Leonor Peña-Chocarro

• PhD, MSc
• Research Professor at Institute of History, Spanish National Research Council

There has been a notable lack of archaeological research into the medieval period in Iberia, particularly in comparison to earlier periods. Consequently, the majority of our current understanding of agricultural practices and plant food sources in this region is derived from textual sources. However, there has been a notable increase in interest in...

Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) is the most widely cultivated millet in Africa and India but has not yet been identified in Europe, while the earliest remains of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) are attested in Italy in the fifth century AD. This paper presents evidence that pearl millet was introduced to Iberia during the 11th–12th centuries AD. This i...

Societal Impact Statement Agrobiodiversity is central to sustainable farming worldwide. Cultivation, conservation and reintroduction of diverse plant species, including ‘forgotten’ and ‘underutilized’ crops, contribute to global agrobiodiversity, living ecosystems and sustainable food production. Such efforts benefit from traditional and historical...

The 1st millennium ce in the Iberian peninsula was characterized by a continuous exchange of people, goods, food, technology, etc. which led to the transformation of agriculture and the introduction of new crops there. This paper presents the archaeobotanical evidence of the plants that were introduced there during the Roman and medieval periods. C...

The Maris Nostri Novus Atlas project was carried out by two archaeobotanists, Dr Diego Sabato and Dr Leonor Peña-Chocarro, researchers at the Archaeobiology Laboratory of the Institute of History which is part of the CSIC (Spanish National Research Council). The atlas comprises an extensive assemblage of high-resolution pictures from different angl...

Medieval Iberian food and agriculture have been discussed at length in academic publications using mainly written sources. However, despite the enormous advances of medieval archaeology over the past decades, plant remains from medieval sites are rather scarce limiting our understanding of many aspects of the life of medieval communities. Archaeolo...

This study aimed to reconstruct the environmental conditions and the crop management practices and plant characteristics when agriculture appeared in western Europe. We analyzed oak charcoal and a large number of cereal caryopsides recovered from La Draga (Girona, Spain), an early (5300 to 4800 cal. BC) agricultural site from the Iberian Peninsula....

Call for papers now closed -- Call for papers for the 20th conference of the International Workgroup for Palaeoethnobotany (IWGP), which will take place in Groningen, the Netherlands in 2025. The prolonged deadline for abstract submission is 24.07.2024. Please see the document and the website https://archaeobotany.org/iwgp2025/ for further informat...

The encounters between the immigrant populations of the Levant and the local communities of the south and east of the Iberian peninsula occurring from the beginning of the first millennium led to the transformation of diet and agricultural production. The arrival of new products such as chickpeas and different fruit trees, including in particular t...

The Roman Forum Excavations (RFE) Project discovered three Venetian houses, dating from the 14th to the 16th century, at the site of the Roman forum of Butrint, located on the coast of SW Albania. Inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992, the city is among Albania’s most important archaeological sites, having evolved from a Greek emporium...

Plant material culture can offer unique insights into the ways of life of prehistoric societies; however, its perishable nature has prevented a thorough understanding of its diverse and complex uses. Sites with exceptional preservation of organic materials provide a unique opportunity for further research. The burial site of Cueva de los Murciélago...

The techniques of agriculture and animal husbandry at Tell Humeida, a Middle Uruk Period (Late Chalcolithic) site on the middle Syrian Euphrates, were studied using stable isotopes of bone collagen of domestic and wild mammals and from cereal and ruderal plant seeds. Two archaeological campaigns in 2009 and 2011 yielded a small collection of bones,...

En este artículo presentamos los resultados del estudio integral del depósito de la Edad del Hierro documentado en la cueva del Aspio (Ruesga), integrando el conjunto arqueológico procedente de la recogida superficial de 1994 y de las intervenciones arqueológicas desarrolladas entre los años 2013 y 2018. Gracias a ello ha sido posible documentar un...

Archaeology has long incorporated the methods of the natural sciences and the theoretical principles of the overarching scientific framework. Most archaeologists acknowledge the importance of a systemic perspective in the study of the evolution of human behavior, with emphasis on the contexts in which individuals and populations lived and interacte...

En 2019 se recuperó en la motilla de El Retamar la única alabarda argárica de la Meseta; es el primer arma especializada en la Cultura de las Motillas. El hallazgo se produjo en un contexto no funerario -el Corte A-, asociado a recipientes cerámicos, un horno y semillas (trigo harinero y duro, cebada vestida, escanda melliza y lino. El arma, de 118...

It is an honour and pleasure to invite you to the 19th Conference of the International Work Group for Palaeoethnobotany (IWGP) which will be held in České Budějovice (Budweis in German), the capital of South Bohemia region and centre of academic life. IWGP in České Budějovice will offer the results of archaeobotanical research on a global scale at...

Vegetation dynamics during the Pleistocene–Holocene transition and the beginning of farming are major topics for palaeoenvironmental sciences, especially interesting in ecologically sensitive areas, such as in North Africa. However, there are still important geographic and chronological gaps of environmental information in this region. Archaeobotan...

This work is a starting point for rethinking the role of the Iberian Peninsula in the neolithisation of northern Morocco. It focuses on the similarities and divergences between the first pottery productions and their decorations in both territories. This relationship is supported by the existence of an accurate chronological gradation between the f...

This work presents the anthracological and archeopalynological results obtained within the project AGRIWESTMED (ERC AdG 230561), which has involved a comprehensive retrieval of archeobiological remains based on a systematic sampling strategy, beyond the recovery of the usual archeological materials. These surveys were conducted on three sites locat...

Abstract: Here we present the study of the pottery remains from the Neolithic phase of Kaf Taht el-Ghar (Mechrouha, Tetouan, Morocco), focused on the analysis of decorative patterns and techniques. In its early phase, its association with the first evidence of agriculture and livestock in the western Maghreb, framed in the third quarter of the 6th...

much of the interior of the iberian Peninsula remains “empty” of archeobotanical data (seeds and fruits). Current data of the 1st millennium are scarce and of poor quality, so the information on agricultural activity of the communities that settled there is poor. The current vision allows us to differentiate areas in which new crops are introduced,...

In this paper we present the results of phytolith investigations at two archaeological sites in northwestern Morocco: Khil (Tangier) and Kaf Taht el-Ghar (Tétouan). The two sites located in Western Maghreb, one on the Atlantic and one on the Mediterranean coast, were investigated in the framework of the AGRIWESTMED project. Phytolith analysis compl...

This paper presents the history of the introduction and expansion of arboriculture during the 1st millennium BC from the South of the Iberian Peninsula to the South of France. The earliest evidence of arboriculture at the beginning of the 1st millennium hails from the south of the Iberia from where it spread northward along the peninsula’s eastern...

The present study aims to contribute to the investigation of the role of Phoenicians in the spreading and trade of the grapevine through the morphometric analysis of grape pips. Waterlogged and charred samples were selected from three Iron Age sites in the Western Mediterranean: Motya (Sicily, Italy), Nuraghe S’Urachi (Sardinia, Italy) and Huelva (...

This study focuses on the chronostratigraphic sequence of the Cave of Kaf Taht el-Ghar (Dar Ben Karrich, Tétouan, Morocco) excavated in 2012 in the framework of the AGRIWESTMED research project. The broad sequence reveals a series of occupations ranging from the Pleistocene (Moroccan Aterian) to recent historical times. Our research identifies a ri...

Agricultural activities, including practices, crops and techniques have evolved throughout history undergoing tremendous changes. From the early Neolithic farmers in the Mediterranean focused on cereal agriculture and only later, during the 4th/3rd millennium cal. BC in the Eastern basin, other species such as fruit trees were introduced into the a...

Sheep remains constitute the main archaeozoological evidence for the presence of Early Neolithic human groups in the highlands of the Southern Pyrenees but understanding the role of herding activities in the Neolithisation process of this mountain ecosystem calls for the analysis of large and well-dated faunal assemblages. Cova de Els Trocs (Bisaur...

Grapevine (Vitis vinifera) is one of the most important fruit crops of the past and present world, both economically and culturally. The wild and domesticated forms, respectively Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris and V. vinifera subsp. vinifera , differ by an array of traits, including the form of their seeds that may be retrieved in archaeological...

Abstract: The archaeological research at Els Trocs cave is a good example of a successful transdisciplinary project. Together with a great team of specialists in different areas of knowledge, we present an update of our research process. The site is a cave that was occupied for more than two millennia, from the Early Neolithic (the end of the 6th m...

The eastern Maghreb is a key area for understanding environmental and cultural dynamics during the early and middle Holocene. Capsian populations from around 10000-7500 cal BP were among the last foragers in the region. Capsian sites are known as escargotières (land shell middens), and locally called rammadiyat (meaning ashy mound). As taphonomic c...

There is a significant number of funerary contexts for the Early Neolithic in the Iberian Peninsula, and the body of information is much larger for the Late Neolithic. In contrast, the archaeological information available for the period in between (ca. 4800-4400/4200 cal BC) is scarce. This period, generally called Middle Neolithic, is the least we...

During archaeological works carried out in the place known as Tablero Alto or Arruzafa, in inner city area of Córdoba (Spain), are documented a number of seven pit- structures, carved in the sandy subsoil, mostly of circular shape and affected by further historical phases. All of them, seems to belong of a same archaeological culture dated to last...

Este trabajo aborda el desarrollo de la investigación arqueobotánica en el Próximo Oriente en las dos últimas décadas. El artículo se centra en los avances conseguidos en el estudio de la explotación de las plantas en periodos pre-agrarios así como en los orígenes de la agricultura. Se discuten los principales yacimientos paleolíticos y epipaleolít...

Of all the plants that were used in early medieval times, many were grown in gardens and orchards and contributed to the subsistence of medieval communities. Archaeobotany provides direct evidence of the range of species used either for food or for other purposes. In this contribution, we explore the evidence of garden produce in early medieval Ibe...

In 2008–2009, a rescue excavation uncovered an intact Late Bronze Age well in Sa Osa, Sardinia (Italy). The structure yielded a large number of waterlogged plant remains, of which a group of melon seeds (Cucumis melo L.) were some of the most remarkable. These seeds represent the earliest recorded remains of this taxon in the Western Mediterranean...

Few studies have dealt with the occupation of caves during the Andalusi period in Southern Iberia. This may be explained by the attention placed traditionally on the trinomial mudun (cities), ḥusūn (fortresses) and qurà (villages), in which other forms of rural occupation have been generally overlooked. In this paper we explore the sequence at La D...

This paper presents an overview of the current state of research on Roman, Late Antique and medieval agriculture in the Iberian Peninsula through the study of archaeobotanical samples (seeds and fruits) collected on a large number of rural and urban sites spread throughout Iberia's geography. It includes published and unpublished data. The plant ta...

A research project carried out in Santa Giusta lagoon, Sardinia, since 2005 has revealed the presence of Phoenician and Punic waterlogged archaeological contexts of exceptional importance. Several transport amphorae, together with Punic coarse pottery and materials typical of funerary and votive contexts have been recovered. Two principal depositio...

The BRAIN (Botanical Records of Archaeobotany Italian Network) database and network was developed by the cooperation of archaeobotanists working on Italian archaeological sites. Examples of recent research including pollen or other plant remains in analytical and synthetic papers are reported as an exemplar reference list. This paper retraces the m...

Este artículo presenta los datos arqueológicos recuperados en las excavaciones del poblado castreño de El Castru, en Vigaña (Balmonte de Miranda, Asturias) realizadas en 2012 y 2013. Dicho yacimiento constituye un buen ejemplo de los pequeños castros de la Edad del Hierro en las montañas del área occidental cantábrica. Por ello, el análisis de las...

L´arrivée de l´agriculture et l´élevage, apparait comme une des piliers fondamentaux pour la compréhension de la dynamique historique du Maghreb et sa relation avec l´ensemble des régions méditerranéennes, et en particulier, avec la Péninsule Ibérique. Entre 2011 et 2013 dans le cadre du projet AGRIWSTMED Origins and spread of agriculture in the so...

The period comprising the end of the Early Neolithic and the Middle Neolithic, dated broadly within the fifth millennium cal BC, corresponds to an interval that remains largely unknown in the extreme north-western tip of Africa. This situation contrasts with that of the Early Neolithic, a period characterised by the earliest evidence of the diffusi...

This contribution presents preliminary results from PALEOPLANT, a European Research Council (ERC) multidisciplinary research project that focuses on the analyses of plant remains from Palaeolithic and Neolithic sites in North Africa. The project aims are to: (1) characterize wild plant exploitation among human communities; (2) refine current knowle...

The use of seashells for the decoration of pottery from the sixth millennium cal BC is well known in the western Mediterranean, with the emergence of so-called Cardial Pottery. Actually, the most discussed issue up until now has been the use of bivalves for impressed decoration. However, the experimental approach followed in the present study provi...

Objetos del Workshop El objeto de este Workshop es reunir por primera vez en la Península Ibérica a los especialistas del periodo medieval en España y Portugal. Se trata de crear un espacio de diálogo para discutir sobre los métodos y contribuciones de cada uno y generar una dinámica de investigación internacional en relación a temáticas de interés...

This paper explores the development of Iberian archaeobotany (focusing on seeds and fruits) from the earlier works carried out in the sixties until present day. It deals with the main issues investigated, the advances that have taken place and the missing gaps still to fill up in the various chronological periods under research. The last part of th...

This paper presents new data regarding agricultural developments in the Balearic Islands between the end of the third millennium bc and the arrival of the Romans in the 2nd century bc. Data available so far reveals that agriculture, together with raising livestock, were the population’s source of livelihood. Agriculture in the third and second mill...

Background. In 2015, a paper on the archaeobotany as a key tool ‘for the understanding of the bio-cultural diversity of the Italian landscape’ gave rise to a new initiative, the realization of the first cooperative network of archaeobotanists and palynologists working on archaeological sites located in Italy. The Botanical Record of Archaeobotany I...

The combination of an archaeobotanical analysis from two different sites in the city of Huelva (Spain) and the identification of vine fields in the same area suggests that different fruit tree species (grapevine, olive, almond and pomegranate) and vegetables such as melon were introduced into the Iberian peninsula in the transition from the 9th to...

This paper summarizes results from the AGRIWESTMED project focusing on the characterization of the first agriculture through the study of the available archaeobotanical data and including information from new sites. Detailed information on the particular features of the crop assemblages studied for each period is followed by a thorough discussion o...

Agriculture was introduced in the Iberian Peninsula in the mid-6th millennium cal BC. The first Iberian farmer communities grew seven different cereal species (hulled and free-threshing wheats and hulled and naked barley), seven legumes (broad beans, lentils, peas, grass/red pea, common vetch and bitter vetch) and two oil crops (flax and poppy). Th...

Annoucement of Session at EAA Maastricht Conference

A number of crops that are of global importance today, including wheat (Triticum spp) and barley (Hordeum vulgare), were domesticated in Southwest Asia between 10,000 and 11,000 years ago and subsequently spread through the Old World, into Europe, North Africa and eastwards across Eurasia. Their routes of expansion have been a focus of debate and a...

In 2007, during an archaeological excavation in the city centre of Sassari (Italy), a well dated to between 1330 to 1360 AD was discovered. The fill of this context yielded a huge assemblage of ceramics, zoological and plant remains. Among the 117 plant taxa identified, a consistent presence of Cucumis melo L. seeds was recorded. Their exceptional...

This paper presents the results of the first excavation campaign of the Artusia rock shelter in Unzué, Navarre, Spain. Chronocultural and archaeobiological analyses revealed five different occupation phases (Artusia I-V) within the regional Mesolithic timeline, specifically in the Mesolithic of Notches and Denticulates (Artusia I and II) and the Ge...

This paper presents the results of ethnographic observations of non-mechanized crop-processing activities at two localities in Catalonia (Spain). The aim of the study is to analyze the patterns of phytolith deposition on threshing floors and to be able to reconstruct them. Phytoliths are extremely durable plant micro-remains that are commonly found...

A number of crops that are of global importance today, including wheat (Triticum spp) and barley (Hordeum vulgare), were domesticated in Southwest Asia between 10,000 and 11,000 years ago and subsequently spread through the Old World, into Europe, North Africa and eastwards across Eurasia. Their routes of expansion have been a focus of debate and a...

Abstract This paper focuses on the new macro-botanical evidence of South-Western Asian cultivated plants from northern Moroccan Neolithic sites. Due to the reduced presence of plant remains from previous excavations in the region, archaeological evidence of agriculture is rare and the arrival of domesticated plants and the role of farming in the Ea...

RESUMEN: La Cueva de Els Trocs se localiza en el término Municipal de San Feliú de Veri, dentro del Ayuntamiento de Bisaurri, Huesca. Su ubicación exacta se halla equidistante de dos de los ríos más importantes de la comarca de la Ribagorza, el río Ésera y el río Isábena. Ambos discurren en este sector profundamente encajados formando las gargantas...

Ground penetrating radar surveys (GPR) present numerous application fields due to its high resolution and depth range depending upon the used central frequency antennas. Both penetration and resolution permits the study at scales between milimetric to decametric range. The evaluation of research objectives permits the choosing of high to low freque...

The exceptional preservation of organic remains in a well-reservoir at the site of La Tabacalera (Asturias, Spain) is the subject of an interdisciplinary study regarding past human-environmental interaction. The feature, dated to Late Antiquity, corresponds to a large well containing a wide range of organic material (animal bones, pollen, non-polle...

No nos podíamos imaginar a finales de junio de 2009 que aquellos rebaños que veíamos aparecer por el paso de las Aras y se diseminaban como mancha de aceite por los claros de las montañas, primero hacia las crestas de los “dosmiles” para bajar paulatinamente a las planicies de mil quinientos metros, podrían ser los herederos directos de una tradici...

The sedimentological, geochemical and palynological analyses performed in the Conquezuela palaeolake (41°11′ N; 2°33′W; 1124 m a.s.l.) provide a detailed, multiproxy palaeoenvironmental reconstruction in one of the key areas of inner Iberian Neolithic colonization. Combined with archaeobotanical and archaeological data from well-dated settlements a...

No nos podíamos imaginar a finales de junio de 2009 que aquellos rebaños que veíamos aparecer por el paso de las Aras y se diseminaban como mancha de aceite por los claros de las montañas, primero hacia las crestas de los “dosmiles” para bajar paulatinamente a las planicies de mil quinientos metros, podrían ser los herederos directos de una tradici...

Se presentan los resultados de la excavación en el abrigo de Valmayor XI (Mequinenza, Zaragoza), donde se ha documentado una secuencia de ocupación de tres fases sucesivas, entre el mesolítico y el neolótico antiguo, con una fase intermedia que economica y culturalmente pertenece a una ocupación temporal de cazadores-recolectores con cultura materi...

This paper presents ethnographic, historic and archaeological data from the western Mediterranean in order to explore the variability of storage methods and the various strategies that may have existed in the past in this region. The paper includes ethnographic information on traditional storage methods collected in farming communities in northern...

The “Els Trocs” Cave is located in San Feliú de Veri (Bisaurri, Huesca). It is situated between two of the most important rivers of the region of Ribagorza, the Ésera and the Isábena. Both of them run deeply embedded creating the gorges of “Congosto de Ventamillo” and “Obarra”. The cave is located at 1500 m above the sea level, controlling the plai...

The “Els Trocs” Cave is located in San Feliú de Veri (Bisaurri, Huesca). It is situated between two of the most important rivers of the region of Ribagorza, the Ésera and the Isábena. Both of them run deeply embedded creating the gorges of “Congosto de Ventamillo” and “Obarra”. The cave is located at 1500 m above the sea level, controlling the plai...

In 2008, during a rescue excavation in the Sa Osa area, near the town of Cabras (Sardinia, Italy), a Nuragic settlement was discovered. The excavation revealed numerous pits, wells and structures dug by the local communities between the Early Copper Age and the Iron Age. These structures were interpreted as elements of a settlement mainly involved...

During archaeological works carried out in the place known as Tablero Alto or Arruzafa, in inner city area of Córdoba (Spain), are documented in 3 Marino Alcalá Galiano Street a number of seven pit- structures, carved in the sandy subsoil, mostly of circular shape and affected by further historical phases. All of them, seems to belong of a same arc...

An overview of the economic profile of the visigothic (6th-8th) village of Gózquez, as exemplified by its fauna and botanical records, is presented. The site, located in the center of the Iberian Peninsula, has been one of the first Early Medieval sural sites in Spain to be extensively excavated in the context of preventive/rescue archaeology. Arch...

The mountain areas of Europe have been of vital importance in the system of summer farming whereby the movement of livestock between different altitudinal levels is a key element. However, summer farming has been downscaled considerably during the 20th century. The article describes two areas where summer farming is still practised: Forollhogna in...

Background: Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) panels recently developed for the assessment of genetic diversity in wheat are primarily based on elite varieties, mostly those of bread wheat. The usefulness of such SNP panels for studying wheat evolution and domestication has not yet been fully explored and ascertainment bias issues can potentiall...

This paper explores the exploitation of plant resources during the Epipalaeolithic and the Neolithic in southern Iberia and northern Morocco. The archaeobotanical record allows outlining the range of wild species used and characterizing the first evidences of farming during the second half of the 6th mil. cal BC. Amongst the first crops, cereals, l...