La Draga in the context of the first Neolithic communities in the peninsula

La Draga, dated between 5300-5000 cal BC, is the only lake-dwelling site in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula. It was discovered in 1990 when the land surrounding the lake was being arranged to accommodate the rowing competition in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. Since then, the site has been excavated in several phases. The first field season took place as a rescue project, when the preservation of organic material was observed. Later the excavation continued as a systematic research project under the supervision of Josep Tarrús, Julia Chinchilla and Àngel Bosch. Finally, from 2008 until the present day, the research project continues as under the direction of the Archaeological Museum of Catalonia -MAC-, the Autonomous University of Barcelona -UAB- and the Spanish National Research Council –CSIC-IMF, Barcelona-. The site has an extension estimated around 10.000 and 15,000 m2 and the area excavated is of 1000 m2, representing between 5-7% of the total area of the site.
The singularity of the site lies in the preservation of organic materials. La Draga is the only Neolithic site with organic plant remains preserved in waterlogged conditions known so far in the Iberian Peninsula. La Draga is unique in the frame of the Early Neolithic in Europe for the quantity and diversity and plant remains, among them more than a hundred plant-based implements, more than a thousand piles, thousands of charcoal and seed and fruit remains, fungi and plant exudates. The extraordinary archaeobotanical remains allow an assessment of the environment and botanical knowledge. Moreover, the site has provided an extraordinary collection of lithic tools, pottery, bone tools, ornament and faunal remains which allow to study the technical skills at the beginning of the Neolithic in Europe. All these circumstances make La Draga a reference site for the study of subsistence, technology and social organization of first farming communities in western Mediterranean.
The project aims of generating reliable scientific explanations about the neolithization process in the Northeast of the Iberian Peninsula through the historical analysis of the environmental transformations, the impact of technological evolution, and changes in territorial mobility and in the social organization of labour. The project aims to provide new data on the study of the first farming societies. We intend to obtain high-resolution data on paleoclimate and environment, human impact on the landscape, patterns of mobility and social interaction at territorial level, and the mechanisms of acquisition and exchange of raw materials, both vegetable, animal and mineral. Archaeological materials and contexts will be studied with an experimental and analytical approach and with innovative analysis methodologies based on modern research in artificial intelligence, physics, and geology.