Evolutionary model and palaeoenvironmental interpretation of the La Codera archaeological complex (Ebro Basin, NE Spain)

Abstract

La Codera archaeological site is one of the most important settlements from the 1st Iron Age in the Ebro valley, dated between ca. 800 795 and ca. 460 cal. BC. The archaeological area also includes other later settlements. We analyzed the geomorphological context of the area by conducting a geoarchaeological survey and sampling. We also completed the evolutionary framework of the settlement, including paleoenvironmental information. Four slope stages (S1–S4) were identified, some of them related to fluvial terraces. Stages S4 and S3 are two old residual slopes dated to the Pleistocene, without evidence of human occupation. Older features related to human occupations are charcoals dated to Chalcolithic times from T2 terraces of La Codera stream. Slope S2 contains archaeological remains from the 1st Iron and Bronze Ages. Therefore, La Codera and its slopes were occupied during the Bronze Age, before Iron Age settlements. Slope S2 formation corresponds to the stable environmental stage known as the Iron Age Cold Epoch, or 2.8 Bond Event, also identified in many areas of the Ebro Depression. This period was followed by an erosive stage after the Roman Epoch (possibly during the 1.4 Bond Event). Later, a new slope (S1) formed, together with a new terrace (T1). This slope includes walls and ceramics from Iberian, Roman, and Medieval times toward the northeast of the settlement. These features make it possible to infer that this last accumulation formed during the cold stages of the LIA.