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- The early Aurignacian dispersal of modern humans into westernmost EurasiaPublication . Haws, Jonathan; Benedetti, Lucilla; Talamo, Sahra; Bicho, Nuno Gonçalo Viana Pereira Ferreira; Cascalheira, João; Ellis, M. Grace; Carvalho, Milena M.; Friedl, Lukas; Pereira, Telmo; Zinsious, Brandon K.Documenting the first appearance of modern humans in a given region is key to understanding the dispersal process and the replacement or assimilation of indigenous human populations such as the Neanderthals. The Iberian Peninsula was the last refuge of Neanderthal populations as modern humans advanced across Eurasia. Here we present evidence of an early Aurignacian occupation at Lapa do Picareiro in central Portugal. Diagnostic artifacts were found in a sealed stratigraphic layer dated 41.1 to 38.1 ka cal BP, documenting a modern human presence on the western margin of Iberia ∼5,000 years earlier than previously known. The data indicate a rapid modern human dispersal across southern Europe, reaching the westernmost edge where Neanderthals were thought to persist. The results support the notion of a mosaic process of modern human dispersal and replacement of indigenous Neanderthal populations.
- Resilience, replacement and acculturation in the Mesolithic/Neolithic transition: The case of Muge, central PortugalPublication . Bicho, Nuno; Cascalheira, João; Gonçalves, Célia; Umbelino, Cláudia; García-Rivero, Daniel; André, LinoEvidence for the first Neolithic population in central Portugal dates to as early as c. 7600 cal BP. These first farmers were exogenous groups arriving to the Atlantic coast from the Mediterranean Sea. For a few centuries there seems to have occurred an overlap in the region between the Mesolithic Muge huntergatherers and the regional early Neolithic populations. While the trajectory of these first farmers seems to be well established, the fate of the Mesolithic populations is unknown and in generally assumed as resulting in extinction. The recent results from research in the Muge Mesolithic shellmounds (Tagus valley) with the new recovery of various loci with Neolithic occupations including human burials, human DNA, and Strontium analyses seem to indicate evidence of cultural and genetic integration between the Mesolithic and Neolithic populations. This paper will focus on the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Portuguese Estremadura and examines the hypothesis that human resilience promoted the cultural and biological integration of the Mesolithic groups into the new exogenous Neolithic communities in central Portugal. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.
- The Early Neolithic at the Muge Shellmiddens (Portugal): analysis and review of the ceramic evidence from Cabeco da AmoreiraPublication . Taylor, Ruth; Garcia-Rivero, Daniel; Gonçalves, Célia; Cascalheira, João; Bicho, NunoThis article, on the Early Neolithic pottery from the Cabeco da Amoreira shellmidden in the Muge region of central Portugal, presents a detailed review of the evidence to date and a systematic analysis of the decorative and mineralogical characteristics of the stratified and radiocarbon-dated ceramic assemblage. A homogenous pottery manufacturing tradition seems to be present right from the beginning, including both local and non-local ceramics. The authors formulate a working hypothesis on the geographic origin of the exogenous pottery, which contributes to the discussion of the dynamics of mobility and social networks in the Neolithization of south-western Europe.