Miquel Molist

Autonomous University of Barcelona | UAB · Departamento de Prehistoria

With the advent of the Neolithic, the first manipulation of clay for various purposes was observed. Fingerprints could be imprinted due to the plastic properties of clay. Their study and analysis can allow the estimation of the sex and age of the person who left them, thus providing insight into the social organisation of past populations. In the p...

Prehistoric combustion structures are a consequence of the economic and social conditions of past communities. Through the study of the “social life” of a combustion structure of the SBUS (simple basin structure with unconstrained stones) type, which are abundant in the archaeological record of the Iberan northeast, specifically in the Barcelona Pl...

The use of resinous substances, certainly one of the earliest technologies developed by humans, was well-known by Holocene hunter-gatherers at the onset of the Neolithisation process across Europe. Recent research has revealed the use of birch bark tar in the central Mediterranean far from this taxon’s endemic regions both in the Paleolithic and Ne...

En este trabajo presentamos la aplicación de Procedimientos Automáticos Bayesianos sobre los conjuntos líticos descontextualizados de las terrazas próximas al Pas de l’Ase (Ribera d’Ebre, Tarragona) para proporcionar probabilidades cronológicas y diacronía espaciotemporal. Bajo los objetivos de obtener una mayor base empírica y contribuir a rellena...

El litoral central mediterrani i les serralades prelitorals constitueixen una àrea privilegiada, d'una banda, per constatar l'avenç en l'estudi de les primeres societats camperoles en els darrers decennis, i de l'altra, per mostrar l'estat del coenixement i la formulació de nous reptes en la recerca. Tant a la gran plana costera barcelonina com a l...

Combustion structures are a key element in archaeology for understanding the articulation of the social spaces of past societies since they allow us to approach domestic activities, given their role in daily life production and consumption practices. In the last years, the study of hearths and other combustion features has been enriched by applying...

The prehistoric period of the Barcelona plain has been broadly studied by researchers due to the richness of the archaeological register. onetheless, one of the most understudied periods is the Early Bronze Age, whose archaeological register is very poor. Our research focuses on the subsistence economy from the population of Plaça de la Gardunya, w...

Bitumen from north-eastern Mesopotamian seeps was exchanged across the Tigris and the Euphrates in antiquity. Nonetheless, recent research proposed a decline in its trade during the Bronze Age alongside the boost of central Mesopotamian (Hit) seeps trade. This paper presents new provenance studies from ancient bitumen recovered at Tell Lashkir, a 4...

The study of the subsistence economy in the Prehistory of the Barcelona plain has ttracted a lot of interest from researchers due to the richness of the archaeological register. By contrast, few Early Bronze Age archaeological sites have been documented. To deepen knowledge into this understudied era, we have conducted a buccal microwear analysis t...

Studies on chaîne opératoire are becoming more widespread in ceramic studies from different contexts. In this work, we have studied the female figure found in the Prehistoric Mines of Gavà (Barcelona, Spain) which constitute the oldest evidence of mining centred on variscite during the 4th millennium BC. The main objective is to determine the techn...

During the few last years, studies focused on chaîne opératoire reconstruction of pottery vessels have featured important developments and provided new data related to vessel production and the complexities acquired by prehistoric societies. Within this perspective, we intend to revise pottery material excavated in the beginning of the 1990s from t...

Desde hace poco tiempo en el estudio sobre los orígenes de las primeras sociedades agrícolas en el Mediterráneo Occidental se ha generado un amplio debate en torno a la filiación y características culturales de los primeros grupos que practican una economía de subsistencia. En este contexto encuentra sentido la discusión sobre la presencia en la pe...

Since 2015, the team of the Seminar on Prehistoric Archeology of the Near East (SAPPO/UAB) is carrying out a new archaeological project in the upper Mesopotamia region, specifically in Iraqi Kurdistan. The ongoing excavation at the settlement of Gird Laskhir, located near Erbil capital, has allowed knowing a wide historical occupation, which ranges...

Differences in pottery technology and style between the Cardial and Epicardial periods have been used to study the social dynamics behind the spread of agriculture and pastoralism in the northwestern Mediterranean. This paper presents new data regarding pottery use from Early Neolithic settlements in the Barcelona plain in the sixth and fifth mille...

Comensality and the negotiation of status through food consumption has been a key element defining the pastoralist societies inhabiting Mesopotamia in the 7th and 6th millennia. Nevertheless, it is unclear to what extent products from pastoralism were involved in pottery-cooked and served meals and whether dairy products were of any significance in...

This contribution aims to present a synthesis of the White Ware or "Vaiselle Blanche" productions recovered during the Tell Halula project along with the first ceramic productions in the first half of the seventh millennium. The analysis emphasizes the archaeological spatial, stratigraphic and chronological contexts where they have been recovered....

In the lower Ebro valley, the problem of surface artefact palimpsests has been materialized in studies that provide rigid and linear relative chronologies, with little rigor and without considering the post-depositional processes that affect such assemblages. In order to explore this problem and to be able to specify and analyze these superficial s...

Resumen: Los estudios focalizados en la Prehistoria Reciente peninsular han sido escasos en el cauce bajo del valle del Ebro (Tarragona). La investigación en esta área se caracteriza sobre todo por el estudio de los materiales recuperados en intervenciones arqueológicas de urgencia o bien en su inventario. Esto deriva en la emergencia de una proble...

Fieldwork carried out at the site of Tell Halula, a settlement in the middle Euphrates valley (Syria), has allowed detailed analysis of the stratigraphy, together with a study of the sedimentological composition and other analytical approaches to the formation of the tell. In this contribution, the main characteristics of these processes are analys...

Different types and morphologies of body ornaments (basically pendants or beads for necklaces and arm and ankle bracelets) were made on a beautiful pale green mineral obtained in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula between 5000 and 2300 cal BC. Archaeological evidence at a mining area known as the Gavà Mines, in the northeastern coast of Iberia,...

El jaciment del Pla de la Guineu fou descobert l’any 2011 arran del seguiment arqueològic de les obres de millora de la carretera N-260 a l’altura de Gerri de la Sal. A partir d’aquesta intervenció es feu palesa l’excepcionalitat del jaciment per la troballa d’un altíssim nombre de fragments ceràmics, i també de diverses estructures de combustió. A...

New results from recent excavation at Gird Lashkir (Erbil, Kurdistan region, Iraq) are presented in this paper. Data from the most archaic occupation phases so far discovered at the site will be discussed, with special emphasis on the Late Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age. This article presents data related to architecture and subsistence (bioarcha...

La parure en callaïs du Néolithique européen La callaïs désigne les pierres vertes dont sont faites les remarquables parures découvertes dans plusieurs sites néolithiques d'Europe occidentale. Terme utilisé au début de notre ère par Pline l'Ancien et repris par les premiers archéologues du début du XXème siècle lors des premières fouilles des grand...

Oliver P. Nieuwenhuyse (ed.). 2018. Relentlessly plain. Seventh millennium ceramics at Tell Sabi Abyad, Syria. Oxford: Oxbow; 978-1-78925-084-8 £60. - Volume 93 Issue 369 - Miguel Molist Montaña

El presente seminario tiene por objetivo crear un foro de debate en torno a los contextos con materiales cerámicos impressos del Neolítico antiguo de la península ibérica. Recientes hallazgos permiten vislumbrar un posible horizonte cronocultural previo al tradicional Neolítico antiguo cardial.

Far less is understood of the nature of Late Neolithic settlement in the interior Zagros region in the 6th millennium BC compared with contemporary halafian settlement on the Tigris-Euphrates plains. This paper presents preliminary results of new excavations being conducted at the site of Banahilk (Soran, Iraqi Kurdistan) where 1950s Braidwood team...

Research on the provenance of rare green stone materials has produced new insights into the value systems of societies in western and central Europe between the 6th and 3rd millennia cal BC. This contribution presents the results of a Bayesian statistical analysis of 406 current available radiocarbon results from variscite and turquoise (callaïs) c...

Spina bifida is a neurulation defect that results in an incomplete closing of the backbone, as well as membranes surrounding the spinal cord. Several archaeological cases of spina bifida have been reported, remarkably during the Bronze Age and Classic Era. However, few prehistoric cases have been recovered, with the exception of the important Epipa...

The Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) site of Tell Halula in the middle Euphrates valley has yielded large quantities of cowrie shells used in the composition of belts and diadems. These shells were discovered in burials as complete items composing ornaments and in outdoor contexts as broken halves. In this paper we shed light on a little known PPNB o...

Research on prehistoric architecture has a long tradition as mean of approaching socioeconomic and cultural aspects of human communities. Framed in this context, prehistoric earthen architecture has emerged as a relevant topic in the last decade not only to empirically analyse the material remains founded in the archaeological record, but as fundam...

RESUMEN: Con el objetivo de caracterizar el proceso de manufactura de los recipientes cerámicos de las Minas Prehistóricas de Gavà, se ha llevado a cabo un proyecto de reconstrucción centrado en el proceso de acabado y decoración de los vasos utilizando los principios aplicados a la arqueología experimental. La problemática planteada propone recons...

The main objective of this paper is to approach for the first time the technological solutions associated with the first ceramic production from the Pre-Halaf culture (VII millennium cal BC) in the Tell Halula settlement (Syria). The set is analysed from a new methodological perspective, prioritizing the aspects related with the manufacturing proce...

The archaeological excavations at Caserna de Sant Pau del Camp in Barcelona allowed recover a set of structures and materials from mid VI millennium with continuity until first millennium B.C. These evi-dences, considered the oldest and attributable to the period known as the Neolithic cardial have been reviewed in this article treated from a gener...

The correct detection of the remains of earthen buildings and structures is often complicated for the archaeologists. In France, for example, their identification on the field is actually a challenge for researchers and it gives problems of scientific policy to the organisms that are in charge of the regulation of the preventive archaeology and the...

The exceptional bone artefact assemblage from the Neolithic site of Tell Halula (Syria)-PPNB, Pre-Halaf, and Halaf periods-comprises 670 items. The abundant data provided by the faunal remains analysis and the stratigraphic distribution of the bone items, as well as their very good conservation and diversity, permit a holistic analysis of raw mater...

Recent excavations at Barcelona's Raval quarter have revealed a set of Early Neolithic features which suggest the presence of a permanent settlement from the Vth millennium BC onwards. Negative structures in three of the most extensively excavated sites in the quarter have been analyzed through a morphological and morphometric approach in order to...

The correct detection of the remains of earthen buildings and structures is often complicated for the archaeologists. In France, for example, their identification on the field is actually a challenge for researchers and it gives problems of scientific policy to the organisms that are in charge of the regulation of the preventive archaeology and the...

Résumé : Depuis les travaux archéologiques de la deuxième partie du XXe siècle, le parallélisme et les possibles relations entre les « cultures archéologiques » du Chasséen et des « Sepulcres de fossa » de la Catalogne comme paradigmatiques du Néolithique moyen de l’Europe Occidentale, ont été soulevés et analysés par des chercheurs comme J. Maluqu...

In the present thematic volume of Paléorient we have addressed some facets of the socio-cultural connections and disconnections in the Levant during late Prehistory and Protohistory. The articles presented here deal with case studies across different areas of the Levant and at different periods showing similarities and/or dissimilarities. They offe...

We present in this thematic issue of Paléorient selected contributions to session A25f, “North-South connections and Disconnections in the Prehistory and Protohistory of the Levant”, in the XVIIth Congress of the International Union for Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences held at the University of Burgos, Spain, in September 2014. The session wa...

Bayesian model from the Early Neolithic Hut found at Carrer Reina Amàlia, in Barcelona, locates the building of the structure no earlier than 4670 cal BC and its complete abandonment no later than 4463 cal BC. The span of the human activity in the site seems not to be higher than 150 years.

Organic residue analysis has been performed on large-sized vessels clustered around the main hearth of the oldest known domestic structure in the Barcelona plain (hut base). Results reveal the presence of abundant degraded animal fat and some dairy products algon with some cases of thermally altered molecules. Also, data seem to suggest that vessel...

Sheep were adopted at the PPNB settlement of Tell Halula, Syria by ~7,500 cal BC. During earlier occupations, sheep were completely absent with meat production based on other domestic species. However, after their adoption, artificial breeding of sheep became one of the primary productive animal exploitation strategies within a short time span, (~7...

Cet article analyse les possibles interactions sociales entre le nord de la Mésopotamie et le Levant Sud au 6e millénaire cal. BC, à partir d’une évaluation des principales données archéologiques datées de cette période dans ces deux zones géographiques. Les données issues principalement des dernières fouilles archéologiques ont permis d’identifier...

Excavations conducted in teh area bounded by Carrer Reina Amàlia, Carrer Carretes and Carrer Lleialtat in the El Raval neighbourhood of Barcelona have brought to light significant remains of prehistoric occupations covering 200 m2 dating from the 5th millennium. The remains are an important new fins in that they have enabled us to identify a group...

Esta presentación tiene como objetivo revisar y debatir en clave actual y, a partir de la documentación arqueológica reciente, las propuestas explicativas del origen del megalitismo en Cataluña. Para ello, en primer lugar, se revisan las propuestas históricas clásicas y la variación progresiva de las mismas tanto en clave tipológicas, cronológica o...

This paper presents the interdisciplinary study of the recent prehistory occupations (Neolithic and Early Bronze) found during the construction of El Liceu's new conservatoire, In Barcelona's El Raval district. Occupational remains correspond to a settlement with traces of combustion structures and other support elements. It emphaises the preservat...

Networks in the Neolithic. Exchange of raw materials, products and ideas in the Western Meditteranean (VII-III milennium BC)

Maisons et constructions d'habitation dans le Néolithique. Une approche de l'évolutions des unités d'habitat domestiques à partir des documents de Tell Halula (Vallée de l'Euphrates, Syrie)

L’article présente les productions céramiques de l’horizon cardial du site de la Caserna de Sant Pau de Camp (Barcelona) à travers une étude des matières premières (analyse minéralogique) mais aussi une étude technologique et morphologique. Les datations 14C ont permis de mieux préciser la chronologie de ces productions et de mettre ces dernières e...

Article that publishes the archaeological structures discovered in the prehistoric site at the Caserna de Sant Pau del Camp

Entrevista realitzada l'estiu del 2014 per a Món la revista d'Eurovacances sobre Siria.

La consolidation progressive des nouvelles formes productrices (agriculture et élevage) a une répercussion incontestable sur le développement des premiers villages agricoles. Le programme de fouille et d’étude du site de Tell Halula (vallée de l’Euphrate, Syrie) permet d’approcher la structure culturelle et socio-économique de ces premières communa...

Recension de "La Nécropole Énéolithique" de Byblos. Nouvelles interprétations. ARTIN G.

The paper describes the discovery, survey and testing of a concentration of a small Pre-Pottery campsites located in a strategic place around a pass between the Douara basin and the steppic arid lands tot he North of Syria. Results develop a better understanding of the Neolithic period of that region and new insights concerning the hetereogeneity o...

We present new archeomagnetic intensity data from two Late Neolithic archeological sites (Tell Halula and Tell Masaïkh) in Syria. These data, from 24 groups of potsherds encompassing 15 different time lev-els, are obtained using the Triaxe experimental protocol, which takes into account both the thermorem-anent magnetization anisotropy and cooling...