Archaeology, Biogeography, and Chronology: the ABC's of the Mesolithic-Neolithic Transition in the Western Mediterranean Islands

The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the western Mediterranean islands is characterized by profound changes in subsistence, settlement, and economic interrelations; the accompanying changes in socio-political behaviors and organization were the first steps towards the complex societies that emerged by the Bronze Age. The shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture and animal husbandry was based on the introduction of already-domesticated cereals (wheat and barley) and animals (sheep, goat, cattle, pig) ultimately of Near Eastern origin, into new ecological and geographic zones. At the same time, other elements of the "neolithic package" characteristic of the eastern Mediterranean first appear in the archaeological record of the 6th millennium cal BC: the production of Impressed Ware pottery; the first village settlements; and long-distance exchange of obsidian and other materials. Three basic hypotheses have been proposed to explain this transition: (1) the adoption of neolithic elements transmitted from neighboring indigenous populations; (2) demic diffusion of farming peoples; and (3) long-distance migration/colonization.

Radiocarbon dating has been the basis for reconstructing the chronology of the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition throughout the Mediterranean and Near East. The available radiocarbon evidence generally documents a pattern of decreasing ages for the neolithic from East to West, at least from the Near East to southeast Europe to central and western Europe; this pattern has been used in support of a wave-of-advance model of expanding farming populations (Ammerman & Cavalli-Sforza 1984). On a local level, however, any explanation must account for variability in biogeographic regimes, and the role of indigenous populations. What subsistence options were available, especially on islands with limited indigenous fauna? Were neolithic subsistence practices integrated with existing hunting, fishing, gathering, and cultivation strategies, or did they supplant them entirely? Did indigenous groups incorporate with neolithic people, or just assimilate neolithic cultural characteristics? Was the transition simultaneous in multiple regions? Sooner in coastal zones or islands? The same for all elements of the neolithic package?

In the western Mediterranean islands and adjacent regions, the number and quality of the available radiocarbon dates makes it difficult to answer many of these questions. Precociously early dates at some sites appear to support actual population movements from east to west. Gaps in dated sequences appear to support a punctuated transition or filter effect in which village farming was adopted only after a significant delay. This paper will reexamine the available dates for this transitionary period in the western Mediterranean, and with the aid of the extended radiocarbon calibration curve, assess the chronological basis for reconstructing the mechanisms of neolithisation. In so doing, it will discuss the limitations of the radiocarbon method in answering these questions, and propose future research that would contribute to a better understanding of the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the western Mediterranean islands.