Cláudia Umbelino | Universidade de Coimbra (original) (raw)

Papers by Cláudia Umbelino

Open Archaeology

Human skeletal remains are routinely used to examine cultural and biological aspects of past popu... more Human skeletal remains are routinely used to examine cultural and biological aspects of past populations. Yet, archaeological specimens are frequently fragmented/incomplete and so excluded from analyses. This leads to decreased sample sizes and to potentially biased results. Digital methods are now frequently used to restore/estimate the original morphology of fragmented/incomplete specimens. Such methods include 3D digitisation and Geometric Morphometrics (GM). The latter is also a solidly established method now to examine morphology. In this study, we use GM-based methods to estimate the original morphology of incomplete Mesolithic and Chalcolithic mandibles originating from present Portugal and perform ensuing morphological analyses. Because mandibular morphology is known to relate to population history and diet, we hypothesised the two samples would differ. Thirty-seven specimens (12 complete and 25 incomplete) were CT-scanned and landmarked. Originally complete specimens were u...

Antropologia Portuguesa, 2021

The aim of this article is to present to the scientific and academic community the Unidentified S... more The aim of this article is to present to the scientific and academic community the Unidentified Skeletal Collection of the Capuchos Cemetery. The skeletons, of contemporary individuals, were collected from the same cemetery as those of the 21st Century Identified Skeletal Collection, but their identification is unknown. The collection is composed of 73 individuals, of which 68 are adults of both sexes (34 females, 33 males, and one individual of unknown sex) and five are non-adults. The skeletons are reasonably preserved although several are incomplete as result of taphonomic changes during inhumations, but also due to the experimental research made so far. Most of the adult individuals present nonmetric characters, being the scapular notch the most frequent. Regarding the osteopathology, it was observed that the majority of adult individuals have pathological changes, with degenerative pathology being the most frequent. In addition, some individual exhibit medical devices and/or si...

Antropologia Portuguesa, 2019

A osteoporose é uma patologia metabólica óssea com maior incidência nas mulheres pós-menopáusicas... more A osteoporose é uma patologia metabólica óssea com maior incidência nas mulheres pós-menopáusicas e nas camadas mais idosas das populações atuais. Caracteriza-se pelo decréscimo da massa e da resistência ósseas, com aumento subsequente do risco de fratura. No presente trabalho, propõe-se, como objetivo principal, a compreensão dos padrões epidemiológicos da perda de massa óssea cortical numa amostra de indivíduos pertencente à Coleção de Esqueletos Identificados do século XXI (CEI/XXI) e da sua relação com as fraturas de fragilidade. Foram analisados 136 indivíduos {F = 68; M= 68} pertencentes à CEI/XXI. Para a avaliação da perda de massa óssea procedeu-se análise radiogramétrica do 2.º metacárpico. Verificou-se também a presença/ausência de fraturas de fragilidade (anca, úmero proximal, rádio distal e corpo vertebral). Os resultados obtidos sugerem que a perda de massa óssea está intimamente relacionada com o envelhecimento, sobretudo no sexo feminino. As fraturas de fragilidade s...

Portugal is particularly fortunate in what concerns sites from the Late Mesolithic with human ske... more Portugal is particularly fortunate in what concerns sites from the Late Mesolithic with human skeletal remains. Besides the renowned Muge shell middens, first recognized by Carlos Ribeiro in 1863, from which an impressive assemblage of human skeletons was retrieved making more than 300 individuals, there are the Sado ones, subject of this paper with more than one hundred human skeletons recovered. The Sado shell middens comprise 11 sites, from which six revealed human skeletal remains in a total of 112 individuals, preferentially inhumed in a foetal position or in a lateral position with the inferior members contracted. Non-adults and adults from both sexes are represented. The results of trace elements and stable isotope analyses points to communities with diverse diets characterized by the consumption of terrestrial food, vegetables and food of animal origin, and marine resources. This last one would make up around 30% of the diet. This data is substantiating by the large array of...

Theoretically, identified skeletal collections with reference to occupation are a major value for... more Theoretically, identified skeletal collections with reference to occupation are a major value for investigating occupational stress markers. To evaluate how useful these are to infer profession we carried out, in 1995, a research on the Coimbra Identified Skeletal Collection, dated from the early 20 th century (Cunha and Umbelino, 1995). One hundred and fifty one skeletons, 76 males and 75 females with known occupation were analised in terms of enthesopathies, namely 31, according to the classification system proposed by Crubézy (1988). Our findings seem to support the statement that the role of occupational stress as a factor in enthesopathies is far from being unequivocal. Furthermore, we argue that the main problem is due to the lack of definition of the occupations, for both sexes, which can, in many instances, include a large variety of physical efforts and the impossibility to know for how long the concerned individuals practiced the referred occupations. The methodology applied (Crubézy, 1988) as also the problem of only considering proliferative lesions, which the formation of osteophytes.

Anthropologie, 2001

The paper deals with a first anthropological approach to an important Portuguese Mesolithic osteo... more The paper deals with a first anthropological approach to an important Portuguese Mesolithic osteological series. It concerns the human skeletal remains exhumed from several shell middens of Sado River, south Portugal. From a total of 11 shell middens, 6 provided human ...

A presente dissertação tem por desígnio central a caracterização da dieta das comunidades humanas... more A presente dissertação tem por desígnio central a caracterização da dieta das comunidades humanas que ocuparam o território português durante o Mesolítico final e o Neolítico final/Calcolítico, mediante a realização de análises químicas dos ossos, concretamente de oligoelementos e dos isótopos estáveis de carbono e de azoto. Encerrando a dieta uma componente biológica indissociável das expressões de natureza comportamental assume a maior relevância na compreensão do modo de adaptação dos indivíduos ao meio ambiente e, por conseguinte, dos padrões de subsistência perfilhados, pelo que com a sua investigação procura-se aportar um novo olhar sobre as comunidades de caçadores-recolectores-pescadores e agro-pastoris, em essência trazer a lume outros sabores do passado. Para o efeito são perscrutados os cocheiros de Muge (Cabeço da Amoreira, Cabeço da Arruda e Moita do Sebastião) e do Sado (Arapouco, Cabeço das Amoreiras, Cabeço do Pez, Poças de S. Bento e Vale de Romeiras), datados grosso modo entre 7500 e 5500 anos BP, e seis sítios arqueológicos do Neolítico final/Calcolítico ( Abrigo da Carrasca, Eira Pedrinha, Gruta dos Alqueves, Hipogeu de S. Paulo, Pai Mogo I e Tholos Cabeço da Arruda), com balizas cronológicas que se situam entre 4780 e 3800 anos BP. Com o intuito de determinar as concentrações dos diferentes elementos presentes nos ossos foram submetidos à análise instrumental por activação com neutrões (INAA) 200 amostras ósseas, correspondentes a 186 indivíduos humanos e a 14 animais. A análise dos isótopos estáveis de carbono e de azoto no colagénio de ossos humanos foi realizada num total de 18 amostras ósseas humanas. Dos resultados auferidos é de salientar a constatação de marcadas diferenças no regime alimentar entre as comunidades do Mesolítico final e as do Neolítico final/Calcolítico, mais diversificado nas primeiras, baseado na exploração de um amplo espectro de recursos alimentares disponíveis do Tejo e do Sado, designadamente de origem marinha e terrestre, animal e vegetal. A importância relativa dos alimentos marinhos na dieta é mais acentuada nos concheiros de Muge, com uma proporção da ordem dos 50%, do que nos seus congéneres do Sado, onde estes recursos constituem aproximadamente 30% da dieta. As sociedades agro-pastoris do Neolítico final/Calcolítico exibem uma maior homogeneidade, uma vez que se baseiam sobretudo em alimentos de origem terrestre, sendo todavia, de notar uma certa diversidade no que respeita à relevância da agricultura e da pastorícia nas distintas comunidades. A pastorícia representa uma actividade económica de peso apenas nos grupos populacionais do interior, Abrigo da Carrasca e Gruta dos Alqueves, costituindo a agricultura cerealifera e de leguminosas a actividade preponderante, pese embora a intensidade da sua exploração seja, mais uma vez, variável. O contributo dos alimentos marinhos não é significativo, com excepção do Hipogeu de S. Paulo, onde estes compõem perto de 32% da dieta. A heterogeneidade constatada, quer nas comunidades do Mesolítico final, manifestamente mais acentuada, quer nas do Neolítico final/Calcolítico parece decorrer de adaptações particulares ao seu meio ambiente. PALAVRAS-CHAVE Paleodiedas, Oligoelementos, Isótopos estavéis de carbono e de azoto, Ossos humanos e faunísticos, Mesolítico final, Neolítico final/Calcolítico, Portugal.The present thesis main purpose is the diet characterization of the human communities who occupied the Portuguese territory between the Late Mesolithic and the Late Neolithic/Chalcolithic, through chemical analysis of bones, namely trace elements and carbon and nitrogen stadie isotopes. Since diet encloses a biological component inseparable from the expressions of behavioural nature, it assumes a major relevance in the comprehension of how individuals adapt to their environments and therefore of the subsistence patterns adopted. So, with this investigation a new insignt into these nunter-gatherers-nsners and agro-pastoral communities is pursued, essentiany, it is our purpose to oring to light other flavours from the past. With this aim the Muge shell middens (Cabeço da Amoreira, Cabeço da Arruda and Moita do Sebastião) and their counterparts of Sado /Arapouco, Cabeço das Amoreiras, Cabeço do Pez, Poças de S. Bento and vale de Romeiras) dated between 1500 and 5500 BP are anaryseo, as wen as six Late Neolithic/Chalcolithic archaelogical sites , Abrigo da Carrasca EiraPedrinha, Gruta dos Alqueves, Hipogeu de S. Paulo, Pai Mogo I and Tholos Cabeço da Arruda, with choronological boundaries between 4780 and 3800 BP. The trace elements analysis took place at Instituto Tecnológico e Nuclear, in Sacavém, Portugal, where by means of instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) the concentrations of the elements Ca, Sr, Zn,Ba, MG, Mn and y existent in human and raunai bones were determined, in a total of 200 samples, corresponding to 186 human individuals and 14 animal ones. The carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes…

This paper discusses the differential diagnosis of unusual and distinct pathological changes in t... more This paper discusses the differential diagnosis of unusual and distinct pathological changes in two left femurs and one left pelvic bone fragment from the Necropolis of Santa Maria, Sintra (Portugal), dated from the 14-17 centuries. The differential diagnosis of the lesions gave rise to several possible pathological conditions, namely, slipped femoral capital epiphysis, Legg-CalvéPerthes disease, developmental dysplasia of the hip, and trauma. Various macroscopic and radiological aspects led us to consider slipped femoral capital epiphysis as the most probable diagnosis in one case and Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease in the other. Given the scarcity of reports of both conditions in the osteoarchaeological literature, the identification of new cases becomes important. In fact, this appears to be the first report of slipped femoral capital epiphysis in nonWasterlain and Umbelino /Cadernos do GEEvH 2 (2) 2013: 27-39 28 identified Portuguese human skeletal remains and adds to the only two ca...

La Cueva de la Dehesilla contó con dos excavaciones arqueológicas en 1977 y 1981. Desde entonces ... more La Cueva de la Dehesilla contó con dos excavaciones arqueológicas en 1977 y 1981. Desde entonces se conoce el potencial prehistórico del sitio, especialmente en relación con sus fases neolíticas, y se convirtió en uno de los enclaves fundamentales en el sur de la península ibérica. Este artículo presenta los datos procedentes de las recientes intervenciones arqueológicas retomadas cuatro décadas después. Concretamente se da a conocer la secuencia estratigráfica prehistórica de un sondeo efectuado en 2016, sus conjuntos cerámico y lítico, así como cuatro fechas radiocarbónicas. Entre los resultados, destaca la relativa antigüedad de las nuevas dataciones y la presencia de posible ceramica impressa, indicador material de las primeras poblaciones neolíticas en el Mediterráneo occidental. Los datos obtenidos implican diversos puntos de discusión sobre el origen y la evolución de las sociedades campesinas y ganaderas a niveles regional y peninsular.Two archaeological excavations were car...

The "The Muge Shellmiddens Project: a new portal for the last hunter-gatherers of the Tagus ... more The "The Muge Shellmiddens Project: a new portal for the last hunter-gatherers of the Tagus Valley, Portugal" focuses on the requalification and valorization of the archaeological and paleoanthropological heritage of the Mesolithic complex of Muge (Tagus Valley, Portugal), classified as National Monument since 2011. We propose a multidisciplinary and innovative strategy involving the development of cybernetic infrastructures and e-science initiatives that will allow: (1) a systematization of the archaeological data collected over the last 150 years in Muge, implementing an online database; (2), and the creation of interactive didactic and dissemination contents based on augmented and virtual reality technologies. With these approaches, the project intends to promote a new path of scientific and cultural access to the Muge shellmiddens, transporting the Mesolithic to the present in a vibrant, as well as informative way.

Open Archaeology

Human skeletal remains are routinely used to examine cultural and biological aspects of past popu... more Human skeletal remains are routinely used to examine cultural and biological aspects of past populations. Yet, archaeological specimens are frequently fragmented/incomplete and so excluded from analyses. This leads to decreased sample sizes and to potentially biased results. Digital methods are now frequently used to restore/estimate the original morphology of fragmented/incomplete specimens. Such methods include 3D digitisation and Geometric Morphometrics (GM). The latter is also a solidly established method now to examine morphology. In this study, we use GM-based methods to estimate the original morphology of incomplete Mesolithic and Chalcolithic mandibles originating from present Portugal and perform ensuing morphological analyses. Because mandibular morphology is known to relate to population history and diet, we hypothesised the two samples would differ. Thirty-seven specimens (12 complete and 25 incomplete) were CT-scanned and landmarked. Originally complete specimens were u...

Antropologia Portuguesa, 2021

The aim of this article is to present to the scientific and academic community the Unidentified S... more The aim of this article is to present to the scientific and academic community the Unidentified Skeletal Collection of the Capuchos Cemetery. The skeletons, of contemporary individuals, were collected from the same cemetery as those of the 21st Century Identified Skeletal Collection, but their identification is unknown. The collection is composed of 73 individuals, of which 68 are adults of both sexes (34 females, 33 males, and one individual of unknown sex) and five are non-adults. The skeletons are reasonably preserved although several are incomplete as result of taphonomic changes during inhumations, but also due to the experimental research made so far. Most of the adult individuals present nonmetric characters, being the scapular notch the most frequent. Regarding the osteopathology, it was observed that the majority of adult individuals have pathological changes, with degenerative pathology being the most frequent. In addition, some individual exhibit medical devices and/or si...

Antropologia Portuguesa, 2019

A osteoporose é uma patologia metabólica óssea com maior incidência nas mulheres pós-menopáusicas... more A osteoporose é uma patologia metabólica óssea com maior incidência nas mulheres pós-menopáusicas e nas camadas mais idosas das populações atuais. Caracteriza-se pelo decréscimo da massa e da resistência ósseas, com aumento subsequente do risco de fratura. No presente trabalho, propõe-se, como objetivo principal, a compreensão dos padrões epidemiológicos da perda de massa óssea cortical numa amostra de indivíduos pertencente à Coleção de Esqueletos Identificados do século XXI (CEI/XXI) e da sua relação com as fraturas de fragilidade. Foram analisados 136 indivíduos {F = 68; M= 68} pertencentes à CEI/XXI. Para a avaliação da perda de massa óssea procedeu-se análise radiogramétrica do 2.º metacárpico. Verificou-se também a presença/ausência de fraturas de fragilidade (anca, úmero proximal, rádio distal e corpo vertebral). Os resultados obtidos sugerem que a perda de massa óssea está intimamente relacionada com o envelhecimento, sobretudo no sexo feminino. As fraturas de fragilidade s...

Portugal is particularly fortunate in what concerns sites from the Late Mesolithic with human ske... more Portugal is particularly fortunate in what concerns sites from the Late Mesolithic with human skeletal remains. Besides the renowned Muge shell middens, first recognized by Carlos Ribeiro in 1863, from which an impressive assemblage of human skeletons was retrieved making more than 300 individuals, there are the Sado ones, subject of this paper with more than one hundred human skeletons recovered. The Sado shell middens comprise 11 sites, from which six revealed human skeletal remains in a total of 112 individuals, preferentially inhumed in a foetal position or in a lateral position with the inferior members contracted. Non-adults and adults from both sexes are represented. The results of trace elements and stable isotope analyses points to communities with diverse diets characterized by the consumption of terrestrial food, vegetables and food of animal origin, and marine resources. This last one would make up around 30% of the diet. This data is substantiating by the large array of...

Theoretically, identified skeletal collections with reference to occupation are a major value for... more Theoretically, identified skeletal collections with reference to occupation are a major value for investigating occupational stress markers. To evaluate how useful these are to infer profession we carried out, in 1995, a research on the Coimbra Identified Skeletal Collection, dated from the early 20 th century (Cunha and Umbelino, 1995). One hundred and fifty one skeletons, 76 males and 75 females with known occupation were analised in terms of enthesopathies, namely 31, according to the classification system proposed by Crubézy (1988). Our findings seem to support the statement that the role of occupational stress as a factor in enthesopathies is far from being unequivocal. Furthermore, we argue that the main problem is due to the lack of definition of the occupations, for both sexes, which can, in many instances, include a large variety of physical efforts and the impossibility to know for how long the concerned individuals practiced the referred occupations. The methodology applied (Crubézy, 1988) as also the problem of only considering proliferative lesions, which the formation of osteophytes.

Anthropologie, 2001

The paper deals with a first anthropological approach to an important Portuguese Mesolithic osteo... more The paper deals with a first anthropological approach to an important Portuguese Mesolithic osteological series. It concerns the human skeletal remains exhumed from several shell middens of Sado River, south Portugal. From a total of 11 shell middens, 6 provided human ...

A presente dissertação tem por desígnio central a caracterização da dieta das comunidades humanas... more A presente dissertação tem por desígnio central a caracterização da dieta das comunidades humanas que ocuparam o território português durante o Mesolítico final e o Neolítico final/Calcolítico, mediante a realização de análises químicas dos ossos, concretamente de oligoelementos e dos isótopos estáveis de carbono e de azoto. Encerrando a dieta uma componente biológica indissociável das expressões de natureza comportamental assume a maior relevância na compreensão do modo de adaptação dos indivíduos ao meio ambiente e, por conseguinte, dos padrões de subsistência perfilhados, pelo que com a sua investigação procura-se aportar um novo olhar sobre as comunidades de caçadores-recolectores-pescadores e agro-pastoris, em essência trazer a lume outros sabores do passado. Para o efeito são perscrutados os cocheiros de Muge (Cabeço da Amoreira, Cabeço da Arruda e Moita do Sebastião) e do Sado (Arapouco, Cabeço das Amoreiras, Cabeço do Pez, Poças de S. Bento e Vale de Romeiras), datados grosso modo entre 7500 e 5500 anos BP, e seis sítios arqueológicos do Neolítico final/Calcolítico ( Abrigo da Carrasca, Eira Pedrinha, Gruta dos Alqueves, Hipogeu de S. Paulo, Pai Mogo I e Tholos Cabeço da Arruda), com balizas cronológicas que se situam entre 4780 e 3800 anos BP. Com o intuito de determinar as concentrações dos diferentes elementos presentes nos ossos foram submetidos à análise instrumental por activação com neutrões (INAA) 200 amostras ósseas, correspondentes a 186 indivíduos humanos e a 14 animais. A análise dos isótopos estáveis de carbono e de azoto no colagénio de ossos humanos foi realizada num total de 18 amostras ósseas humanas. Dos resultados auferidos é de salientar a constatação de marcadas diferenças no regime alimentar entre as comunidades do Mesolítico final e as do Neolítico final/Calcolítico, mais diversificado nas primeiras, baseado na exploração de um amplo espectro de recursos alimentares disponíveis do Tejo e do Sado, designadamente de origem marinha e terrestre, animal e vegetal. A importância relativa dos alimentos marinhos na dieta é mais acentuada nos concheiros de Muge, com uma proporção da ordem dos 50%, do que nos seus congéneres do Sado, onde estes recursos constituem aproximadamente 30% da dieta. As sociedades agro-pastoris do Neolítico final/Calcolítico exibem uma maior homogeneidade, uma vez que se baseiam sobretudo em alimentos de origem terrestre, sendo todavia, de notar uma certa diversidade no que respeita à relevância da agricultura e da pastorícia nas distintas comunidades. A pastorícia representa uma actividade económica de peso apenas nos grupos populacionais do interior, Abrigo da Carrasca e Gruta dos Alqueves, costituindo a agricultura cerealifera e de leguminosas a actividade preponderante, pese embora a intensidade da sua exploração seja, mais uma vez, variável. O contributo dos alimentos marinhos não é significativo, com excepção do Hipogeu de S. Paulo, onde estes compõem perto de 32% da dieta. A heterogeneidade constatada, quer nas comunidades do Mesolítico final, manifestamente mais acentuada, quer nas do Neolítico final/Calcolítico parece decorrer de adaptações particulares ao seu meio ambiente. PALAVRAS-CHAVE Paleodiedas, Oligoelementos, Isótopos estavéis de carbono e de azoto, Ossos humanos e faunísticos, Mesolítico final, Neolítico final/Calcolítico, Portugal.The present thesis main purpose is the diet characterization of the human communities who occupied the Portuguese territory between the Late Mesolithic and the Late Neolithic/Chalcolithic, through chemical analysis of bones, namely trace elements and carbon and nitrogen stadie isotopes. Since diet encloses a biological component inseparable from the expressions of behavioural nature, it assumes a major relevance in the comprehension of how individuals adapt to their environments and therefore of the subsistence patterns adopted. So, with this investigation a new insignt into these nunter-gatherers-nsners and agro-pastoral communities is pursued, essentiany, it is our purpose to oring to light other flavours from the past. With this aim the Muge shell middens (Cabeço da Amoreira, Cabeço da Arruda and Moita do Sebastião) and their counterparts of Sado /Arapouco, Cabeço das Amoreiras, Cabeço do Pez, Poças de S. Bento and vale de Romeiras) dated between 1500 and 5500 BP are anaryseo, as wen as six Late Neolithic/Chalcolithic archaelogical sites , Abrigo da Carrasca EiraPedrinha, Gruta dos Alqueves, Hipogeu de S. Paulo, Pai Mogo I and Tholos Cabeço da Arruda, with choronological boundaries between 4780 and 3800 BP. The trace elements analysis took place at Instituto Tecnológico e Nuclear, in Sacavém, Portugal, where by means of instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) the concentrations of the elements Ca, Sr, Zn,Ba, MG, Mn and y existent in human and raunai bones were determined, in a total of 200 samples, corresponding to 186 human individuals and 14 animal ones. The carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes…

This paper discusses the differential diagnosis of unusual and distinct pathological changes in t... more This paper discusses the differential diagnosis of unusual and distinct pathological changes in two left femurs and one left pelvic bone fragment from the Necropolis of Santa Maria, Sintra (Portugal), dated from the 14-17 centuries. The differential diagnosis of the lesions gave rise to several possible pathological conditions, namely, slipped femoral capital epiphysis, Legg-CalvéPerthes disease, developmental dysplasia of the hip, and trauma. Various macroscopic and radiological aspects led us to consider slipped femoral capital epiphysis as the most probable diagnosis in one case and Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease in the other. Given the scarcity of reports of both conditions in the osteoarchaeological literature, the identification of new cases becomes important. In fact, this appears to be the first report of slipped femoral capital epiphysis in nonWasterlain and Umbelino /Cadernos do GEEvH 2 (2) 2013: 27-39 28 identified Portuguese human skeletal remains and adds to the only two ca...

La Cueva de la Dehesilla contó con dos excavaciones arqueológicas en 1977 y 1981. Desde entonces ... more La Cueva de la Dehesilla contó con dos excavaciones arqueológicas en 1977 y 1981. Desde entonces se conoce el potencial prehistórico del sitio, especialmente en relación con sus fases neolíticas, y se convirtió en uno de los enclaves fundamentales en el sur de la península ibérica. Este artículo presenta los datos procedentes de las recientes intervenciones arqueológicas retomadas cuatro décadas después. Concretamente se da a conocer la secuencia estratigráfica prehistórica de un sondeo efectuado en 2016, sus conjuntos cerámico y lítico, así como cuatro fechas radiocarbónicas. Entre los resultados, destaca la relativa antigüedad de las nuevas dataciones y la presencia de posible ceramica impressa, indicador material de las primeras poblaciones neolíticas en el Mediterráneo occidental. Los datos obtenidos implican diversos puntos de discusión sobre el origen y la evolución de las sociedades campesinas y ganaderas a niveles regional y peninsular.Two archaeological excavations were car...

The "The Muge Shellmiddens Project: a new portal for the last hunter-gatherers of the Tagus ... more The "The Muge Shellmiddens Project: a new portal for the last hunter-gatherers of the Tagus Valley, Portugal" focuses on the requalification and valorization of the archaeological and paleoanthropological heritage of the Mesolithic complex of Muge (Tagus Valley, Portugal), classified as National Monument since 2011. We propose a multidisciplinary and innovative strategy involving the development of cybernetic infrastructures and e-science initiatives that will allow: (1) a systematization of the archaeological data collected over the last 150 years in Muge, implementing an online database; (2), and the creation of interactive didactic and dissemination contents based on augmented and virtual reality technologies. With these approaches, the project intends to promote a new path of scientific and cultural access to the Muge shellmiddens, transporting the Mesolithic to the present in a vibrant, as well as informative way.

Paper presented at the Meso2015, The Ninth International Conference on the Mesolithic in Europe, At Belgrade, Serbia, 2015.

Atthe Muge shellmiddens, Cabeço da Amoreira (8000-7000 cal BP) had several occupations for almost... more Atthe Muge shellmiddens, Cabeço da Amoreira (8000-7000 cal BP) had several occupations for almost a thousand years and the charcoal remains are abundant in habitational, midden and funerary levels. From the analyses of different contexts (structures, pits, burials, hearths, shellmidden layers) more than 4000 charcoal fragments have been identified. Taxonomic and taphonomic observation allowed the identification of Pinus as the main fuelwood, used in combination with Quercus, mainly large size pieces. Other less represented taxa are also present (Arbutus unedo, Pistacia lentiscus, Salix, Monocot.) and the variation between contexts suggest a differential use of some species for specific contexts over time.

Jornadas Internacionais. TERRA, PEDRAS e CACOS do GARB AL-ANDALUS, 2020

O projeto FCT TRANSCULTURAL (IF/ 01661/2015 e POCI-01-0145-FEDER-031599), onde este trabalho se i... more O projeto FCT TRANSCULTURAL (IF/ 01661/2015 e POCI-01-0145-FEDER-031599), onde este trabalho se insere, desenvolve uma abordagem transdisciplinar para compreensão da organização sócio-económica das populações muçulmanas e cristãs em Portugal Medieval (sécs. XII-XIV), mediante a investigação dos seus hábitos funerários, dieta e mobilidade. Como tal, contribui também para o conhecimento da transição e das relações entre muçulmanos e cristãos no final do Garb Al-Andalus. Os hábitos alimentares e os padrões de mobilidade são arquivados no esqueleto durante o decurso da vida dos indivíduos, através da ingestão de componentes dietéticas, cuja composição química específica depende da natureza e do local de ingestão. A dieta e a mobilidade são investigadas principalmente através de três sistemas isotópicos, carbono, azoto e enxofre, e fornecem informações sobre o tipo de planta ingerida (δ13C), o nível trófico do consumidor (δ15N), e se as proteínas ingeridas provêm de ambiente marinho (δ15N, δ34S) ou dulcícola (δ34S). O presente trabalho centra-se nas urbes medievais de Loulé e Cacela-a-Velha e, mais especificamente, nas necrópoles da Quinta da Boavista (Loulé) e do Poço Antigo (Cacela-a-Velha). A primeira tem utilização almóada, entre os séculos XII e XIII, e a segunda tem utilização cristã, entre os séculos XIII e XIV.