MOOving West: assessing the role of waterways in the Neolithization of Ebro, Po and Rhône basins
Year: 2024
Type: dissertation
Abstract: An unresolved issue within the debates on Neolithization processes concerns the role played by rivers. It is known that farmers and herders were capable of navigating, even over long distances. Still, it raises questions about the extent to which this ability was exploited in penetration processes. This thesis investigates the relationship of early Neolithic farmers with the Ebro, Rhône, and Po rivers. The underlying question of the research is to what extent waterways could have played a facilitating or hindering role in movement from coastal areas to the inland regions of the basins. To answer this question, predictive, spatial, cost-based, geostatistical, and statistical analyses were employed. The first phase of the work involved exploratory analyses that investigated the pattern of early Neolithic sites in the three basins. Subsequently, starting from the study of the composition of the moving Neolithic group, consisting of humans, animals, and food, a movement function based on the characteristics of the cattle was developed, which determined the pace of the entire group. Then, conclusions were drawn through the computation of cost maps and statistical analyses
Author: PIRRONE, GIADA
Language: English
Subfield: Archeology (arts and humanities)
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7039635203