Agriculture and vegetal nutrition at the Bronze Age site of Peñalosa (Baños de la Encina, Jaén)

Abstract

Plant macroremains from the open-air site of Peñalosa (Baños de la Encina. Jaén) in southernSpain are presented in this paper. The site is dated to the Bronze Age (1500 BC) and considered as the most northernexample of the Argar Culture. The excavation and flotation of the different structures within the site hasproduced a vast amount of plant remains. Their study has allowed to understand the economy of the site basedon cereal agriculture. Crop processing activities have been also detected revealing that fine-sieving was carriedout at some of the houses studied. The presence of numerous wild species suggest that the exploitation of the naturalenvironment was part of the subsistence practices of the inhabitants of the site. Plant foods as well as speciesused with other purposes have been identified.