T5 Articulo A Social Change in NW Iberia

Neighbours but diverse: social change in
north-west Iberia during the transition

from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic
(55004000 cal BC)
PABLO ARIAS
INTRODUCTION
1
THE IBERIAN PENINSULA is often described as a miniature continent. The
complexity of its orography and its geographic situation in a temperate lati-
tude, between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic environmental regions,
result in a highly compartmented landscape, with strong contrasts within rel-
atively short distances. This is, indeed, the case in the north-west quadrant of
the Peninsula, including Galicia, northern Portugal, the Cantabrian coastal
area, the northern Meseta and the Upper Ebro valley. There we can nd a
wide range of geographical regions, from the at semi-steppe areas of
Central Castile, with its hard continental climate and Mediterranean vegeta-
tion, to the green mountainous Cantabrian region, one of the most humid
areas of Europe, covered with green meadows and deciduous forests.
Without implying in the slightest an environmental determinism, it is
obvious that the population involved in the transition to the Neolithic had
to face very different conditions. Besides, the Mesolithic backgrounds and
degrees of exposure to external inuences are very diverse. All this permits
us to predict great variability in the transitions to the Neolithic in a rela-
tively restricted area (around 200,000 square km), thus allowing the popu-
lations involved to know each other, and to develop complex systems of
relationships.
Proceedings of the British Academy 144, 5371, The British Academy 2007.
1
This paper is a contribution to the research project El origen de las sociedades campesinas en
la fachada atlntica europea (HUM2004-06418-C02-00), granted by the Programa Nacional de
Humanidades del Plan Nacional de I D I (20042007) of the Spanish Government. I would
also like to thank my colleagues Jess Garca Gazlaz and Jess Sesma for allowing me to use
unpublished data from their research at Los Cascajos.
Copyright British Academy 2007 all rights reserved
54 Pablo Arias
From another point of view, it is likely that the existence of natural bar-
riers, such as the Cantabrian, Central and Iberian Cordilleras, frequently
reaching 2000 m above sea level or more, favoured the territorial behaviour
characteristic of Holocene groups.
In this paper I will present the available information on the late
Mesolithic and the early Neolithic in north-west Iberia (Fig. 1), and discuss
its signicance when attempting to understand the processes of transition
from foraging to peasant societies.
THE UPPER EBRO VALLEY
With the present information, the most probable scenario relates the origin of
the Neolithic in this part of Europe to the expansion of the Mediterranean
Neolithic towards the interior. That gives a paramount importance to the
Ebro valley, one of the main routes of communication in the Iberian
Peninsula. Actually, within the area analysed in this paper, it is this region
Figure 1. Sites that have provided relevant information on the transition to the Neolithic in
north-west Iberia.
alone that has provided assemblages that might be related to the earliest
phase of the Iberian Neolithic, identied archaeologically by the predomi-
nance of pottery decorated with impressions of the cockle Cerastoderma
edule (cardial ware). Despite the low representativeness of the collection, this
might be the case of the cave site of Pea Larga (Fernndez Eraso 1997),
where the earliest layer has provided 17 sherds of cardial pottery (out of 24
decorated sherds among 460 fragments: Fig. 2). Unfortunately, the only radio-
carbon date for this context is too imprecise (I-15150: 6150 230 BP, corres-
ponding to the intervals 55204540 cal BC (at 2 sigma) and 53204800 cal BC
(at 1 sigma).
2
Besides, the part of the interval with a highest probability lies
SOCIAL CHANGE IN NORTH-WEST IBERIA 55
2
All the radiocarbon dates cited in this paper have been calibrated according to the IntCal04
curve (Reimer et al. 2004), using the 5.0.1 revision of the CALIB program (Stuiver & Reimer
1993).
Figure 2. Sherd of cardial pottery from Pea Larga Cave (from Fernndez Eraso 1997).
56 Pablo Arias
clearly below the chronological boundary between the earliest (real cardial)
Neolithic horizon and a later, more complex, phase when this kind of pottery
tends to be substituted by assemblages where other types of impressed and
incised decorations predominate: the so-called Epicardial and the Late
Cardial or Neolithic IB (around 5300 cal BC: Bernabeu 1999; 2002; Juan-
Cabanilles & Mart 2002; Mestres & Martn 1996).
However, around 5200 cal BC, there is a network of Neolithic sites in the
Upper Ebro valley, including both the left and the right banks of the river
and even some valleys that run up towards the north. This seems to be shown
by the amazingly homogeneous radiocarbon dates from Atxoste, Cueva
Lbrega, Los Husos and Los Cascajos, corresponding to contexts with
Epicardial type assemblages that may be classied as really Neolithic, given
the high proportion of domestic animals in the faunal assemblages that have
been studied so far.
But the situation in this area at the end of the sixth millennium cal BC is
relatively complex. On the left bank of the river, which is the best researched,
a dense network of Mesolithic sites, located in rock-shelters, has been stud-
ied in recent years (Alday 2002). These have provided assemblages compara-
ble with the Geometric Mesolithic of Mediterranean Spain. The role played
by the populations which are behind those assemblages in the Neolithisation
process has still not been determined exactly. Nevertheless, there are signs
suggesting phenomena of acculturation, such as the relative continuity of the
population (most of the early Neolithic sites in this area are located in places
where there are nal Mesolithic occupations: Fuente Hoz, Mendandia,
Atxoste, La Pea de Maran, Kanpanoste Goikoa) and in some cases, it
appears that there is a certain continuity between the Mesolithic and
Neolithic stone tool assemblages (Alday 1999; Cava 1994).
However, the data provided by some early Neolithic sites suggest a certain
break or novelty, such as occurs at Pea Larga itself, Los Husos, Cueva
Lbrega or Los Cascajos. The latter is a particularly relevant site. The pre-
liminary reports that have been published so far on this recently excavated
open air settlement (Garca Gazlaz & Sesma 1999; 2001; Pea et al. 2005a)
show a clear break with the Mesolithic tradition in funerary behaviour
(Fig. 3), lithic technology and settlement pattern. Looking for references in
the Mediterranean (mainly Catalonian) Neolithic seems to be the most
promising path to understand this site.
A particularly interesting case is that of Mendandia, a site located near
the main nucleus of Neolithic population at the end of the sixth millennium,
where a sequence with three levels containing pottery has been documented
(Alday 2005). These are dated respectively to about 6050 (III sup), 5500 (II)
and 5400 (I) cal BC. Although they have been described as Neolithic, those
contexts have yielded assemblages of a Mesolithic type and only wild species.
This suggests the possibility of the existence of long range contacts with the
Mediterranean coast that would have allowed new goods to reach these dis-
tant, but well communicated interior areas. This hypothesis seems to be con-
rmed by the presence at this and other Mesolithic sites of adornments made
from shells of Columbella rustica, coming from the Mediterranean (lvarez
2003) or the predominance of evaporitic int from the middle Ebro Valley at
Los Husos (Fernndez Eraso et al. 2005).
The case of Mendandia is not so exceptional in the region as it might
seem to be at rst sight. To the north-east, in Navarra, in the foothills of the
Pyrenees, there are several sixth millennium cal BC contexts that have been
attributed to the Neolithic simply because of the presence of some pottery
sherds (Abauntz layer c, Aizpea layer b, and Zatoya layer I). In fact, in none
of these is there any sign of agriculture or stock herding, while the industries,
except for the very scarce pottery, may be classied as Mesolithic. This sug-
gests that, as in other areas of Atlantic Europe, we may be facing the
archaeological evidence of foragers who owned pottery, either because they
had learnt how to make it, or because they had acquired some vessels
through exchange. Indeed, all these sites have provided Columbella rustica
Figure 3. Early Neolithic burial at Los Cascajos. Photo: courtesy of Jess Garca Gazlaz and
Jess Sesma.
58 Pablo Arias
shells, both in layers with pottery and in the preceding strata accepted as
Mesolithic (lvarez 2003).
In this respect, we may wonder if the inter-relationship could not have
worked in both directions. An aspect that has not been sufciently exam-
ined is the expansion of the Helwan technique in the manufacture of geo-
metric microliths. This type of retouch is very characteristic of the early
Neolithic in the Ebro valley, and it also appears after the middle of the
sixth millennium cal BC at sites in Lower Aragon and Valencia. Generally,
this has been interpreted as the addition of another element in the local
Neolithic package, spread by the supposed colonisers coming from the
Mediterranean coast, together with domestic species and pottery. However,
there is evidence against this rather simplistic idea, as some examples of
this type of retouch have been found in Mesolithic contexts in the north
of the peninsula since the start of the sixth millennium cal BC, as well as
there being no logical relation between this particular technique in the
manufacture of projectiles and the Neolithic way of life. The hypothesis
may be proposed, although not yet tested, that this technique arose among
the Mesolithic groups in the western Pyrenees, perhaps derived from a type
that is not unusual in the area in the seventh millennium: the triangles with
inverse retouch on the short side, sometimes related to the Sonchamp
points (Cava 2001). If this were conrmed, it may be proposed that they
spread inversely, from the hunter-gatherers in the north to the rst
Neolithic groups in the east of the Peninsula, following the same routes
that pottery, domestic species and Mediterranean shells took, but in the
opposite direction.
THE NORTHERN MESETA
One of the most signicant advances in the knowledge of the Iberian
Neolithic in the last few years has been the documentation of what has been
called the Interior Neolithic (Fernndez-Posse 1980). Several research proj-
ects have been able to document a network of Neolithic settlements with
Epicardial type assemblages dated to the last third of the sixth millennium
cal BC. Some of these are located in caves, such as the classic example of
La Vaquera (Fig. 4) in Segovia (Estremera 2003), but most of them are open
air settlements, like the important sites of La Lmpara and La Revilla
del Campo in Soria (Kunst and Rojo 1999) or some contexts documented
in palaeosoils sealed by megalithic monuments, like La Velilla and
Quintanadueas. It is even probable that the start of the impressive int
mining activity at Casa Montero, near Madrid, can be attributed to this
moment (Consuegra et al. 2004).
Unfortunately, the study of the Neolithisation of the Meseta is seriously
complicated by the almost complete absence of Mesolithic remains in the
interior of the Peninsula. This has made many researchers propose a model
of colonisation in a completely empty territory (Delibes de Castro &
Fernndez Manzano 2000; Estremera 2003; Kunst & Rojo 1999).
As myself and others have developed in more detail elsewhere (Arias et al.
2005), the use of negative arguments, like the ones used for this problem, is
very risky, especially when many areas have not been explored yet, and the
Figure 4. Early Neolithic impressed pottery from La Vaquera (from Estremera 2003).
60 Pablo Arias
interior Mesolithic has a serious problem of archaeological visibility (there
are no clear criteria to assign decontextualised material to this period). In
addition, there are signs that indicate the presence of hunter-gatherers in the
area. As well as some sites with material that is probably Mesolithic (see
Arias et al. 2005 for a detailed analysis), there is certain indirect evidence,
such as some absolute dates that are difcult to attribute to Neolithic groups
or the presence of mixed traits in the early Neolithic of the Meseta.
CANTABRIAN SPAIN
Cantabrian Spain is one of the classic areas for Mesolithic studies in the
Iberian Peninsula. A dense network of sites is known, particularly on the
eastern coast of Asturias, where about a hundred shell middens belonging to
this period have been catalogued along some 35 km of coastline (Fano 1998).
However, the distribution of the main settlements, generally located 1 or 2
km inland from the present shore, and the palaeoeconomic information, sug-
gest that they were not groups specialised in exploiting only the marine envi-
ronment, but that they are an example of a broad spectrum economy, centred
on hunting and gathering on the coastal platform, complemented with sh-
ing and collecting seafood, and hunting on nearby rocky hills (Arias 1999).
Some stable isotope data for coastal sites conrm this hypothesis, showing a
diet in which the intake of protein was distributed approximately equally
between land and marine food, as the d
13
C suggests, and the high values of
d
15
N indicating that the latter probably derive more from sh than from
invertebrates (Arias & Fano 2005).
From this point of view, there is a notable contrast between the isotopic
values at coastal sites and those of a well documented inland site: Los Canes,
a burial cave with three graves holding ve individuals. Despite being only
11 km from the coast, the diet of its inhabitants appears to have come exclu-
sively from terrestrial resources (Fig. 5). This is particularly interesting, in
that it conrms the existence of inland populations, which has been a fre-
quent topic for discussion in local prehistory. Equally, the fact that they did
not exploit the nearby marine resources suggests a territorial behaviour for
these groups, which is consistent with the concentration of graves in the site.
The rst evidence of the exploitation of domestic species in the area is
dated to the rst half of the fth millennium cal BC. Cattle bones associated
with impressed ware, similar to that from the Upper Ebro, found at the
cave site of Arenaza, have been dated to about 4900 cal BC (Arias & Altuna
1999). At another cave site, El Mirn, a grain of emmer (Triticum dicoccum)
has been dated to around 4400 cal BC (Gx-30910: 5550 40 BP; 44604340
cal BC) (Pea et al. 2005b; Pea et al. 2005a). It is interesting to point out that
both sites have yielded assemblages with high percentages of domestic
animals (7080%), which makes one question gradualist hypotheses, such
as myself and others have occasionally supported. However, the regional
archaeological record for the rst half of the fth millennium cal BC is very
complex. Together with those fully Neolithic sites, we nd numerous con-
texts showing a total continuity with the Mesolithic, many of which show no
signs of domestic species, and even have possible evidence of intensication
in gathering, such as the presence of barnacles (Pollicipes cornucopia) in some
late middens. At the moment, it is not clear if this is merely a question of
Figure 5. Stable isotopes values for Mesolithic and Neolithic sites in Cantabrian Spain.
62 Pablo Arias
logistic mobility (specialised settlements corresponding to groups of farmers
who continued hunting and gathering in certain places, as has been proposed
to explain some Neolithic contexts in the south-east of France: e.g. Binder
1991), or whether we are dealing with a Neolithisation in a mosaic pattern,
with groups of farmers and hunter-gatherers living at the same time in nearby
areas.
In any case, there is an appreciable time difference between the start of the
Neolithic in the region and in the neighbouring Upper Ebro (at least four
centuries: probably more). These two regions are close to one another, com-
munication (especially in the Basque Country) is easy, and there are signs that
even in the Mesolithic there were contacts between the two areas. We can
point out, for example, the use of int from the Ebro valley at some sites in
the Basque Country (Fernndez Eraso et al. 2005), the presence of marine
shells at several Mesolithic sites in the Upper Ebro (lvarez Fernndez 2006)
or the existence of technical and stylistic similarities between the assemblages
on both sides of the Cordillera (Arias 1991). Helwan technique is particularly
interesting in this respect. Some Mesolithic contexts dated to the sixth mil-
lennium cal BC, such as Los Canes, have provided microliths made with this
technique, characteristic of the Ebro valley Neolithic. This suggests that
there could be contacts between the hunter-gatherers of Cantabrian Spain
and the earliest farmers in the Upper Ebro, perhaps prolonging in time social
networks that already existed before the Neolithisation of the latter region.
This allows us to dene the last centuries of the Mesolithic in Cantabrian
Spain as an example of societies in the availability phase proposed by
Zvelebil and Rowley-Conwy (1986; see Zvelebil & Lillie 2000 for a more elab-
orated version of the model). And probably change reached these societies
through these networks, as the available evidence indicates a process of accul-
turation with a fundamentally indigenous base. The industrial features of the
rst Neolithic in the Cantabrian Region display considerable continuity with
the local Mesolithic. There are also signs of continuity in the symbolic world,
as shown by the presence of Asturian picks, a typically Mesolithic tool, used
as a grave good in the Asturian burial of Molino de Gasparn, and also in
megalithic monuments probably dated to the second half of the fth millen-
nium cal BC (Arias & Fano 2003). Some singular items point in the same
direction, such as some painted cobble stones in early megalithic assem-
blages, apparently continuing a tradition in the regional Mesolithic (Arias
1991).
Two main lines of explanation have been followed to tackle the problem
of the causes of the Neolithisation of this area. One relates change with the
development of social complexity among the hunter-gatherers, and the other
links it to subsistence problems. It is not easy at the moment to respond to
this dilemma, although the evidence for the second line is somewhat more
solid. Despite some signs of social inequality, such as the differences in the
grave goods found in the burials of Los Canes, it does not seem that the
complex hunter-gatherers model can be applied to the Cantabrian Mesolithic.
Besides, for the moment we have no evidence for the diffusion of prestige
items or imported goods among these groups. In contrast, the clear signs of
dietary stress in the most recent skeleton from Los Canes (Mara Dolores
Garralda, pers. comm.), and the indirect evidence provided by the intensica-
tion in the gathering of sea food, or the territoriality itself, in a narrow
region, relatively poor in natural resources, where there seems to have been
considerable population density in the Mesolithic, all suggest that the system
could have been near its limits and that farming might have become a socially
acceptable solution.
GALICIA AND NORTHERN PORTUGAL
The archaeological information about the Neolithisation of the far north-
west of the Peninsula, the Spanish region of Galicia and the former
Portuguese provinces of Beira Alta, Douro Litoral, Minho and Trs-os-
Montes e Alto Douro,
3
is scarce and incomplete. In great part, this comes
from preservation problems, related to the acidity of the soils which makes
the fossilisation of archaeological materials difcult, and it is also probably
due, in the case of coastal areas, to structural phenomena that have increased
the effect of the Flandrian transgression.
The information about the Mesolithic is particularly precarious. In Galicia
some very poor sites are known in inland areas like Serra do Xistral or O
Bocelo, and perhaps some of the problematic surface nds of lithic materials
in coastal areas can be attributed to this period. The situation in the north of
Portugal is a little better, as some sites have been studied in recent years, such
as the open air settlement at Prazo (Trs-os-Montes: Monteiro-Rodrigues
2000; Monteiro-Rodrigues & Angelucci 2004), with quartz tools associated
with problematic sixth millennium cal BC dates (see Zilhos comments in
Carvalho 2003), or the rock shelter of Buraco de Pala (Sanches 1997). We may
add some possible indirect evidence of the activity of the hunter-gatherer
groups, like some changes recorded in pollen diagrams for Serra do Xistral in
the second half of the seventh millennium cal BC (Ramil 1993).
The oldest evidence for the presence of Neolithic groups is probably pro-
vided by a series of sites in the area of Beira Alta, like Buraco da Moura de
So Romo or Penedo da Penha (Valera 2005). Although so far no absolute
3
In the current administrative division of Portugal, that corresponds, approximately, to the
districts of Viana do Castelo, Braga, Porto, Vila Real, Bragana, Guarda, Viseu and Aveiro.
64 Pablo Arias
dates have been published, the characteristic industries (pottery with conical
basis and impressed and incised designs comparable with the so-called cul-
tura de las cuevas in the Meseta and Andalucia, almagra ware) suggest that
these sites correspond to the last third of the sixth millennium cal BC or the
start of the fth, which is not surprising if we note their proximity to the
well known nucleus of Neolithic population in the limestone massif of
Estremadura. The radiocarbon date for the site of Quinta de Assentada (Sac-
1774: 5870 110 BP; 50004490 cal BC), with undecorated spherical-shaped
pottery that Valera (2005) attributes to a later phase of the local Neolithic,
might conrm this hypothesis.
To the north of the river Douro, there is no clear sign of the Neolithic
until c. 4750 cal BC, which is the date for contexts with pottery and domesti-
cated vegetable or animal species at Buraco de Pala and Prazo. The
Neolithisation process, however, is not clear. The researchers who excavated
these sites, where Neolithic levels cover Mesolithic strata, interpret some con-
tinuity in settlement patterns and lithic technology as possible evidence for
processes of change within the local hunter-gatherer communities (Monteiro-
Rodrigues 2000; Sanches 2003). However, recent studies question this inter-
pretation, arguing that the lithic assemblages of those sites are highly
dependent on the limitations of the local raw material (Carvalho 2003). In
any case, the change seems to have been relatively rapid, if we consider the
high percentages of domesticated species (in particular, the remains of bar-
ley, wheat and pulses at Buraco da Pala: Fig. 6), which casts doubts on
extremely gradualist models like the one recently proposed by Jorge (1999).
Some data obtained further to the north are more difcult to interpret
at the moment. Among these we can point out the presence of impressed
pottery at coastal sites in the south of Galicia, like A Cunchosa, O
Regueirio or Lavaps, which has been linked with a possible maritime dif-
fusion of the early Neolithic from central Portugal, and even with impressed
types on the French Atlantic coast (Surez Otero 1997). Unfortunately, the
context of this pottery is not well dened and in fact in some cases it is not
clear whether it can be related to later, Chalcolithic, decorated pottery from
the same sites. In fact, the oldest well documented contexts with pottery in
Galicia, the sites of Porto dos Valos and A Gndara, dated to the second
half of the fth millennium cal BC, have only provided undecorated sherds
(Prieto 2005).
Equally problematic is the identication of cereal pollen associated with
sixth millennium cal BC dates, such as those from palaeosoils documented
below several Galician dolmens (Barbanza, As Rozas, Parxubeira, and As
Pereiras) or the questionable site of O Reiro, where a date of c. 5500 cal BC
has been obtained for a context with pottery, wild mammals, remains of sh
and cereal pollen (Ramil 1973). The stratigraphical association of all these
elements is not sufciently clear, so the presence of agriculture or pottery
cannot be proven for such an early date in the far north-west of the
Peninsula.
THE REGIONAL SEQUENCE: A PROPOSAL FOR THE
TRANSITION TO THE NEOLITHIC IN NORTH-WEST IBERIA
In conclusion, the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula provides, in a
restricted area, a huge variety of Neolithisation processes, probably inter-
related, on an unequal background of Mesolithic populations, with great
contrast between densely populated areas, such as the Cantabrian coast or
the Upper Ebro, and others with lower densities.
It is precisely in one of these densely populated areas where the rst con-
tacts appear to have happened. The evidence from Mendandia suggests that,
about 5500 cal BC, not much later than the time when the rst Neolithic
groups were established on the Mediterranean coast, the rst pottery could
have reached the Upper Ebro. The earliest pots were probably no more than
attractive prestige goods, which reached this area through exchange net-
works, whose existence is proved by the presence of Mediterranean shells in
the local Mesolithic.
Figure 6. Charred seeds of fava bean (Vicia faba) from Buraco da Pala (from Sanches 1997).
66 Pablo Arias
However, for a long time, it is not likely that frequent contacts took place.
During the second third of the sixth millennium cal BC, the evidence is so
scarce that we can only talk of a very limited relationship. The situation
changes after 5300/5200 cal BC. At this time there is a rapid advance of the
agricultural frontier in the Ebro valley and the Meseta, and perhaps also in
central Portugal. It is likely that in some cases there was a true colonisation
by groups coming from the east or the south, as suggested by settlements like
La Lmpara, Los Cascajos and perhaps the sites in Beira. However, the
Mesolithic groups did not remain passive. They are probably responsible for
some Neolithic contexts with signs of continuity, and of some of the peculi-
arities of the local Neolithic. It is more than likely that the establishment of
Neolithic groups in the axis of the Ebro Valley intensied the contacts with
hunter-gatherer groups in the surrounding area. These relationships would
explain the proliferation of pottery in Mesolithic sites in the foothills of the
Pyrenees. It is also possible that there were some types of contacts with
groups in Cantabrian Spain, although pottery was not adopted, either
because the contacts were more sporadic or because there was greater social
resistance among these societies.
In the rst half of the fth millennium cal BC, the Neolithisation of the
north-west of the Peninsula was completed with the adoption of farming in
the Cantabrian region, the north of Portugal and perhaps Galicia. It appears
that this was carried out basically by the hunter-gatherer groups. Thus, it
seems that colonisation was restricted to ecologically more favourable areas,
such as the Ebro Valley, whereas in regions where it was more difcult to
adapt to the new ways of life, we should look at the local populations as the
most likely responsible for the change. In any case, the most recent evidence
suggests that it was a relatively rapid process, although the complexity of the
situation in the Cantabrian region still has not been explained.
Finally, in the second half of the fth millennium cal BC, a most impor-
tant change from the symbolic and social point of view happens: the build-
ing of the earliest megalithic monuments. Megaliths present some very
interesting features in this part of the Iberian Peninsula. The earliest struc-
tures appear practically simultaneously in all the regions we have studied in
this paper, about 4300 cal BC, and a true explosion in the number of monu-
ments occurs around 40003900 cal BC (Arias et al. 2006; Scarre et al. 2003).
However, this apparent uniformity hides a great variety. In reality, what uni-
es this phenomenon is simply the notion of monumentality and probably of
funeral collectiveness. But, if we examine the concrete solutions, from both
the architectonic and the grave goods points of view, there are huge differ-
ences between, on the one hand, Galicia and the north of Portugal, on the
other, Cantabrian Spain, and nally the Meseta and Upper Ebro (Fig. 7).
This suggests that the arrival of megaliths cannot be explained as a simple
Figure 7. Examples of megaliths from Galicia (1. Casa dos Mouros, La Corua), the
Cantabrian Region (2. Cantos Huecos, Cantabria) and the Upper Ebro valley (3. La Cabaa,
Burgos).
68 Pablo Arias
case of diffusion, and much less, as has traditionally been suggested, as a con-
sequence of colonisation. In reality, what spread, in a simultaneous, almost
explosive, way was an idea, a concept, and each society interpreted it in its
own way, incorporating elements of its own cultural background and its own
history. From this point of view, the megaliths can be seen as the end point
of the process of deep social change that we call Neolithisation: a process of
variable geometry in which the last Mesolithic societies in the north-west of
the Peninsula were transformed to give birth to a new world.
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Neighbours but diverse: social change in

north-west Iberia during the transition

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