Mid-Holocene palaeoenvironmental record from the Atlantic Band of Cádiz (SW Spain) based on pollen and charcoal data

Abstract The archaeological investigations developed in the Cadiz coast and countryside during the last 25 years have revealed a series of human occupations dating between ca 8000-3000 cal BP and ranging culturally from Late Mesolithic until Late Bronze Age. Pollen analyses have revealed an open Mediterranean landscape developed under dry conditions drifting to steppic ones. Pinus, Juniperus, Olea and evergreen Quercus are the main arboreal taxa. Mesophilous (deciduous Quercus, Ulmus, Betula) and hygrophilous plants (Salix, Alnus), are present at the base (Mesolithic) as indicators of moister conditions. Nevertheless its presence is discontinuous and exiguous throughout most of the sequence recovering only during the Bronze Age. Charcoal assemblages reveal in turn the management of diverse plant communities. Olea europaea, deciduous and evergreen oak woodlands, Mediterranean pines (Pinus pinea, P. halepensis) and Juniperus appear interspersed in an open environment given the systematic exploitation of a varied set of shrubs and scrubs: Pistacia lentiscus, Arbutus unedo, Phillyrea sp., Crataegus, Prunus spp., Fabaceae and Erica sp. The E-W geographical position of sites between the Bays of Algeciras and Cadiz, both separated by a series of mountainous alignments, determined the early development of the evergreen oak woodlands to the east over the deciduous oak communities which are more abundant westwards, due to the decreasing humidity gradient as going eastwards. The various sea level fluctuations occurred during the Holocene, also determined the trajectory and character of human occupations settled on the coast.