Oriol López-Bultó

Autonomous University of Barcelona | UAB · Departamento de Prehistoria

It is suggested that woodland management (e.g. pollarding, pruning, or coppicing) was practiced from at least the Neolithic onwards. The goal of this work is to discuss woodland management practices in the Early Neolithic waterlogged site of La Draga (5300–4700 cal BC , Banyoles, Spain). To date, different methods and techniques (dendrochronology,...

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...

El desenvolupament de les activitats econòmiques inherents a la implantació de les activitats agrícoles i ramaderes del neolític comporta una creixent especialització tècnica. Sovint, aquesta és visible a partir de l’explotació de recursos específics, del desenvolupament de tècniques adients per a la manufactura dels béns de consum i de noves modal...

For the EAA Annual Meeting in 2023 we are looking for colleagues to contribute via presentatio/poster to session #489: Rare and precious. Recent advances on the analysis of archaeological wood. This session aims to bring together specialists on the analysis of archaeological wood through archaeobotany, experimental archaeology, tool-mark analysis,...

COORDINACIÓN José S. Carrión EQUIPO EDITORIAL José S. Carrión, Manuel Munuera, Juan Ochando, Manuel Casas-Gallego Secretaria Técnica y Maquetación Maximiliano Gómez Rodríguez, Santiago Fernández, Manuel Munuera Trabajo artístico y gráfico Gabriela Amorós, Victoria Sánchez-Giner, Ariadna Amorós, Manuel Munuera, Manuel Fernández-Díaz, Pedro Pablo...

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...

La Draga is an early Neolithic pile-dwelling settlement dated between 5324-4796 cal BC. It is located on the shore of Lake Banyoles (Girona, NE Iberia). The site stands out for: being one of the first evidence of the Neolithization process in the NE of the Iberian Peninsula; being one of the earliest open-air occupations in the region; and, for hav...

The development of the economic activities inherent to the establishment of Neolithic farming activities entails an increasing technical specialization. This is often visible through the exploitation of specific resources, the development of suitable techniques for the manufacture of consumption goods as well as new ways of using and consuming them...

Sixty-two 14 C dates are analyzed in combination with a recently established local floating tree-ring sequence for the Early Neolithic site of La Draga (Banyoles, northeast Iberian Peninsula). Archaeological data, radiometric and dendrochronological dates, as well as sedimentary and micro-stratigraphical information are used to build a Bayesian chr...

Evidence of prehistoric plant crafts is scarce in the Iberian Peninsula. The few sites that have provided samples of baskets are restricted to the south-east of the Iberian Peninsula, where dry conditions have favoured the conservation of plant-based implements, like textiles, baskets, and ropes. In the north-east of the Peninsula, the environment...

It is suggested that woodland management (e.g. pollarding, pruning or coppicing) was practised at least from the Neolithic onwards. The goal of this presentation is to discuss woodland management practices in the Early Neolithic waterlogged site of La Draga (5300-4700 cal BC - Banyoles, Spain). So far different methods and techniques (dendrochronol...

Plant-based raw materials as wood or seeds/fruits were fundamental to the economy of settlements in antiquity, as they provided construction material, timber, fuel and food. In particular, in a Roman city there were many activities and facilities that required fuel according to a recurrent use of fire: from domestic heating and kitchens, to the wid...

Los objetos manufacturados con materias orgánicas raramente se conservan excepto bajo condiciones ambientales específicas, ya sea en medios de sequedad constante, en contextos anaeróbicos sumergidos, bajo congelación o por carbonización. Por ello, las técnicas de cestería y cordelería, así como las materias primas utilizadas están escasamente docum...

Woodlands are a key source of raw materials for many purposes since early Prehistory. Wood, bark, resin, leaves, fibres, fungi, moss, or tubers have been gathered to fulfill almost every human need. That led societies to develop specific technologies to acquire, manage, transform, elaborate, use, and consume these resources. The materials provided...

En torno al proyecto de investigación del yacimiento neolítico lacustre de la Draga (Banyoles-Girona) se lleva a cabo desde hace más de una década programas experimentales centrados en diversas cuestiones tecno funcionales. La extraordinaria conservación de los materiales arqueológicos realizados tanto en materias inorgánicas como orgánicas han per...

The goal of this article is to discuss the significance of the archaeological evidence from the sites of La Draga (Banyoles, Spain) and Coves del Fem (Ulldemolins, Spain), in the context of the neolithisation of Northeastern Iberia. The ¹⁴ C dates have been analysed using Bayesian statistics. The stratigraphy of Coves del Fem covers the transition...

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...

The Iron Age was a period which saw crucial developments in crafting techniques and deep changes in the organisation of craft production and plant management. This communication will explore Iron Age material culture made of plant materials from the perspective of craftspeople. Plant-based material culture has been ubiquitous, widely available, and...

En este trabajo se hace una presentación de las investigaciones arqueológicas desarrolladas en el yacimiento de Aranbaltza (Barrika, Bizkaia), uno de los escasos yacimientos paleolíticos al aire libre conservados en la región cantábrica. Su registro es especialmente rico en ocupaciones realizadas por grupos de neandertales, desde finales del Pleist...

En este capítulo se analizan las 40 dataciones 14C disponibles para el yacimiento neolítico de La Draga y se calcula un modelo cronológico bayesiano utilizando el programa informático ChronoModel 2.0, cuyos aspectos generales se han presentado en el capítulo 17. El programa nos permite integrar la estratigrafía de los diferentes sectores excavados,...

Woodworking technology in prehistory has been studied primarily indirectly, which could be partial and incomplete information on wood technology. The Neolithic site of La Draga (Banyoles, Spain), due to its preservation of organic archaeological materials, presents exceptional conditions for its study. This paper will focus on the manufacture proce...

It is often presumed that woodland management, i.e. pollarding and coppicing, was practised in prehistory, but the precise beginning and the details of such practices in the past are unknown. This is because, in contrast to historical times, from which written and iconographic sources are available, prehistoric archaeological sites rarely yield dir...

Wooden digging sticks are one of the earliest kinds of tool in human evolution, and provably one of the most widely used in prehistory. This paper will focus on its role in the early agriculture development focusing on the case of the digging sticks assemblage of the Early Neolithic waterlogged site of la Draga (Spain). Ethnographically different u...

Woodworking debris and formless pieces of wood are twice neglected wooden materials on archaeological sites. Initially, they are neglected as all the archaeological wooden materials are, due to their perishable nature. Secondly, they are neglected since archaeologists tend to ignore them on their analysis as they are not final products or bigger st...

Remains of perishable materials only survive at archaeological sites in extraordinary preservation conditions. This means that some technologies, such as woodworking, are clearly under‐represented in the archaeological record. Twelve wooden objects were found in the Aspio Cave (Ruesga, Cantabria). The application of an appropriate analytical method...

A multi-proxy investigation of sediment cores has enabled us to reconstruct the coastal environmental evolution of East-Central Corsica (the sites of Saint Florent, Piantarella-Bonifacio and Palo-Solenzara) for the last 8000 years. The analytical methods comprise pollen (five original pollen diagrams), weight loss-on-ignition measurements, laser gr...

The 3D reconstruction and the BIM analysis of the prehistoric house architecture of the Neolithic settlement of la Draga (Girona, Spain) will be illustrated in this paper. La Draga is an Early Neolithic pile-dwelling settlement (ca. 5.300–4.800 cal BC) located in the NE of the Iberian Peninsula, on the eastern shore of Lake Banyoles (Girona, Spain)...

http://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/arqueologiabarcelona/publicacions-comunicacio/anuari-arqueologia/

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the distribution of box (Buxus sempervirens L.) in the Holocene vegetation of NE Spain and its use during prehistory. The scarcity of box in pollen records contrasts with the frequent presence of box charcoal at archaeological sites in the north-eastern Iberian Peninsula. Box charcoal has been documented in 41 H...

The eastern part of the Cantabrian region is characterized by the presence of several Middle Paleolithic sites, most of them located in caves and rock-shelters (Axlor, Amalda, Arlanpe, Arrillor, Lezetxiki, El Cuco, Ventalapera). The chronology of these sites ranges from ca. MIS6 to MIS3. The ongonig research on some of these sites reveals a high de...

Published as journal article: Forest Ecology and Management 2020. __ European wood and pollen data sets from periods as early as the Mesolithic and Neolithic have been interpreted as indicative of woodland management such as coppicing and pollarding. Particularly finds consisting of large quantities of long, straight branches or stems at archaeolog...

Wood is one of the most common raw materials for the prehistoric societies. Therefore sites were wood is preserved in waterlogged conditions are essential in order to understand those prehistoric societies. La Draga (Banyoles, Spain) is a lake dwelling dated 5300–4900 cal BC, which correspond to the firsts farming societies on the Iberian Peninsula...

Aranbaltza is an archaeological complex formed by at least three open-air sites. Between 2014 and 2015 a test excavation carried out in Aranbaltza III revealed the presence of a sand and clay sedimentary sequence formed in floodplain environments, within which six sedimentary units have been identified. This sequence was formed between 137–50 ka, a...

Lithic assemblages from Aranbaltza III sequence. (PDF)

Stratigraphy and sedimentology of Aranbaltza III sequence. (PDF)

3D reconstruction of the wooden pointed tool (.obj file with texture). (ZIP)

3D reconstruction of the other wooden tool from U4 (.obj file with texture). (ZIP)

This session aims to provide an overview of technological uses of plants along different periods and among different societies, trying to answer questions such as: how societies organized woodland management and acquisition of raw material; how societies organized transformation and consumption of these resources; how tools and goods were produced;...

Bringing together 25 case studies from archaeological projects worldwide, Engaging Archaeology candidly explores personal experiences, successes, challenges, and even frustrations from established and senior archaeologists who share invaluable practical advice for students and early-career professionals engaged in planning and carrying out their ow...

La Draga is an open-air settlement located on the shoreline of Lake Banyoles in the Northeast of the Iberian Peninsula. To date, two occupation phases have been differentiated, both attributed to the Early Neolithic (5300–4900 cal BC). The proximity of the lake has meant that a large part of the site has been covered by the water table; as a conseq...

Several taphonomic factors influence the composition of the palynological record especially in archaeological deposits, where human activities alter the representation of taxa. Spatial analysis by a taphonomic approach to the distribution of pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs (NPP) provides useful information about intra-site spaces and environment...

Preservation of wood and other archaeobotanical remains is quite common in Roman wells from urban contexts. Wood recovered inside these wells can offer extraordinary information about forest exploitation and management, woodworking and building technology. The aim of this paper is to discuss and present the results and methodological approach of th...

La Draga (5320-4800 cal BC) is an Early Neolithic waterlogged site situated at the shore of the Estany de Banyoles (Banyoles Lake). The exceptional preservation conditions allows the conservation of the organic matter, wood also, one of the raw materials most used during prehistory. The production process diagram has been the base for the classific...

This paper focuses on the high-resolution pollen analysis of one new pollen record from Lake Banyoles (Girona, Spain) and its contextualisation with other archaeobotanical records (charcoal, seed and wood remains) from the early Neolithic lakeshore settlement of La Draga. Around ca.7250 cal BP, coinciding with the first settlement phase of La Draga...

This paper presents the multi-disciplinary sampling strategy that has been applied at the archaeological site of La Draga during the last three fieldwork campaigns (2010–2012). A preliminary evaluation of the results is presented in order to discuss the efficiency of the strategy in answering the outlined scientific questions. The strategies applie...

This paper presents the multidisciplinary sampling strategy that has been applied at the archaeological site of La Draga during the last three fieldwork campaigns (2010–2012). A preliminary evaluation of the results is presented in order to discuss the efficiency of the strategy in answering the outlined scientific questions. The strategies applied...

The most significant characteristic of the Neolithic site of La Draga is, undoubtedly, the superb preservation of organic matter. The characteristics of the site make it necessary to develop a protocol that begins during the excavation. Wooden objects are registered by photogrammetry and a systematic documentation which involves determining the spe...

The excellent preservation of wood at the site of La Draga (5,300-5,000 cal. B.C.) allows the analysis of its transformation process. In this paper we describe the production process of wooden instruments. We review how the raw material was obtained, what were the techniques used to cut and chip logs and how the final production of tools was carrie...

„La Draga“ ist ein vom Wasser eingeschlossenes Gebiet in Banyoles (im Nordosten der iberischen Halbinsel). Die anaeroben Gegebenheiten bieten eine unglaubliche Art der Konservierung von organischen sowie hölzernen Überresten. Die ältesten Siedlungen in diesem Gebiet sind von 5.300-5.130 v. Chr. (frühes Neolithikum). Wir haben ein experimentelles Pr...

The aim of this paper is to point to some basic directions and precautions to take into account in order work the wear analysis in wooden tools. In spite of the enormous explicative potential that anyone can see in this discipline, it has been restricted by the extraordinary preservation conditions where this material can be recovered. As a result...