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- Mapping the stone age of MozambiquePublication . Gonçalves, Célia; Raja, Mussa; Madime, Omar; Cascalheira, João; Haws, Jonathan; Matos, Daniela; Bicho, Nuno Gonçalo Viana Pereira FerreiraUnder the auspices of the Portuguese colonial government, Lereno Barradas and Santos Junior (coordinator of the Anthropological Mission of Mozambique) carried out several archaeological field surveys from 1936 to 1956 that resulted in a data set that includes a total of close to 90 sites, mostly attributed to the Stone Age. This early research added to the previous work of Van Riet Lowe in the Limpopo Valley of southern Mozambique. With the new millennium, Mozambique has emerged as a crucial geographic area in which to understand the various hypotheses about recent human evolution. Specifically, its coastal location between southern and eastern Africa is ideal for testing ideas about the link between early coastal adaptations and the appearance of anatomically modern humans (AMH). Except for the recent work by Mercader's team in northern Mozambique, the number of researchers and projects on this topic in Mozambique is still limited because of the general predominance of interest in later periods among archaeologists working in the country, mainly due to their focus on issues related to precolonial heritage and national identity. Based on the early maps from Santos Junior and more recent data acquired through various projects, we present a series of maps for the Stone Age prehistory of Mozambique. The maps are also based on a critical evaluation of the sites and a review of some of the materials that are presently curated at the Instituto de Investigacao Cientifica e Tropical (IICT) in Lisbon, Portugal, as well as the materials stored at the Department of Archaeology of Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Maputo. The sites are also presented in an online database with the information on all sites used in this study. This database is open to all and will be updated continuously. A preliminary interpretation of the regional distribution of the sites is also attempted, linking aspects that include region, topography and altitude, geomorphology, and cultural phase. These results will be the first step for research and knowledge in Mozambique on Stone Age prehistory and the emergence and settlement pattern of AMH.
- Early upper paleolithic colonization across Europe: Time and mode of the gravettian diffusionPublication . Bicho, Nuno Gonçalo Viana Pereira Ferreira; Cascalheira, João; Gonçalves, CéliaThis study presents new models on the origin, speed and mode of the wave-of-advance leading to the definitive occupation of Europe's outskirts by Anatomically Modern Humans, during the Gravettian, between c. 37 and 30 ka ago. These models provide the estimation for possible demic dispersal routes for AMH at a stable spread rate of c. 0.7 km/year, with the likely origin in Central Europe at the site of Geissenklosterle in Germany and reaching all areas of the European landscape. The results imply that: 1. The arrival of the Gravettian populations into the far eastern European plains and to southern Iberia found regions with very low human occupation or even devoid of hominins; 2. Human demography was likely lower than previous estimates for the Upper Paleolithic; 3. The likely early AMH paths across Europe followed the European central plains and the Mediterranean coast to reach to the ends of the Italian and Iberian peninsulas.
- Middle and late stone age of the Niassa region, Northern Mozambique. Preliminary resultsPublication . Bicho, Nuno Gonçalo Viana Pereira Ferreira; Haws, Jonathan; Raja, Mussa; Madime, Omar; Gonçalves, Célia; Cascalheira, João; Benedetti, Michael M.; Pereira, Telmo; Aldeias, VeraLocated between modern-day South Africa and Tanzania, both of which have well-known and extensive Stone Age records, Mozambique's Stone Age sequence remains largely unknown in the broader context of African Pleistocene prehistory. Such lack of data occurs despite the key geographical location of the country, in southern Africa at the southeastern tip of the Great Rift Valley. As such, Mozambique is an area of interest to evaluate the origins and dispersion of Homo sapiens within Africa, particularly in relation to Middle Stone Age contexts and associated early modern human ecology and cognition.This paper focuses on preliminary survey results from the Niassa District, near Lake Niassa (also known as Lake Malawi) in northern Mozambique. The results include the discovery and location of more than 80 new surface lithic concentration localities, as well as data from two new sites, the open air surface site of Ncuala and the rock shelter of Chicaza. For Chicaza we provide a series of new radiocarbon dates for the Iron Age and Late Stone Age occupations based on preliminary testing carried out at the site. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.
- Portable art and personal ornaments from Txina-Txina: a new later stone age site in the Limpopo River Valley, southern MozambiquePublication . Bicho, Nuno Gonçalo Viana Pereira Ferreira; Cascalheira, João; André, Lino; Haws, Jonathan; Gomes, Ana; Gonçalves, Célia; Raja, Mussa; Benedetti, Michael M.This paper reports on preliminary fieldwork at the Later Stone Age site of Txina-Txina in Mozambique. Excavation yielded a long stratigraphic sequence, a large lithic assemblage, a unique decorated gastropod shell fragment and two ostrich eggshell beadsthe first of their type recovered from a Stone Age context in Mozambique.