Late Glacial to middle Holocene demographic dynamics in Iberia: a chronological modeling approach

Summary

This paper presents the preliminary results of the research project MULTI-SCALARDEM and our current work in the context of a new ERC supported project: PALEODEM. Both projects aim to reconstruct the population history of the Iberian Peninsula from the Late Magdalenian to the Late Mesolithic (c.16,000-8,000 cal BP), a time framework of major cultural and socio-economic adaptations to climatic and environmental change. For this presentation, we will focus on the analysis of the radiocarbon record (summed probability distributions approach of calibrated radiocarbon dates) to infer past demographic dynamics.

A new georeferenced database of radiocarbon dates has been created ad hoc for this research. In order to critically assess the quality and resolution of the Iberian radiocarbon record, and different filtering criteria and calibration procedures have been implemented. Our analytical approach includes taphonomic bias corrections, non-parametric bootstrapping to test the statistical significance of the observed results and hypothesis testing of different models of demographic growth.

Finally, we will discuss general trends and regionally-specific relative population changes in the context of the Late Glacial to middle Holocene climatic variability

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Upper Paleolithic Transitional "Moments" on the Iberian Peninsula

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16839