Este artículo presenta los resultados de las campañas realizadas desde 2001 a 2010 en áreas de alta montaña del Pirineo axial occidental de Catalunya, que han generado unos registros arqueológicos extensos y detallados, así como diversos análisis paleoecológicos de turberas y contextos lacustres. Gracias a las 27 fechas radiocarbónicas obtenidas, se documenta la secuencia del poblamiento prehistórico en medios alpinos y subalpinos desde las primeras evidencias de su ocupación, en el Mesolítico, hasta el inicio de la Edad del Bronce, fundamentalmente. Se proponen nuevas hipótesis para su explicación. Se ha prestando especial interés a los procesos de colonización postglacial de estos espacios, a la introducción de prácticas ganaderas e, hipotéticamente, agrícolas y a su evolución. Se han considerado además actividades complementarias como la minería, la producción de carbón y la extracción de madera, así como las relaciones de las comunidades humanas de ámbitos de montaña con las de otras áreas geográficas.

This article explores the changes that occurred in harvesting technology during the dispersal of the Neolithic in the Mediterranean basin. It does so through technological and use-wear analysis of flaked stone tools from archaeological sites dated between ca. 7000 and 5000 cal BCE, from the Aegean Sea to the westernmost coasts of Portugal. The main goal is to analyse the transformations that occurred in the harvesting toolkit. Our study reveals dynamics of continuity and change in sickles at a Mediterranean scale, resulting from adaptations of the migrant groups to the newly occupied territories and from processes of technological innovation. Adaptations in the production system of the inserts and in their use-pattern occurred in relation to lithic raw material availability and knappers’ skills, but also in relation to the scale of production and farming techniques. A major shift took place in the north-western Mediterranean arc with the diffusion of parallel-hafted inserts, probably as a result of heterogeneous phenomena including the diffusion of new groups, technical transfers, establishment of new interaction networks and new systems of lithic production.

The lakeshore site of La Marmotta is one of the most important Early Neolithic sites of Mediterranean Europe. The site is famous for the exceptional preservation of organic materials, including numerous wooden artefacts related to navigation, agriculture, textile production, and basketry. This article presents interdisciplinary research on three of the most complete and well-preserved sickles recovered from the site, yet unpublished. All the components of the tools are analysed: the stone inserts, the wooden haft and the adhesive substances used to fix the stones inside the haft. Our innovative methodology combines use-wear and microtexture analysis of stone tools through confocal microscopy, taxonomical and technological analysis of wood, gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis of the adhesive substances, and pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, and phytolith analysis of the remains incorporated within the adhesive. This multiproxy approach provides a significant insight into the life of these tools, from their production to their use and abandonment, providing evidence of the species of harvested plants and the conditions of the field during the harvesting.