Continuity or Discontinuity? The Exploitation of Aquatic Resources in the Portuguese Estremadura during the Atlantic Period: the São Julião and Magoito Shell Middens as Case Studies (original) (raw)
Related papers
The Middle Paleolithic occupation of southern Portugal
Settlement dynamics of the Middle Paleolithic and …, 2004
Recent research in Algarve, southern Portugal, has brought to light new Paleolithic sites dating to the Late Pleistocene. Though these sites are marked by a wide diversity of environments and chronology, they all seem to have a common marker: the presence of aquatic resources. This paper focuses on the archaeological data, showing the importance of marine and estuarine resources on land use and subsistence during the Middle Paleolithic of southern Portugal.
Quaternary Science Reviews, 2008
This paper focuses on the importance of aquatic resources in economy and subsistence strategies during the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic of Portugal. Modern theoretical biases in archaeology have led to a marginalization of marine resources and a dismissal of their use by Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers. Geological and archaeological data show that changes in the position of the coastline had a direct impact on the visibility of marine resources in the archaeological record. Marine regressions and transgressions have significantly altered the record of Pleistocene coastal settlement. Using recent studies on changes in upwelling intensity during the Last Glacial we offer a new perspective on Palaeolithic hunter-gatherer economy that emphasizes the importance of the coast as a focus of subsistence and settlement.
This work results from a combination of sedimentological, palaeocological and archaeological data, made available due to special meteo-marine conditions that removed sand from the beach of Rio de Moinhos, exhuming older sedimentary deposits and bringing into evidence a huge amount of archaeological remains – Prehistoric and Roman (the latter not considered here). In this paper the relationship between the palaeoenvironments and the contemporary human evidence is analysed. The time interval considered in this study goes from 5590±80 yr BP (4614-4319 cal BC 2) to 3550±30 yr BP (2007-1772 cal BC 2) and encompasses a succession of environments comprising an Alnus forest, a wetland, a brackish lagoon and a fresh water lake, showing a progressively finer and more organic sequence, and higher infilling rates. Initially, in the wetland phase, there are no certain traces of human activity in the pollen content, but from around 4860±30 yr BP (3703-3539 cal BC 2) cereal cultivation and agriculture are detected. Later on indications of grazing also appear. However, human presence is well documented by a lithic assemblage dated from the interval between 5590±80 y BP (4614-4319 cal BC 2) and 4680±30 yr BP (3622-3370 cal BC 2). Another lithic industry predates 5590±80 yr BP, being therefore prior to the Alnus forest. Apparently, it documents the earliest evidence of human presence at the site. Resumo: Mudanças ambientais e ocupação humana durante o Holocénico médio na Praia de Rio de Moinhos (Esposende, Norte de Portugal) Este texto resulta da combinação de dados sedimentológicos, paleoecológicos e arqueológicos obtidos na sequência de condições meteorológicas e marinhas particulares, que provocaram a remoção de areia da praia de Rio de Moinhos, expondo depósitos sedimentares antigos e inúmeros vestígios arqueológicos – Pré-históricos e Romanos (estes últimos não considerados neste trabalho). Nele são analisadas as relações entre os paleoambientes e as evidências da presença humana no local. O intervalo temporal considerado está balizado entre 5590±80 yr BP (4614-4319 cal BC 2) e 3550±30 yr BP (2007-1772 cal BC 2), período durante o qual ocorreu uma sucessão de ambientes que compreendem uma floresta de Alnus, uma zona húmida pantanosa, uma lagoa de água salobra e um lago de água doce, revelando uma sequência sedimentar progressivamente mais fina e orgânica, com taxas de acreção cada vez mais elevadas. Inicialmente, durante a fase pantanosa, o registo polínico não revela vestígios claros de actividade humana; a partir de 4860±30 yr BP (3703-3539 cal BC 2) a agricultura, nomeadamente a cerealífera, passa a estar bem documentada. Um pouco mais tarde aparecem igualmente indicadores da prática do pastoreio. Todavia, a presença humana no local está confirmada por uma indústria lítica datada do intervalo entre 5590±80 yr BP (4614-4319 cal BC 2) e 4680±30 yr BP (3622-3370 cal BC 2). Um segundo conjunto lítico é anterior a 5590±80 yr BP, ou seja, anterior ao desenvolvimento da floresta de Alnus. Ao que tudo indica, este conjunto testemunha os vestígios humanos mais antigos conhecidos neste sítio arqueológico.
The Holocene, 2007
This paper reports the first detailed palaeogeographical analysis of the environmental context of late Mesolithic shell midden sites in the lower Tagus area and focuses on the lower Muge valley, which contains an internationally significant Mesolithic record. The lower Muge valley fill comprises buried estuarine and fluvial environments contemporary with Mesolithic settlement. Holocene environmental and palaeogeographic changes influenced Mesolithic settlement-subsistence and midden accumulation. The sudden appearance of large late Mesolithic shell middens throughout Portugal represents a process of increased visibility and preferential preservation of the archaeological record. Prior to ~6100 cal. BC, aggrading valley floor environments did not occupy the entire width of the present lower Tagus floodplain and any sites located in the early Holocene valley are currently deeply buried. Shell midden occupation on terrace levels followed the establishment of aggrading estuarine environments, containing productive shell beds, near the mouth of the lower Muge valley at ~6100 cal. BC. The critical factors in site choice appear to have been the nearby presence of (i) rich shell resources and (ii) freshwater environments. Long-term site occupation and (semi-)sedentary behaviour was favoured by the local presence, for over 2000 years, of rich resources from estuarine, freshwater and open woodland environments. Site abandonment (~5300-4800 cal. BC) coincided with the regional establishment of an open landscape (~5000 cal. BC) and the contraction of local estuarine environments (~5555-3800 cal. BC). The associated gradual decrease in resources and cultural interaction with the expanding early Neolithic communities may have influenced Mesolithic site abandonment.
Shell midden formation is largely controlled by an-thropogenic processes, resulting from human exploitation of aquatic resources. This makes shell middens archives of both human behaviour and palaeoenvironmental records. However, their often complex stratigraphy hampers the isolation of individual anthropogenic events. In the central/ southern coast of Portugal, extensive inland estuaries were preferential settings for Mesolithic groups from c. 6200 cal BC. Here, we present a microstratigraphic approach to the shell midden of Poças de São Bento, one of the largest and best-known sites in the Sado Valley. The microfacies approach was based on sedimentary components, their abundance and arrangement, and post-depositional processes. Anthropogenic processes identified as tossing events and anthropogenically reworked deposits allowed inferences on spatial organisation, preferential refuse areas, occupational surfaces, and temporal-ity of the occupations. The presence of calcareous pebbles in the anthropogenic, shell-rich sediments, together with forami-nifera, presumably from the estuarine marshes, is compared with the regional geology, providing a hypothetical location of the shellfish gathering. The microstratigraphy described reveals a full internal dynamic in the formation of the apparently homogeneous shell midden layer. The human activities inferred at Poças de São Bento have many similarities with those reported for Cabeço da Amoreira in the nearby Tagus palaeo-estuary. This evidence points to the need for further micro-morphological approaches in similar deposits. The study of shell midden formation processes, through integrative microcontextual approaches, plays a major role in understanding Mesolithic societies in the large early Holocene estuary environments of Atlantic Iberia.
2016
This paper reports the first detailed palaeogeographical analysis of the environmental 20 context of late Mesolithic shell midden sites in the lower Tagus area and focuses on 21 the lower Muge valley, which contains an internationally significant Mesolithic 22 record. The lower Muge valley fill comprises buried estuarine and fluvial 23 environments contemporary with Mesolithic settlement. Holocene environmental and 24 palaeogeographic changes influenced Mesolithic settlement-subsistence and midden 25 accumulation. The sudden appearance of large late Mesolithic shell middens 26 throughout Portugal represents a process of increased visibility and preferential 27 preservation of the archaeological record. Prior to ~6100 cal BC, aggrading valley 28 floor environments did not occupy the entire width of the present lower Tagus 29 floodplain and any sites located in the early Holocene valley are currently deeply 30 buried. Shell midden occupation on terrace levels followed the establishmen...
The Palaeolithic occupation of the north-eastern Alentejo (Portugal): a geoarchaeological approach
The archaeological survey that are taking place in the Northeastern Alentejo, under the project PHANA (Ancient prehistory in the Northeastern Alentejo), has revealed a considerable number of Palaeolithic sites. The area discussed in this paper is located in the North of this territory, on the left margin of the Tagus River, near the village of Arneiro. Here, thirteen Palaeolithic settlements have been identified, two of which, Pegos do Tejo 2 and Azinhal, have been subjected to archaeological excavations. The first results of these interventions, as well as the absolute dating of these two sites, the data obtained in the site of Tapada do Montinho and the geomorphological and geoarchaeological research done in this area are presented in this article.
Coastal Wetlands and the Neanderthal Settlement of Portuguese Estremadura
Coastal wetlands are ecotone settings that offer diverse sets of resources for human exploitation, yet evidence for Pleistocene occupation rarely preserves due to recent postglacial sea-level rise. During an ongoing geoarchaeological survey of Portuguese Estremadura we identified uplifted Pleistocene sediments that record coastal features including raised beaches, tidal channels, muds, peat, and coastal dunes. Stratified concentrations of Middle Paleolithic artifacts were found at Mira Nascente and Praia Rei Cortiço, two new sites in coastal wetland settings. The Mira Nascente locality yielded a chert-dominated lithic assemblage in a tidal flat setting dated to MIS 3. The raw material economy differs markedly from sites found in other landscape settings. Praia Rei Cortiço is located near a thick peat deposit that formed in a freshwater coastal swamp and marsh likely dated to the Last Interglacial. These two sites represent a novel expression of Neanderthal land use strategies in Portugal. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The Aurignacian V from Laugerie-Haute, France, has been one of the most problematic assemblages in Paleolithic research because of its typological characteristics and its apparent late chronology. Part of the problem related to the fact that, until recently, this Aurignacian V was only known at one site. Recent research in France and Portugal has yielded assemblages the chronology and typological characteristics of which parallel the ones from the Laugerie’ Aurignacian V. In Portugal, they are characterized by a dominance of carinated lithic elements, and absolute dates that place them in the temporal transition from the Gravettian to the Solutrean, that is, c. 21,500 BP. However, the presence of carinated elements in the Portuguese Paleolithic now has no chronological meaning, since this types of implement are found in almost all Upper Paleolithic complexes. This dissertation provides a definition of the technological variability of Portuguese Estremadura assemblages dating to the period - the Terminal Gravettian. Such a definition is essential to clearly differentiate them from other assemblages with similar typological characteristics, but different chronologies. A technological study wasconducted of three Terminal Gravettian assemblages. For comparative purposes, four other assemblages were studied: Laugerie-Haute East Aurignacian V and Proto-Magdalenian, Quartel dos Bombeiros (Epipaleolithic), and Quinta do Sanguinhal(Gravettian). The methodology implied a combined use of attribute analysis and refitting, within the theoretical framework of the Châine Opératoire. The results suggest that in Portuguese Estremadura, the “Aurignacian V” or Terminal Gravettian assemblages are characterized by a varied set of reduction strategies, dominated by carinated reduction, possibly for barb production. Also, quartz exploitation is almost as important as flint, and parallels its reduction strategies. The technological variability of these assemblages, when compared with that of the earlier Final Gravettian, does not parallel the apparent typological differences. Thus the “Aurignacian V-like” Terminal Gravettian seems to be a clear continuity from the Final Gravettian of Portugal. The technological disparities between the two periods seem to be of degree and not of kind. A re-analysis of the Laugerie-Haute sequence suggests a similar pattern. The attribution of these assemblages to the Aurignacian Complex, thus, should be discarded.They probably represent a late chronological facies of the Gravettian.