European Kingdoms

Notches & Denticulated Mesolithic Technocomplex (Mesolithic) (Iberia)
c.8250 - 6600 BC

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Following the earliest entry into Europe of anatomically modern humans, they initially formed a single general culture during the height of the most recent ice age. As the ice started to melt, that mono-culture fractured in two across a Northern Europe and Southern Europe divide. Within the latter zone was Early Iberia, with 'Iberia' being the ancient name for the sun-drenched south-western European peninsula.

It comprises the modern countries of Portugal and Spain, plus the principality of Andorra and the British crown colony of Gibraltar. The first modern humans arrived in Iberia by about 24,000 BC, soon to form the long-lived Azilian culture which gradually faded as the Iberian Mesolithic began.

The more highly-regionalised but well-studied Asturian was the first solid culture of this period, but the Iberian Mesolithic is very unevenly represented in the known archaeological record, and the European Magdalenian culture seems not to have made much of an impact here. Soil acidity is generally high, making it hard to find the fewer surviving artefacts.

The Iberian Mesolithic is divided into two major cultural phases which correspond to two different technocomplexes. The early Mesolithic generally coincides with what has been termed the 'Notches and Denticulated Mesolithic Technocomplex' which is dated between about 8250-6600 BC (or 6650 BC). In some research this early Mesolithic is framed as the 'First Mesolithic'.

This is technologically characterised by expeditious flake debitage strategies which were used to produce notch-dominated assemblages. The post-glacial climate was constantly changing during this period, with the Preboreal period between about 8000-7100 BC witnessing Europe becoming significantly warmer.

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(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from A Genetic Signal of Central European Celtic Ancestry, David K Faux, from Investigating Archaeological Cultures: Material Culture, Variability, and Transmission, Benjamin W Roberts & Marc Vander Linden (Eds), from The Magdalenian Settlement of Europe, Quaternary International Volumes 272-273 (2012), and from External Links: The Genetic History of Ice Age Europe (Nature 2016), and An overview of the Mesolithic in the northwest Atlantic and inland area of the Iberian Peninsula, Natividad Fuertes-Prieto et al (Quaternary International, Vol 677-678, 2023, pp 95-110, available via ScienceDirect), and Reconstructing Mesolithic social networks on the Iberian Peninsula using ornaments, Carolina Cucart-Mora et al (Springer Nature, Vol 14, Article 174, 2022), and Weaving social networks from cultural similarities on the Neolithisation process in the Western Mediterranean: Evolutionary trajectories using projectile tools, María Barrera-Cruz et al (PLoS One, 2024, 19(7), available via the National Library of Medicine).)

c.8250 BC

The Iberian Mesolithic witnesses the last gasps of the Azilian culture when a Mesolithic lifestyle fully emerges in the peninsula. This regional version of the Mesolithic is divided into two major cultural phases which corresponding to two different technocomplexes, and with the 'Notched and Denticulated Mesolithic Technocomplex' covering this first period.

Although culturally and technologically continuous with Palaeolithic cultures, Mesolithic cultures quickly developed diverse local adaptations for special environments, as this map shows (click or tap on map to view full sized)

c.7250 BC

The Asturian culture emerges around this time, a late Epi-Palaeolithic and early Iberian Mesolithic stone and bone industry which is linked to the shell-midden sites of northern Iberia (specifically modern Spain).

c.7100 BC

The Boreal period (until about 5800 BC) sees the European climate continue to warm and become drier. Pine forests decrease, allowing deciduous trees to gain a firmer foothold and become prevalent. The animal population thrives, with red deer, roe deer, and hare increasing considerably.

This is an array of lithic tools from China are very similar to those of the 'Notches and Denticulated Mesolithic Technocomplex' of the early Iberian Mesolithic: denticulates are a–d, notches are e and f, scrapers are g and h), and a single point is 'i', from Dali, with red arrows illustrating retouching removals on tools and black lines indicating the boundaries of these removals