2026-05-07T23:30:15Zhttps://riubu.ubu.es/oai/request

oai:riubu.ubu.es:10259/114692026-03-05T11:35:42Zcom_10259.4_2539com_10259_5086com_10259_2604col_10259.4_2540

González-Rabanal, Borja Marín-Arroyo, Ana B. Carmona Ballestero, Eduardo Cuenca-Solana, David Gutiérrez-Zugasti, Igor Martín Merino, Miguel Ángel Ortega Martínez, Ana Isabel Straus, Lawrence G. Vega Maeso, Cristina González Morales, Manuel R. Cristiani, Emanuela 2026-03-02T17:21:08Z 2026-03-02T17:21:08Z 2025-09 2296-701X https://hdl.handle.net/10259/11469 10.3389/FEVO.2025.1644052 2296-701X Introduction: Research on the origin and spread of agriculture in northern Atlantic Iberia remains partially limited because archaeobotanical data are scarce due to old excavations or preservation biases.Methods: In this paper, we present starch grain analyses of dental calculus of 18 individuals from 10 sites dated to the 4th/2nd millennium cal BCResults: This research supports the development of extensive and stable agriculture, based on the cultivation of wheat and barley species, from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age, when millets were introduced, marking the primary shift of the Cantabrian farming economy and revealing a more diversified and mixed agriculture thereafter. In parallel, legumes were less cultivated since the Neolithic and probably used as a secondary plant resource by the Cantabrian communities.Discussion: Our results have also allowed us to corroborate previous regional archaeobotanical and isotopic data and enhance the archaeological evidence of plant consumption during Late Prehistory, establishing a diachronic multiapproach to the development of agricultural practices in this area and providing a methodological framework for future studies. The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research and/or publication of this article. BG-R benefited from a Juan de la Cierva Grant (JDC2022-048798-I), funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and the European Union «NextGeneration EU»/PRTR. This study was part of BG-R’s Doctoral dissertation, supervised by ABM-A and MRGM. This research was funded by the research projects of the Spanish Economy, Industry and Competitiveness Ministry HAR2016-75605-R to MRGM and HAR2017- 84997-P to ABM-A The analysis of dental calculus was carried out under the facilities of the ERC Starting Grants (HIDDEN FOODS ref. 639286 and SUBSILIENCE ref. 818299), awarded to EC and ABM-A. IG-Z, DC-S, MRGM and LGS were supported by a grant from the Consejería de Cultura, Deporte y Turismo of the Gobierno de Cantabria. application/pdf eng Frontiers Media Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 2025, V. 13, 1644052 https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2025.1644052 Atribución 4.0 Internacional http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Farming Cantabrian region Dental calculus Starch grains Late prehistory Agricultura prehistórica Restos arqueológicos prehistóricos Agriculture, Prehistoric Antiquities, Prehistoric New insights into prehistoric agriculture of northern Iberia from the analysis of starch grains embedded in dental calculus info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 13