Los datos arqueobotánicos publicados en los últimos años en el noroeste de la península ibérica nos permiten trazar una evolución del cultivo de la vid con unas pautas cronológicas y unas características internas singulares. Los análisis polínicos, carpológicos y antracológicos han identificado la presencia de Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris en el medio natural y su aprovechamiento por las comunidades protohistóricas. En época romana, los conjuntos de algunos yacimientos sugieren el cultivo simultáneo de la vid doméstica –Vitis vinifera subsp. vinifera– y la silvestre. Además, destaca la aparición de los primeros asentamientos especializados en la producción de vino en el sur de la región. Esto indica cambios en la gestión de la vid. El viñedo se vincularía a establecimientos agropecuarios, propiedad de familias con un estatus social alto, situados en áreas rurales o próximos a núcleos urbanos. Estos grandes propietarios probablemente continuarían controlando la comercialización del excedente de vino en la Alta Edad Media.
1 December 2016 in Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports
Some of the earliest Western European macroremains of rye (Secale cereale) have been recently recovered in Northwest Iberia. However, the chronological and cultural contexts of these remains have not been yet exhaustively analysed. To address this gap of research, previous and unpublished assemblages have been reviewed and analysed through an analytical set of methods: biometry, radiocarbon dates and integrating the remains of rye in the broad archaeobotanical record of the region. Results show the earliest macroremains of rye in the Iberian Peninsula date to a period between the 3rdcentury and the first half of the 1stcentury BCE. Rye was usually found in assemblages dominated by spelt and other cereals, in whose fields it was likely acting as a weed. There is no record of rye for about the two following centuries, after which it is probably reintroduced, now as a crop. It is found in several sites from the 3rd-4thcenturies CE onwards, suggesting it is a staple crop as in other regions in Europe. Significant differences in grain size are only recorded in a 10th-11thcentury settlement, suggesting few changes in grain morphometry before Medieval times.