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Early sheep herd management in the inland of the Iberian Peninsula: results of the incremental isotopic analyses of dental remains from El Mirador cave (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain)

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Abstract

The beginning of husbandry in the Iberian Peninsula has been documented from the second half of the 6th millennium BCE and was based on the breeding of domestic caprines, mainly sheep. The first evidence of these practices comes from the Mediterranean region, but they quickly expanded inland. Previous studies have reported on the importance of the El Mirador sheepfold cave (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain) for understanding the process of the adoption of a farming economy in this inland region. In this study, we focus on husbandry and sheep management occurring in the 6th and 5th millennium cal BCE occupations of El Mirador cave by means of sequential oxygen (δ18O) and carbon (δ13C) isotope analyses in sheep molar tooth enamel. The results show a rapid adaptation and adoption of domestic sheep in the inland of the Iberian Peninsula. In El Mirador cave, well-organised sheep breeding was developed based on the concentration of births at the end of winter and early spring, for a period of ~2.64 months, which made husbandry more compatible with other economic activities. In 5th millennium levels, autumn births were also documented and may be indicative of the intervention of the shepherd in the reproductive cycle of the sheep and of a progressive adaptation of these animals to the interior of the Peninsula. All these strategies may have been supported by the recurrent occupations of the sheepfold, flocks grazing in the areas surrounding the cave and the possible use of leaf fodder in winter.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the El Mirador cave excavation team. The work was developed as part of the projects CGL2015-65387-C3-1P and PGC2018-093925-B-C32 (Spanish MINECO/FEDER), 2017-SGR 836 and 2017 SGR-00011 (AGAUR, Generalitat de Catalunya). P.M. was supported by a postdoctoral grant from the Juan de la Cierva Subprogramme (FJCI-2016-29045), with financial sponsorship from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness.

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  1. Seminari d’Estudis i Recerques Prehistòriques (SERP), Departament d’Història i Arqueologia, Universitat de Barcelona, C/ Montalegre 6, 08001, Barcelona, Spain

    Patricia Martín

  2. Institut de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA), Zona educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3), 43007, Tarragona, Spain

    Patricia Martín, Carlos Tornero & Josep Maria Vergès

  3. Àrea de Prehistòria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Facultat de Lletres, Avinguda Catalunya, 35, 43002, Tarragona, Spain

    Patricia Martín, Carlos Tornero & Josep Maria Vergès

  4. Department of Geological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    Domingo Carlos Salazar García

  5. Departament de Prehistòria, Arqueologia i Història Antiga, Universitat de València, València, Spain

    Domingo Carlos Salazar García

  6. Grupo de Investigación en Prehistoria IT-1223-19 (UPV-EHU/IKERBASQUE-Basque Foundation for Science), Vitoria, Spain

    Domingo Carlos Salazar García

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Martín, P., Tornero, C., García, D.C.S. et al. Early sheep herd management in the inland of the Iberian Peninsula: results of the incremental isotopic analyses of dental remains from El Mirador cave (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain). Archaeol Anthropol Sci 13, 99 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-021-01355-8

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