Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology (May 2024)

The exploitation of mountain natural resources during the Iron Age in the Eastern Pyrenees: the case study of production unit G at Tossal de Baltarga (Bellver de Cerdanya, Lleida, Spain)

  • Oriol Olesti,
  • Jordi Morera,
  • Joan Oller,
  • Jose M. Carrasco,
  • Lídia Colominas,
  • Marta Portillo,
  • Anna Berrocal,
  • Oriol Lopez-Bultó,
  • Laura Obea,
  • Nadia Tarifa,
  • Paula Tárraga,
  • Joaquim Sisa-López de Pablo,
  • Chiara Messana

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fearc.2024.1347394
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 3

Abstract

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The Iron Age site of Tossal de Baltarga (Bellver de Cerdanya) was a large Iberian residential complex occupying a strategic position in the middle of the Eastern Pyrenees. It was destroyed by fire in the second half of the 3rd century BCE, preserving an important volume of archaeological and bioarchaeological material in certain areas. This is the case of Building G, a two-story construction whose violent blaze has offered the possibility of analyzing a precise moment in the history of an Iron Age productive unit. The existence of a stable on the lower floor, where four sheep, a goat, and a horse were documented, and an upper floor, where textile production and storage were evidenced, allows us to analyse the complexity of the economic activities and exploitation of local resources, such as livestock, agriculture, forestry and mining.

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