Climate change and population dynamics during the late Mesolithic and the Neolithic transition in Iberia

This paper explores how Early Holocene climate changes in the Western Mediterranean would have affected Late Mesolithic settlement distribution and subsistence strategies in Iberian Peninsula, thereby giving rise to various adaptive scenarios. The current radiocarbon data set concerning the Neolithisation process has revealed the rapidity of the spread of farming in Iberia. Considering both the implications of the last hunter-gatherers’ adaptation strategies and the population dynamics of agro-pastoral communities, we address the migration patterns underlying the Mesolithic- Neolithic transition. In conclusion, we propose that the initial colonization process was the result of two successive and spatially heterogeneous migrations: Maritime Pioneer Colonization and targeted migration to places favorable to the new economic system.V članku raziskujemo kako bi zgodnje holocenske klimatske spremembe v zahodnem Sredozemlju vplivale na pozno mezolitsko razporeditev naselbin in na prehranjevalne strategije na Iberskem polotoku in s tem povzročile nastanek različnih prilagoditvenih scenarijev. Trenutna serija radiokarbonskih datumov, povezanih s procesom neolitizacije je razkrila hitrost širjenja poljedelstva na Iberskem polotoku. Ob upoštevanju obojega – vpletenosti prilagoditvenih strategij zadnjih lovcev in nabiralcev ter populacijske dinamike poljedelsko-pastirskih skupnosti, opazujemo selitvene vzorce, ki so podlaga mezolitsko – neolitskega prehoda. V zaključku predlagamo, da je bil začetni proces kolonizacije rezultat dveh zaporednih in prostorsko heterogenih migracij: pomorske pionirske kolonizacije in ciljne migracije na prostore naklonjene novemu ekonomskemu sistemu