Loading...
5 results
Search Results
Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
- Human forager response to abrupt climate change at 8.2 ka on the Atlantic coast of EuropePublication . García-Escárzaga, Asier; Gutiérrez-Zugasti, Igor; Marín-Arroyo, Ana B.; Fernandes, Ricardo; Núñez de la Fuente, Sara; Cuenca-Solana, David; Iriarte, Eneko; Simões, Carlos; Martín-Chivelet, Javier; González-Morales, Manuel R.; Roberts, PatrickThe cooling and drying associated with the so-called ‘8.2 ka event’ have long been hypothesized as having sweeping implications for human societies in the Early Holocene, including some of the last Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in Atlantic Europe. Nevertheless, detailed ‘on-site’ records with which the impacts of broader climate changes on human-relevant environments can be explored have been lacking. Here, we reconstruct sea surface temperatures (SST) from δ18O values measured on subfossil topshells Phorcus lineatus exploited by the Mesolithic human groups that lived at El Mazo cave (N Spain) between 9 and 7.4 ka. Bayesian modelling of 65 radiocarbon dates, in combination with this δ18O data, provide a high-resolution seasonal record of SST, revealing that colder SST during the 8.2 ka event led to changes in the availability of different shellfish species. Intensification in the exploitation of molluscs by humans indicates demographic growth in these Atlantic coastal settings which acted as refugia during this cold event.
- EcoPLis a pré-história no Rio Lis, da serra ao AtlânticoPublication . Pereira, Telmo; Carvalho, Vânia; Holliday, Trenton; Paixão, Eduardo; Monteiro, Patrícia; Évora, Marina; Marreiros, Joao; Assis, Sandra; Nora, David; Matias, Roxane; Simões, CarlosOur research focuses on the use of valleys that link the inland to the coast during Prehistory. Traditionally, research has studied rivers, coast and inland as separate landscapes, but the major characteristic of hunter-gatherers was mobility. In order to understand and reconstruct the evolution of human behaviour, our main goal is to answer the questions: “How, why and when did people circulate between these different ecological landscapes?” and “What was the impact of the major climatic shifts on that mobility?” To answer these questions our archaeological project includes survey, testing, and the excavation of archaeological sites, using high-resolution field and laboratory methodologies in order to contribute significantly to the understanding of ecological behaviour of Prehistoric populations, including extinct human species such as Neanderthals.
- Thermo-microstratigraphy of shells reveals invisible fire use and possible cooking in the archaeological recordPublication . Simões, Carlos; Aldeias, VeraThe archaeological visibility of hearths related to shellfish cooking methods is limited, particularly in pre-ceramic shell midden contexts. Important evidence for use of fire is the thermal alteration of components, namely the identification of burnt shells. Mollusk shells that mineralize as aragonite are particularly indicative of burning due to the conversion of aragonite to calcite through recrystallization at known temperature thresholds. However, roasting temperatures needed to open bivalves, do not necessarily cause thermal alterations in the cooked shell. This complicates the significance of shell mineralogy by itself to recognize cooking, and discerning pre-depositional from in situ heating. To distinguish between cooking and burning, we combine micromorphological analyses with microscopic Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy to investigate mineralogical thermo-alterations alongside microstratigraphic formation studies. Experimentally heated specimens of Cerastoderma edule and Scrobicularia plana are used to identify the temperature thresholds of biogenic calcium carbonate phase alteration at the micro-scale. These results are then used to interpret mineral alterations in deposits from two Mesolithic shell midden contexts from Portugal. Micro-stratigraphically controlled mineralogy proved to be particularly useful to distinguish between pre-depositional heating from in situ heating, configuring a novel methodology for recognition of traces of cooking shellfish versus traces of fire used for other purposes. Mapping the mineral phase conversion at a micro stratigraphic scale also allows us to identify instances of in situ fire events that were invisible macroscopically. This combined microstratigraphic and mineralogical methodology considerably increases our capacity of deciphering intricate shell midden stratigraphy and occupational events.
- Individual vessels, individual burials? new evidence on early neolithic funerary practices on the Iberian Peninsula's western façadePublication . Cardoso, João Luís; Carvalho, AF; Rebelo, Paulo; Neto, Nuno; Simões, CarlosDespite previous attempts, the Early Neolithic of Portugal was poorly understood until the latter part of the twentieth century. It is only when Guilaine and Ferreira (1970) re-analysed pottery assemblages kept in museums across the country and compared them with parallels elsewhere in Iberia and southern France that they were able to distinguish between an earlier Cardial phase and a more recent stage, named ‘Furninha horizon’ after an important burial cave excavated in 1880. Essentially, most Portuguese prehistorians still use this scheme today. Though some have argued in favour of pre-Cardial phases, either of African or Andalusian origin (e.g. Silva & Soares, 1981) or represented by impressa-type ceramics of Italic origin (e.g. Guilaine, 2018), these hypotheses are still lacking sound empirical support (Carvalho, 2020). It should, however, be noted that these hypotheses are still sometimes taken up in discussions of new finds. This is the case in a recently-published ovoid vase, with a flat base and impressed decoration, retrieved from so-called ‘hearth 8’ at the open-air site of Vale Pincel (coastal Alentejo), which was dated to c. 5650 cal BC. As this predates the oldest Cardial in Portuguese territory and is not a Cardial vessel, the author claims that this ‘ceramic decoration is part of the pre-Cardial impressed world’ (Soares, 2020: 311–2 and fig. 4).
- Evidence of specialized resource exploitation by Modern Humans in Western Iberia associated to Pleistocene and Holocene extreme environmental conditionsPublication . Pereira, Telmo; Monteiro, Patrícia; Paixão, Eduardo; Nora, David; Évora, Marina; Simões, Carlos; Detry, Cleia; Assis, Sandra; Carvalho, Vânia; Holliday, TrentonThroughout prehistory, landscapes were repeatedly subjected to both global and localized climatic fluctuations that changed the regional environments where human groups lived. This instability demanded constant adap-tation and, as a result, the functionality of some sites changed over time. In this light, the western coast of Iberia represents an exceptional case study due to the proximity between at least some oceanic cores and archaeological sites, which should facilitate an accurate reconstruction of the re-lationships between paleoenvironmental conditions and the coeval patterns of human behavior. This region, and in particular the valley of the River Lis, is marked by wide exposed plateaus cut by narrow and deep canyons. In this paper we present the stratigraphic, archaeometric, technological and archaeobotanical record of Pogo Rock Shelter, located in one of these canyons, which hints at the human responses to such changes, and discuss the link between its Solutrean and Epipaleolithic occupations to specific activities. During the coldest part of the Last Glacial Maximum, we hypothesize that there was intensive exploitation of a chert outcrop above the roof to produce blades and Solutrean tips. Later, during Bond Event 6, after that outcrop had been exhausted, there was intensive consumption of shellfish gathered between the mouth of the canyon and the sea. We hypothesize that these strikingly different roles demonstrate how hunter-gatherers adapted to local conditions, and exploited specific resources, promising to provide a better understanding about its functional role during specific extreme climate events.