David Rodríguez Antón

Autonomous University of Barcelona | UAB · Departamento de Prehistoria

During the last two decades, the archaeological research carried out in the Pyrenees challenged the traditional images of the past in this mountain area. The archaeological sequence of the range goes back and sites like Balma Margineda, treated until recently as an exception, now are seen as part of more global process. Actual data suggest that mai...

Until the last twenty years, high mountain areas have been excluded from the attention of archaeological research. This is primarily because it was taken for granted that in Europe over 2000 m a.s.l., climatic and environmental settings precluded a stable human settlement. Secondly, the steep and sharp slopes of the mountain areas are really hard t...

The use of phytolith analysis in archaeology is an emerging approach that must be integrated with other plants micro remains in an applied multiproxy methodology. Despite their potential, phytolith rarely has been used as a proxy in mountain archaeology. In this work, we discuss the new methodology just applied in Aigüestortes i l’Estany de Sant Ma...

Although new to our discipline, the archaeology of high mountain areas is steadily growing, generating empirical studies and procedures that often define it. Aside from the diversity of research teams and programs, certain aspects tend to recur. One is a certain interest in long term sequences. Another is a wide spatial perspective, extending far b...

In this presentation we approach the discussion about the ecological boundaries of agriculture in alpine mountains of southern Europe during mid-Holocene (8.2 – 4.2 ka cal BP).

FLK West, which excavation is currently in progress, is one of the most relevant archaeological sites in East Africa for monitoring the origin of complexity in Early Stone Age (ESA) from 1.7 Ma when sprang out the Acheulean technology. This new socioeconomical system that must be investigated and exposed involve deep changes in the way of life of e...

This paper introduces the doctoral thesis of the first author where is applied a part of the research carried out by the Grup d’Arqueologia d’Alta Muntanya in the National Park of Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici. The archaeological method developed in this research line focuses on detecting the productive activities performed by first agro-pa...

Este artículo trata sobre los sitios arqueológicos de época medieval descubiertos en el Parque Nacional de Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici, que se localiza en el Pirineo occidental catalán. A través del análisis arqueológico, combinado con los estudios paleoambientales, se discute sobre el rol histórico de la ganadería estacional en los valle...

Research on the Neolithic has until recently considered the Pyrenees as a secondary player in the process of introducing agricultural and livestock life forms as opposed to the pre- and coastal mountain ranges and the central depression. The work carried out in recent years in these territories, with a review of old collections, preventive excavati...

Archaeological research in the National Park has documented an archaeological sequence of human presence in this area of high Pyrenean mountains that covers the entire Holocene. Its earliest phases were characterized by hunter-gatherer populations with a marked mobility that occupied small rock shelters as a refuge during hunting expeditions. Durin...

Research on the Neolithic has until recently considered the Pyrenees as a secondary player in the process of introducing agricultural and livestock life forms as opposed to the pre- and coastal mountain ranges and the central depression. The work carried out in recent years in these territories, with a review of old collections, preventive excavati...

After years of intense fieldwork, our knowledge about the Neolithisation of the Pyrenees has considerably increased. In the southern central Pyrenees, some previously unknown Neolithic sites have been discovered at subalpine and alpine altitudes (1,000–1,500 m a.s.l.). One of them is Cueva Lóbrica, 1,170 m a.s.l., which has an occupation phase with...

For the last twenty years, various interdisciplinary research programs have been studying human presence in high mountain environments and how the different activities carried out there have impacted on the landscape and transformed it since the Early Holocene. Grazing, hunting, mining, and charcoal-making are the most significant outdoor productiv...

The role of the adoption of farming economies in the transformation of mid-Holocene landscapes in Northeast Iberia is under discussion given that the Neolithization coincides with the cold climatic phase dated ca. 7500–7000 cal BP. The main aim of this paper is to assess whether human activities or climate were the main driver of vegetation changes...

In recent years, new archaeological research has highlighted relatively early neolithisation in different areas of the axial Pyrenees. Sites like Coro Trasito, Cueva Lóbrica, Els Trocs and Cova del Sardo show a consolidated presence of human communities with farming and animal husbandry and a fully Neolithic material culture at the end of the sixth...

This volume contains a collection of research aimed towards understanding prehistoric subsistence change with the use of new computational modeling techniques. There is a sort of poetic irony when using humanity’s newest technology to study early human history. The distance between past and future almost appears highlighted when using a tablet to r...

The excavation of the Las Obagues de Ratera Rockshelter, above 2300 m of altitude, has allowed to document a large archaeological sequence. An intense radiocarbon dating defines the chronology of these occupations, which from the beginning of the Holocene and until the XXth century, covering different prehistoric and historic periods. The analysis...

Among the 350 archaeological sites discovered in the National Park there are several rockshelters. Those litlle cavities are formed by glacial erratics. Between 2015 and 2017 one of them, the Abric de les Obagues de Ratera was completely excavated. Excavation Works have highlighted a long sequence of human occupation, over about 10 thousand years....

This Ph.D dissertation focuses on the prehistoric settlement at high mountain areas of the western Catalan Pyrenees, particularly, in Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park (Lleida). More specifically, this research work is distinguished by an innovative methodological approach, which contributes to the study on human mountain occupat...

Correspondence analysis including geometric tools primary types of Meso/Neolithic sites of the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula Views from Above The Neolithization of the Southern Central Pyrenees and the Obagues de Ratera Rock Shelter. The Lithic Assemblages from Phase 12 is the most abundant of the entire occupation sequence (254 specimens). 5...

Thanks to the research developed in the Parc Nacional d’Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici (PNAESM) by the GAAM group (Grup d’Arqueologia d’Alta Muntanya) since the early 2000, more than 350 sites of archaeological interest have been documented. Most of them are related to grazing activity and, although its intensity must have changed through ti...

For many millennia, fire has been the source to provide heat and light to our home and so, gathering firewood might have been important for human societies, in particular, for those living in colder places like high mountain environments. Archaeological and paleoenvironmental studies on both sides of the Pyrenees have provided a large dataset conf...

Al llarg de les últimes dues dècades s'ha tirat endavant un ambiciós programa de recerca al Parc Nacional d'Aigüestortes i l'Estany de Sant Maurici-PNAESM, situat al Pirineu axial central de Lleida. Aquest es focalitza en modelitzar els canvis en els paisatges d'alta muntanya al llarg dels últims 15 mil anys. Aquesta potent línia de recerca inclou...

The 15 years of survey and research at Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park, located in central Pyrenees, has shown an early human presence related to the development of an agro-pastoral economic system. The prehistoric human occupation that ranges chronologically from Mesolithic to Bronze Age is normally documented in rock-shelter s...

Extended diggings in cave’s area are showing occupations from Neolithic (VI and V Millennium calBC) and Bronze Age (middle of II Millennium calBC). About that, especially in the former, human settlement has to do with their use like a fold cave. We could see this fact in the “fumier” layers. Nevertheless, the presence of storage silos shows the pre...

The last 14 years of survey and research in the area of Aig´'Aig´Aig´'uestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park, located in southern central Pyrenees, shows an early human presence related to the development of an agro-pastoral economic system. The collected evidences proceed from little cave and rock shelter sites, like Cova del Sardo and O...

Research carried out in the last 20 years in both sides of the Pyrenees has demonstrated the existence of an important archaeological heritage in the high zones of the mountain chain. These vestiges are frequently located above 2.000 m of altitude, in zones that were linked to cattle activities in past centuries. Typically, they are the remains of...

This book aims to provide case studies and a general view of the main processes involved in the ecosystem shifts occurring in the high mountains, and to analyse the implications for nature conservation. Although case studies from the Pyrenees are preponderant, conclusions are aimed at any mountain range surrounded by highly populated lowland areas....

Introduction and objectives: Although the Iberian Peninsula is a key area for understanding the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition and the demise of the Neandertals, valuable evidence for these debates remains scarce and problematic in its interior regions. Sparse data supporting a late Neandertal persistence in the Iberian interior have been...

Supporting tables on micromorphology and archeozoology and taphonomy. (PDF)

https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01399071/document

Écrire l’histoire des estives et du pastoralisme dans une vallée des Pyrénées. Rien de plus facile en apparence, pour une pratique plurimillénaire dont tout suggère la stabilité. Mais comment remonter d’un point de vue archéologique la trace fugace des parcours des troupeaux ? Comment avérer les changements des systèmes d’exploitation et les fluctu...

Crisis y readaptación de las sociedades cazadoras-recolectoras del noreste peninsular durante la transición climática Pleistoceno - Holoceno (c. 13–9 ka Cal. BP). Un estado de la cuestión.

En los últimos años ha habido importantes avances en el estudio del proceso de neolitización de los Pirineos. Por una parte se conoce un número mayor de yacimientos, algunos de ellos localizados en zonas de alta montaña, por encima de los 2000 m. de altitud. Por la otra, se ha llevado a cabo la excavación de algunos yacimientos en el Pirineo axial...

Le développement récent des recherches archéologiques sur les dynamiques des systèmes pastoraux d'altitude a engendré, tout au long du massif pyrénéen, la constitution d'une dizaine de zones ateliers interdisciplinaires, conçues comme autant de laboratoires d'étude des interactions entre les sociétés, leur espace et leur environnement, dans la long...

In this paper we present a new interdisciplinary project focused on the investigation of the Late Pleisto-cene deposits still preserved in the Room A of Los Casares cave (Riba de Saelices, Guadalajara, Spain). We first make a historical reconstruction of the research carried out in the cave, then we present our objectives, working hypotheses and me...

Les recerques arqueològiques dels darrers 14 anys al Parc Na-cional i a les seves àrees adjacents han permès documentar un registre arqueològic d'una densitat, diversitat i amplitud cronològica poc imaginable fa uns anys. Aquest fet ha obert la porta al coneixement dels processos d'ocupació i assen-tament en espais d'alta muntanya, per sobre els 1....

Archaeological survey and test excavations were conducted at high altitude in the western Catalan Pyrenees since 2001 to 2010. Together with palaeoecological studies of lake cores and peat bogs, these studies (including a series of 27 radiocarbon dates) permit one to discuss human occupations of the high mountains from Mesolithic times to the early...

Loteshwar (23º 36ʹ 1.8ʺ N; 71º 50ʹ 11.8ʺ E) is situated in the Sami Taluka of Patan District in North Gujarat, Western India. First excavated in 1990’s the site was re-excavated by the North Gujarat Archaeological Project during November/December 2009. The 2009 excavation unearthed two cultural periods namely Mesolithic (dated between the end of th...

In the last decade. the different research projects developed at National Park of Aigüestortes i l'Estany de Sant Maurici (PNAESM) show that highest parts of central Pyrenees have been inhabited Since the latest 7.000 years. This anthropic pressure increases between 5.000 and 4.500 years ago. when alpine and subalpine areas are simultaneously occup...

The archaeological explorations realized inside the National Park have discovered more than three hundred points of archaeological interest a good part of which correspond to architectural structures in open air linked provisionally to pastoral activities. In this work we want to describe the enormous variability that we can observe in this type of...

Current archaeological data show that Pyrenean mountain areas were peopled since Neolithic times. This hypothesis is sustained, among others sites, by the Cova del Sardo sequence. This little rock shelter, located in the bottom of the valley of Sant Nicolau at 1790 meters of altitude, has an archaeological sequence which begins at the Fifth millenn...

Current archaeological data show that the Pyrenean mountain areas were peopled and exploited during the Neolithic. This hypothesis is sustained, among others, by the Cova del Sardo sequence. This little rock shelter located in the bottom of the valley of Sant Nicolau, at 1790 meters of altitude has an archaeological sequence which, for the Prehisto...

This paper presents the results of the studies undergo at the Cova del Sardo and Abric de l'Estany de la Coveta I, two archaeological sites placed in the National Park of Aigüestortes and Estany de Sant Maurici. Both sites have been object of multiproxy analyses inside a long-term research program in archaeology that promotes surface surveys and ex...

The archaeological study conducted in North Gujarat by the NoGAP project has revealed the existence of dozens of archaeological sites of hunter-gatherer and agro-pastoral groups as well as farmers of the Harappan Civilization. This are,a “peripheral” to the Indus Civilisation, has great potential for understanding the strategies of resource use thr...

During the last decade, surveys and researches in the high-altitude areas of Catalan Western Pyrenees, in the territories of the Parc Nacional d’Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici (PNAESM), lead to the discover of an extensive archaeological record above 1500 m. For the Middle and Late Holocene, the observed pattern of human settlement seem to f...

The third work campaign of the NoGAP project has centered its primary work in three aspects: the excavation of the Loteshwar site, which develops a methodology of holistic and broad spectrum samples, as well as graphically documenting the stratigraphy of the excavation through different techniques of high resolution centimetrics; the geoarcheologic...

During the last ten years archaeological and palaeoecological research has been carried out in the area of the Aigüestortes National Park and Sant Maurici Lake (PNAESM) and Natural Park of the High Pyrenees (PNAP), which are located in the central part of the Pyrenees. Thanks to this effort, more than 200 archaeological sites have been documented a...

Master final work

During the last 10 years archeological research has been done insede the territory of the National Parck and the surrinding area. In the course of this research, more than 200 archaeological sites have been documented and 21 prhistoric radiocarbon dates have been recorded, the suggests a continuous occupation between 7000 and 2200 cal BC.The archae...

BA in History final work

The coup d'état of July 18th, 1936 was supposed to be the beginning of the Spanish Civil War that ended three years later. With the victory of the rebel army, a dictatorial regime was imposed. Franco's dictatorship was supported by the broad political repression of a large number of people from leftist parties, trade unions and liberal professions....