Mediterranean Southwest Europe (7,821–6,094 BCE | Early…
7821 BCE to 6094 BCE
Mediterranean Southwest Europe (7,821–6,094 BCE | Early Holocene: Mesolithic Lagoons, Upland Hunts, and Coastal Villages
Geographic & Environmental Context
Mediterranean Southwest Europe includes:
-
Iberia: Andalusia, Murcia, Valencia, Catalonia, Extremadura, La Mancha, Madrid, Aragon, SE Rioja, SE Navarra, Algarve, Alentejo, Balearic Islands, Andorra.
-
Italy: entire peninsula, Sardinia, Sicily, and Venice lagoon.
-
Malta.
Anchors:
-
Guadalquivir valley, Sierra Nevada, Ebro basin, Turia/Júcar/Segura valleys, Balearic coves, Tiber & Po valleys, Apennines, Sardinia’s Massifs, Sicily’s coastal plains & Etna, Maltese limestone plateaus, Venetian lagoon.
-
Rising seas flooded shelves, forming estuaries and lagoons.
-
Ebro, Tiber, Po valleys stabilized; oak–hazel forests widespread.
-
Balearics still sparsely visited at most; Malta still empty.
Climate & Environmental Shifts
-
Holocene optimum: warm, wet, predictable rains.
-
Rich lagoons, estuaries, and forest mast.
Subsistence & Settlement
-
Iberia: Mesolithic shell-midden villages in Valencia, Andalusia; fishing, shellfish, tunny; inland deer/boar hunting.
-
Italy: Apennine forest foragers, Po floodplain fishing, Sicily shellfish and deer.
-
Sardinia: early Mesolithic visitors exploited shellfish and pig–deer hunting.
-
Balearics/Malta: unoccupied.
Technology & Material Culture
-
Microlithic triangles/trapezes; polished adzes emerging.
-
Nets, weirs, dugout canoes; ornaments of shell, bone, amber.
-
Early ground-stone mortars for nuts/seeds.
Movement & Interaction Corridors
-
Coastal cabotage: Iberia ⇄ Liguria ⇄ Tyrrhenian islands.
-
River corridors (Ebro, Tiber, Po) linked coast to interior.
Cultural & Symbolic Expressions
-
Rock art expanded in Iberia (Levantine style: hunters, deer, social scenes).
-
Middens became mortuary grounds.
-
Ritual feasts around shellfish/tunny runs.
Environmental Adaptation & Resilience
-
Semi-sedentary villages stabilized diets with fish, nuts, deer.
-
Mobility persisted across upland–lowland circuits.
Transition
By 6,094 BCE, Mediterranean Southwest Europe saw a mature Mesolithic, primed for Neolithic farming arrivals.
| Upper Pleistocene II: Epipaleolithic Shores and Deglacial Lagoons
Geographic & Environmental Context
Mediterranean Southwest Europe includes:
-
Iberia: Andalusia, Murcia, Valencia, Catalonia, Extremadura, La Mancha, Madrid, Aragon, SE Rioja, SE Navarra, Algarve, Alentejo, Balearic Islands, Andorra.
-
Italy: entire peninsula, Sardinia, Sicily, and Venice lagoon.
-
Malta.
Anchors:
-
Guadalquivir valley, Sierra Nevada, Ebro basin, Turia/Júcar/Segura valleys, Balearic coves, Tiber & Po valleys, Apennines, Sardinia’s Massifs, Sicily’s coastal plains & Etna, Maltese limestone plateaus, Venetian lagoon.
-
| Early Holocene: Mesolithic Lagoons, Upland Hunts, and Coastal Villages
Geographic & Environmental Context
-
Rising seas flooded shelves, forming estuaries and lagoons.
-
Ebro, Tiber, Po valleys stabilized; oak–hazel forests widespread.
-
Balearics still sparsely visited at most; Malta still empty.
Climate & Environmental Shifts
-
Holocene optimum: warm, wet, predictable rains.
-
Rich lagoons, estuaries, and forest mast.
Subsistence & Settlement
-
Iberia: Mesolithic shell-midden villages in Valencia, Andalusia; fishing, shellfish, tunny; inland deer/boar hunting.
-
Italy: Apennine forest foragers, Po floodplain fishing, Sicily shellfish and deer.
-
Sardinia: early Mesolithic visitors exploited shellfish and pig–deer hunting.
-
Balearics/Malta: unoccupied.
Technology & Material Culture
-
Microlithic triangles/trapezes; polished adzes emerging.
-
Nets, weirs, dugout canoes; ornaments of shell, bone, amber.
-
Early ground-stone mortars for nuts/seeds.
Movement & Interaction Corridors
-
Coastal cabotage: Iberia ⇄ Liguria ⇄ Tyrrhenian islands.
-
River corridors (Ebro, Tiber, Po) linked coast to interior.
Cultural & Symbolic Expressions
-
Rock art expanded in Iberia (Levantine style: hunters, deer, social scenes).
-
Middens became mortuary grounds.
-
Ritual feasts around shellfish/tunny runs.
Environmental Adaptation & Resilience
-
Semi-sedentary villages stabilized diets with fish, nuts, deer.
-
Mobility persisted across upland–lowland circuits.
Transition
By 6,094 BCE, Mediterranean Southwest Europe saw a mature Mesolithic, primed for Neolithic farming arrivals.