Los cultivos del Neolítico Antiguo de Sintra: Lapiás das Lameiras y São Pedro de Canaferrim: resultados preliminares

Carpological samples from two sites from the 6th millennium BC of the Portuguese Estremadura (Lapiás das Lameiras y São Pedro de Canaferrim, Sin tra) have been studied and, consequently, new data on the earliest plant crops in the Atlantic coast have been obtained. On one hand, crops of domestic species of cereals, as naked barley (Hordeum vulgare var. nudum) and bread/macaroni wheat (Triticum aestivum/durum), and pulses, as broad bean (Vicia faba), celtic bean (Vicia sativa), lentil (Lens culinaris) and pea (Pisum sativum), were processed on  site, as proves the existence of crop by  products (spikelet and chaff remains, and ruderal species as Galium/Asperula, Avena sp., Chenopodiaceae, etc...). The low number of other cereal domesticates (Triticum dicoccum, Triticum monococcum and Hordeum vulgare var. vulgare) and the abundance of wild pulses (Vicia, Lathyrus), which could have been cultivated, offer some interpretative possibilities that need further studying. Moreover, wild fruit species were also exploited, as hawthorn berries (Crataegus azarolus/lacin iata/ laevigata ) and fan palm dates (Chamaerops humilis). On the other hand, it has been shown that, the type of site being irrelevant to this matter, and only when recovery techniques are appropriate (extensive flotation or sieving with a 0’25 mm. mesh and selection with optical magnification instruments), it is possible to obtain rich, diverse and relevant charred seed and fruit assemblages.