Radiocarbon evidence for maritime pioneer colonization at the origins of farming in west Mediterranean Europe

Most radiocarbon dates for the earliest Neolithic cultures of west Mediterr anean Europe are on samples of unidentified charcoal. If only results obtai ned on short lived samples (seeds, shells, and bone) of diagnostic material (domesticates, artifacts, and human remains) are considered, then the date s for the first appearance of the Neolithic package are indistinguishable s tatistically from central Italy to Portugal and cluster around 5400 calenda r B.C. This rapidity of spread, no more than six generations, can be best e xplained in the framework of a maritime pioneer colonization model.