The First Neolithic Communities in Northeast Iberia: Procurement, Production, and Use of Lithic Tools at the Settlement of Caserna de Sant Pau Del Camp (Barcelona, Spain)

Caserna de Sant Pau del Camp is one of the earliest Neolithic settlements in Northeast Iberia and represents the occupation of coastal areas by the first farming communities in the region. It is located in the city center of Barcelona and displays a continuous Early Neolithic occupational sequence from Cardial to Postcardial Neolithic during nearly a thousand years. It also includes what currently is the earliest Neolithic necropolis known in northeastern Iberia, dated to the late fifth millennium cal BC (Postcardial). This article presents a detailed study of the chipped stone assemblage. The results have enabled the characterization of a series of aspects concerning lithic production such as raw material procurement strategies, technology, and lithic use patterns over a time-span of almost a thousand years, which trace interesting parallels and differences with other parts of the Iberian Peninsula and France. Second, the integration of these results with previous data from Sant Pau and a regional contextualization have brought to light a series of key aspects concerning the role played by coastal communities in the Neolithization process of the Northeastern Iberian Peninsula, coastal landscape exploitation, mobility (maritime?) patterns, exchange networks, and a host of other issues. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.