La Draga

La Draga is an Early Neolithic lakeshore site (last quarter of the 6th millennium BCE) located in Banyoles and it is the only prehistoric lacustrine site of the Iberian Peninsula [1]. Excavations allowed the identification of two different Early Neolithic phases of occupation, though no change in the technical tradition has been recorded between the two phases [1]. La Draga was discovered during preventive archaeological excavations led in 1990 by the Museu Arqueològic Comarcal de Banyoles [1]. This first excavation revealed that the site was an Early Neolithic Cardial settlement likely occupied from the end of the 6th millennium BC [1]. During the older phase (5.290-5.200 cal BC) the settlement can be described as a pile dwelling site and it represents the largest known settlement in the NE of the Iberian Peninsula, while in the later phase (5.100-4.800 cal BC) large surfaces were covered by stone pavement [1]. The farmers of La Draga were among the first to practise agriculture in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula [1].