Vertebrates from Cabeço dos Morros: a Mesolithic shell midden near Salvaterra de Magos, in the lower Tagus valley, Portugal

Abstract

This article discusses the vertebrate remains recovered from the Mesolithic shell midden of Cabeço dos Morros on the Magos River in the lower Tagus Valley, Portugal. It is the first publication on the fauna of the (Mesolithic) Tagus Shell Midden Complex of the Magos River. The Tagus shell middens are considered key sites for investigating the last hunter-gatherers of the Iberian Peninsula because they include some of the largest Mesolithic settlements in the region and altogether represent a significant period of occupation. The Mesolithic is an interesting and complex period in Iberian prehistory because itmbridges the period in which Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers became Neolithic farmer and also because it extends over critical periods of environmental, demographic and social changes about which little is known.