Editing Catalonia (section)

=== Prehistory ===
The first known human settlements in what is now Catalonia were at the beginning of the [[Middle Paleolithic]]. The oldest known trace of human occupation is a [[mandible]] found in [[Banyoles]], described as pre-[[Neanderthal]], that is, some 200,000 years old; other sources suggest it to be only about one third that old.<ref>{{citation|first1=R.|last1=Grun|title=ESR and U-series analyses of enamel and dentine fragments of the Banyoles mandible|journal=Journal of Human Evolution|year=2005|url=http://www.naturalsciences.be/mars/litterature/bibliography/bibtest/Grun2005|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120904090837/http://www.naturalsciences.be/mars/litterature/bibliography/bibtest/Grun2005|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 September 2012|access-date=31 October 2006|doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2005.10.001|display-authors=etal|volume=50|issue=3|pages=347–58|pmid=16364406}}.</ref> From the [[Epipalaeolithic]] or [[Mesolithic]], important remains dated between 8000 and 5000{{spaces}}BC, such as those of Sant Gregori ([[Falset, Tarragona|Falset]]) and el Filador ([[Margalef]] de Montsant). The most important sites from these eras, all excavated in the region of [[Moianès]], are the Balma del Gai (Epipaleolithic) and the Balma de l'Espluga.<ref>Guilaine, Jean; Michel Barbaza, David Geddes, Jean-Louis Vernet, Miguel Llongueras & Maria Hopf (1982). "Prehistoric Human Adaptations in Catalonia (Spain)", ''Journal of Field Archaeology'', 9:4, 407–416.</ref> The [[Neolithic]] era began in Catalonia around 5000{{nbsp}}BC, although the population was slower to develop fixed settlements thanks to the abundance of woods, which allowed the continuation of a fundamentally [[hunter-gatherer]] culture. An example of such settlements would be La Draga at Banyoles, an "early Neolithic village which dates from the end of the 6th millennium{{nbsp}}BC."<ref>Tarrus, Josep. "La Draga (Banyoles, Catalonia), an Early Neolithic Lakeside Village in Mediterranean Europe". ''Catalan Historical Review'', vol. 1, 2008, pp. 17–33.</ref>

The [[Bronze Age]] occurred between 1800 and 700{{nbsp}}BC. There were some known settlements in the [[Segre (river)|low Segre]] zone. The Bronze Age coincided with the arrival of the [[proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-Europeans]] through the [[Urnfield Culture]], whose successive waves of migration began around 1200{{nbsp}}BC, and they were responsible for the creation of the first proto-urban settlements.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.raco.cat/index.php/Pyrenae/article/viewFile/178964/242576|title=J. Maluquer de Motes: "Late Bronze and Early Iron in the valley of the Ebro" (''The Europea Community in Later Prehistory. Studies in honour of C. F. C. Hawkes''; Routledge & Kegan 1971, pp. 107–120) |access-date=24 January 2019|archive-date=2 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171002115946/http://www.raco.cat/index.php/Pyrenae/article/viewFile/178964/242576|url-status=live}}</ref> Around the middle of the 7th century{{nbsp}}BC, the [[Iron Age]] arrived in Catalonia.