the sickle blades from these sites are shattered into small fragments showing a parallel wear, so it is impossible to distinguish between the insertion in a straight shaft and the insertion in a bended shaft. Sickle blades with gloss parallel to the edge are documented at the site of Les Plots at the Early Chassey culture, during the 2nd half of the 5 th millennium BC (Vaquer 1995). These unretouched, retouched or microdenticulated blades, show typical harvesting polish, with a weak abrasive character (Philibert unpublished). This type of sickle coexists with another made out of big blades with gloss disposed in half moon along the edge, as we saw in some blades of L’Eglise and Chiris. Cultivated cereals were naked wheat and naked barley (Marinval unpublished). In the middle Neolithic levels of Los Cascajos (Navarre), dating from the 2nd half of the 5th millennium, these types of elements are also present. Eleven blades show traces related to harvesting, with different degrees of abrasive component in their polish. Emmer, einkorn and barley were cultivated in this site (Peña-Chocarro and Zapata unpublished). What was the morphology of the sickles in which these blades were inserted? The length of the blades and the distribution of sickle gloss, parallel to the edge, indicate that the blade was inserted in parallel to a straight shaft. That insertion could correspond to a simple harvesting knife, that is, a straight shaft with two different parts, one intended for handling and one designed for cutting. This harvesting knife might have been used to take the cereal bundles with the free hand and to cut the bundles with the knife. The problem of this harvesting system is that the working motion is quite discontinuous, since the stems have to be gathered before cutting. In fact, the advantage of the bended sickle is that it allows the worker to assemble the stems towards him before cutting the bundle with a sickle. The addition of a specific element to the harvesting knife, a transversal branch, could have been the solution to the problem of gathering the stems. In the lake site of La Draga, five complete sickles have been found so far (Bosch et al. 2005). Three of them show an “L” shape. The straight shaft has a proximal part intended for handling and a distal one to fix the flint blade in parallel, while the perpendicular branch was to be used for gathering the stems together (Fig. 8). Once the stems were assembled with this perpendicular branch, they were fixed with the free hand and they were cut off with the flint blade. This type of sickle, with a lateral branch for gathering the stems has been found in other sites of the Cortaillod culture as well (Schlichtherle 1992). We think that, probably, this was the type of sickle used in the Neolithic sites of Catalonia, Languedoc and Provence, Fig. 8: Sickle with blade in parallel insertion recovered at La Draga (Bosch et al. 2000). where blades with gloss in parallel to the edge were present. The use-wear polish of these blades shows certain variability. In some of the blades we observe the typical harvesting polish (Fig. 9A), but other important group of tools show a clear abrasive component related to the plant polish (Fig. 9B). The abrasive component found in the tools is: round edge, deep and numerous striations and pitting. Most of the striations are parallel to the edge, showing the principal component of the motion of the tool, but we also documented oblique and transversal striations, especially near the edge. Thus, we observe some blades in which both the plant and the abrasive polish are interrelated, being the intensity and distribution of the abrasive component variable. Sometimes the abrasive component is limited to the mere edge, being less developed in the inner part of the edge. Other times it is restricted to one end of the edge, in which the abrasive component is progressively replaced by the plant polish, which is dominant in the other end of the edge. The observation of the micro-topography of the polish suggests that the abrasive component scratches the flat plant polish surface. JUAN JOSÉ IBÁÑEZ ET AL: HARVESTING TECHNOLOGY DURING THE NEOLITHIC IN SOUTH-WEST EUROPE 189 Fig. 9: Use-wear polish in the Middle Neolithic sickle blades from Los Cascajos. A: Typical harvesting polish: A1: LC98 (100x), A2: LC98 (200x). B: Plant polish with abrasive component: B1: LC217 (100x), B2: LC217 (100x), B3: LC217 (200x), B4: LC175 (100x), B5: LC175 (200x), B6 LC175 (200x). C: Abrasive polish: C1: LC404 (100x), C2: LC404 (200x). The abrasive component of some harvesting tools was documented in use-wear studies quite early (Perlès and Vaughan 1983). It was first explained, as the recycling of harvesting tools for dry hide working. Afterwards, the phenomenon reached such an extension all over the Neolithic that a more general theory was needed to explain it. Some of us have experimentally developed how the abrasive component is generated by the contact of the tool with the ground (Clemente and Gibaja 1998). But, what for? It has been suggested that tools with similar traces could have been made part of a tribulum tool (Anderson 1992, 1998). However, this theory does not quite fit with our archaeological tools: 1. The morphology of the blades (usually long and narrow) is not the right one to be deeply inserted into the tribulum, 2. The amount of detected blades in the sites is quite short in comparison to the amount of blades needed for a tribulum; 3. Some tools show a differential distribution of the abrasive component along the edge, while we would expect more even traces along the edge in a tribulum wear; 4. The intensity of the traces, especially those of edge rounding and micropitting, is more developed in the ethnographic tribulum elements than in the archaeological hypothetical counterparts. The contact of the tool with the sediment could have taken place when harvesting, if this activity was carried out very close to the ground. This contact could have also taken place after harvesting, when cutting the straw on the ground. Their goal might have been using the straw for different technical activities (actually, in certain Neolithic Swiss sites ears were stocked complete, showing part of the straw still attached to the basal rachis as the result of knife cutting (Maier 1999). The meaning of this abrasive component is not completely clear, but we think that the most probable explanation for such an erosion was the secondary use of the sickle blades in other technical “PREHISTORIC TECHNOLOGY” 40 YEARS LATER 190 activity as the cutting of the straw on the ground. It could explain the variability in the degree and position of the abrasive component along the active edge, just as the fact that the abrasion would alter the previous plant polish. Some blades only show the abrasive component and no typical plant polish (Fig. 9C). This can be easily explained by the unique use of the tool in the task of straw cutting on the ground. Fig. 10: Sickle with blade in oblique insertion recovered at La Draga (Bosch et al. 2000). Despite most of the sickle elements in these 3 regions show the distribution and nature of use-wear polish that we have pointed out, in some sites, some other types of sickles are also present, although always in a minor proportion. Some of the sickle blades of La Draga, Lombard and Fontbregoua bear an oblique disposition gloss (Fig. 10). Lombard is an early Neolithic cave site, dating from 5300-4850 BC, only occupied for the summer when wild animals were hunted and meat was prepared. No cereal has been found whatsoever (Binder 1991). Fontbregoua is a cave used for shepherding; the oblique sickle element was found in the Chassey culture levels (1st half of the 4th millennium BC), associated to naked wheat. The length of the blades found in these three sites indicates that they were inserted as unique cutting elements in the sickles. This type of insertion was also present in the site of Egolzwill 3, in the old Cortaillod culture, dating from the 2nd half of the 5th millennium (Schlichtherle 1992). This interpretation is reinforced by the complete sickles recovered in the lake site of La Draga (Bosch et al. 2005). The sickles consisted in a main straight shaft, in which a flint blade was obliquely inserted, and a branch which was transversal to the main shaft, that was used for gathering the cereal stems together when harvesting (Fig. 11). The sickle blades with oblique gloss coming from the 3 mentioned sites, show typical harvesting polish, without any abrasive component. Fig. 11: Sickle blade with oblique gloss distribution from La Draga. Harvesting without sickles in Cantabrian Spain For the Cantabrian region the beginning of the Neolithic showed a certain delay with respect to the southern neighbour regions. The first proofs of cereal agriculture date from the end of the 5th millennium, in the sites of Kobaederra (Zapata 2002) and El Mirón (Peña-Chocarro and Zapata, unpublished). Moreover, the process of incorporation of the Neolithic way of living by the Cantabrian populations seems to be quite slow and progressive (González Urquijo et al. 1999). Wild resources (hunting and gathering) are more important than livestock and agriculture at least for 5 centuries approximately. The delay and progressive acceptance of the Neolithic is probably due to the fact that these Atlantic coastal environments are very rich in wild resources, allowing the hunting and gathering economy to be perpetuated. Indeed, these are humid and less insolated environments not making them proper for cereal growing. Some authors have stressed the absence of sickle elements in the Cantabrian Neolithic, has been interpreted as a proof of the lack of agriculture. However, recent archeobotanical analysis (Zapata 2002) has demonstrated that cereals (emmer, naked wheat and barley) are present in some Neolithic sites as El Mirón, Lumentxa, Pico Ramos and Kobaederra. Our use-wear analysis of the lithic tools recovered in the sites of El Mirón, Kobaederra JUAN JOSÉ IBÁÑEZ ET AL: HARVESTING TECHNOLOGY DURING THE NEOLITHIC IN SOUTH-WEST EUROPE 191 Fig. 12: Harvesting einkorn by plant uprooting in Mokrisset (Northern Morocco). Fig. 13: Harvesting spelt (Triticum spelta) with mesorias, in Zureda (Asturias, Spain). and Pico Ramos has confirmed that sickle elements were not used in these sites. The existence of cereal remains and the lack of flint sickle elements indicate that another alternative method to harvesting with sickles was implemented (Ibáñez et al. 2001). Alternative methods to sickle harvesting are ear plucking or plant uprooting (Fig. 12). Ear plucking can be applied when harvesting hulled wheat as the basal rachis of the ear is fragile. Ear plucking can be carried out by hand (Peña-Chocarro 1997) or by using a tool to snatch off the ears from the straw. For this activity, two wooden logs of around 50 cm, can be used. This tool is still in use in the Asturias for spelt harvesting (Fig. 13) and is called mesorias (Ortiz and Sigaut 1980; Peña-Chocarro 1996 and 1999). A similar tool is also documented in the Caucasus (Steensberg 1943; Sigaut 1978) and the Nepal (Toffin 1983). The uprooting method is documented by Plinius in the Roman period. Trying to explain the variability In our study of the harvesting methods during the Neolithic in SW Europe, we have detected three different geographical areas. The first one is SE Iberian Peninsula, where curved sickles with dented edges were in use. The second one spreads along the area of the Lyon Gulf, where sickles with straight insertions, and incidentally other types of sickles (with one oblique insertion or with parallel insertion in curved sickles) were preferred. Finally, we noted Cantabrian Spain, where alternative methods to the use of sickles were used. Let us begin by dealing with the third case. Some regularities are present in our study of the ethnographic cases where ear plucking or plant uprooting were used. In all cases ear plucking and plant uprooting are preferred when the extension of the cultivated fields is limited. Other factors that could induce to the use of these methods are ecological conditions (humid mountain climates play in favour of these methods) or the scarce technical capability of the person who is harvesting (Ibáñez et al. 2001). During the Neolithic, Cantabrian Spain shared similar features with the ethnographic places where alternative methods to sickle harvesting were used. Neolithic communities settled down in this environment with mountainous humid atmospheres. These people relied in wild resources very much being crops a minor part of daily subsistence. Thus, the extension of the fields was nor that important. Moreover, hulled wheat was the preferred crop, allowing the use of the ear plucking method, either by using a mesorias type of tool or just using their hands. Besides, in this humid environment, the harvesting season was quite long, making it possible to use slower harvesting methods. In fact, sickles allow the development of very quick systems of crop collection, although the post-harvesting activities are heavy duty tasks (threshing, winnowing, etc.). This method is adequate when extended cultivated surfaces must be harvested in a short period of time, especially in dry environments during the harvesting season. Different types of sickles were used in the area of Catalonia, Languedoc, and Provence with respect to the Spanish Levantine coastal area. The differences in the characteristics of the use-wear polish indicate the way crop processing was also particular to each area. In the North, cereal bundles were probably processed by separating the ears from the straw. This activity must have been used to stock complete ears, which would improve the preservation of the crops in the regions