Resumen: La cuenca alta del Vero forma un pequeño valle rodeado de montañas de hasta 1.500 m en la zona central de la provincia de Huesca. Durante el Neolítico final y Calcolítico-Bronce antiguo, sus apenas 50 km2 registran un interesante conjunto de sitios arqueológicos: dos cuevas ocupacionales (Drólica y Carrasca), otra sepulcral (Cristales), tres dólmenes (Capilleta, Caseta de las Balanzas y Pueyoril) y tres abrigos con arte rupestre (Peña-Miel I y II y Malifeto). Las dataciones radiométricas enmarcan esta ocupación a lo largo del III milenio cal BC. Actualmente, el paisaje está cubierto por una vegetación mediterránea adaptada a un clima relativamente severo. Los ríos vecinos, Isuala y Cinca, fuerzan su paso norte-sur mediante angostos cañones que horadan los relieves calizos y dificultan el tránsito, convirtiendo este tramo del Vero en un claro pasillo que comunica el relieve más suave del Somontano con los valles pirenaicos, recorrido por las cabañeras tradicionales.
The Upper basin of the Vero River –locally known as Tierra Bucho, for the abundance of boxwoods- forms a small, open valley surrounded by mountains up to 1500 m in the central area of the Pre-Pyrenean ranges, in the province of Huesca. During the Late Neolithic and the Chalco-lithic/Early Bronze Age the human occupation was dense and stable, as shown by the outstanding concentration of archaeological sites: three caves, two occupational (Drólica and Carrasca) and one sepulchral (Cristales), three dolmens (Capilleta, Caseta de las Balanzas and Pueyoril) and three schematic rock-art shelters (Peña-Miel I and II and Malifeto) can be related to this phase. A coherent series of a dozen radiometric dates help to frame a recurrent human occupation of this territory along the III millennium cal BC. Then, and even nowadays, the agricultural economy seems to be based on husbandry; farming is limited due to the poor environmental conditions, both climatic and orographic. The altitudes in the lower zones are around 850 m, and some of the sites, like Drólica and Cristales, are at 1200 and 1320 m respectively. Currently, the landscape is covered by scarce Mediterranean-type vegetation, adapted to a hard climate with a precipitation index up to 800 mm per year; freezes are common in winters (average minimal temperatures in January of -2,5ºC) and summers can be hot. The abrupt landscape of the surrounding areas, where the rivers Isuala and Cinca force their pass southwards through narrow limestone canyons, makes this basin a clear corridor to communicate the smoother southern region of the Somontano with the northern Pyrenean valleys. Husbandry is well documented along the prehistoric occupation, mainly sheeps/goats and cows, which can be linked to the presence up to modern times of livestock trails that connect the aforementioned territories. A noteworthy presence of domestic pigs among the faunal remains of Cueva Drólica is interpreted as another proof of the population stability. It can also be related to the contemporary augmentation of semi deciduous Quercus, documented in the regional palynological sequence of Estanya Lake as well as in the local wood exploitation (anthracological analysis of Drólica). The acorns of this type of oak could have fed the domestic pigs. Idioma: Español DOI: 10.21630/maa.2016.67.mis07 Año: 2016 Publicado en: Munibe. Antropología y arqueología 67 (2016), 349-382 ISSN: 0214-767X Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/DGA/H07 Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/BES-2012-0553828 Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/HAR2014-59042-P Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/PTQ-12-05640 Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/RYC-2013-12613 Tipo y forma: Artículo (Versión definitiva) Área (Departamento): Área Geografía Física (Dpto. Geograf. Ordenac.Territ.) Área (Departamento): Área Prehistoria (Dpto. Ciencias de la Antigüed.)