2026-04-17T21:25:02Zhttps://recercat.cat/oai/request

oai:recercat.cat:10256/137442024-10-29T20:41:55Zcom_2072_452955com_2072_2054col_2072_453063

00925njm 22002777a 4500 dc Isern Sardó, Neus author Zilhão, João author Fort, Joaquim author Ammerman, Albert J. author info:eu-repo/date/embargoEnd/2026-01-01 2017-01-31 The earliest dates for the West Mediterranean Neolithic indicate that it expanded across 2,500 km in about 300 y. Such a fast spread is held to be mainly due to a demic process driven by dispersal along coastal routes. Here, we model the Neolithic spread in the region by focusing on the role of voyaging to understand better the core elements that produced the observed pattern of dates. We also explore the effect of cultural interaction with Mesolithic populations living along the coast. The simulation study shows that (i) sea travel is required to obtain reasonable predictions, with a minimum sea-travel range of 300 km per generation; (ii) leapfrog coastal dispersals yield the best results (quantitatively and qualitatively); and (iii) interaction with Mesolithic people can assist the spread, but long-range voyaging is still needed to explain the archaeological pattern This work has been partially funded by Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (Grants SimulPast-CSC-2010-00034, FIS-2012-31307, and FIS-2016-80200-P), Fundación Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (Grant NeoDigit-PIN2015E), and an Academia award from the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (to J.F.) Neolític -- Models matemàtics Neolithic period -- Mathematical models Difusió cultural -- Models matemàtics Culture diffusion -- Mathematical models Modeling the role of voyaging in the coastal spread of the Early Neolithic in the West Mediterranean