RCAAP Repository

Numerous human bone collections from old excavations lie "forgotten" in various museums and private collections. The exhaustive analysis of these forgotten prehistoric assemblages began in the 1990s, framed by new methodological and interdisciplinary approaches that allowed a better interpretation of these tombs. This type of collaboration happened between the authors of the present text and the archaeologist Rui Boaventura for the review and study of several anthropological collections of tombs from central and south Portugal, dated from the 4th and 3rd millennia BC. In the scope of this work, the analysis of the collections studied during the annual Mega-Osteology program, promoted by Portanta, Iberian Archeology Association, and developed in the Geological Museum and the National Archaeological Museum between 2004 and 2015, and the analysis of the human remains recovered from the Lugar do Canto cave must be highlighted. In this essay, the potentialities of the analysis of human bone remains for the biological and social characterization of these prehistoric communities and the main difficulties faced when studying such collections will be underlined. Finally, a summary of the data obtained by the present team through the “re-visitation” of these ancient collections will be presented.

We present the results of the archaeological excavations at the fortified Chalcolithic settlement of Outeiro Redondo, Sesimbra in 2013 and 2014. These two campaigns continued the excavations performed there between 2005 and 2008. The defensive and housing structures were identified. The defensive structures corresponds to two constructive phases belonging to the Full / Late Chalcolithic. The housing structures corresponds also to two constructive phases, one of the Early Chalcolithic, the other of the Full / Late Chalcolithic. Thus, we may conclude that the first moment of this chalcolithic site corresponds to an open, unfortified settlement. An abundant and diversified set of artifacts were recovered during the excavations, pointing out to this settlement’s economic activities and the intensity of the human successive occupations of the place. Copper metallurgy stands out as a main economic activity in this site. A large entrance devoid of functional characteristics facing the sea, suggests the existence of ritual practices. In fact, the importance of the sea is confirmed by a foundational ritual, with the concealment, in a small cavity excavated in the substrate, of a mussel shell of exceptional dimensions. This shell seems to emphasize the importance of marine resources in the economy and daily life of the first community installed there, during the transition from the first to the second half of the 3rd millennium BC.

In this article we publish and comment the correspondence sent to José Leite de Vasconcelos by twelve eminent Spanish archaeologists. Two exceptions (Georg Leisner and George Bonsor) are justified since they developed his main archaeological research in the Iberian Peninsula. The correspondence shows the high scientific and personal appreciation given to his Portuguese colleague, due not only by his scientific merit, but also by the resources he mobilized for international collaboration, with the projection of his own work, namely the journal O Arqueólogo Português and the Museu Etnológico Português, of which he was the first Director. The correspondence provides a reliable picture of the archaeological research then carried out in Spain, with interesting information about excavations then under way, with relevant information about institutions and publications, and shows the great interest of the Spanish archaeologists for reliable and up-to-date information on Portuguese Archeology.  

Approach to the absolute chronologies of the Neolithic in Lisbon region, considering two large units: 1. Neolithic process (Ancient and Middle Neolithic) and 2. The consolidation of peasant societies (Late Neolithic). Dates and contexts of all domestic contexts dates in the Lisbon region are discussed, thus complementing Rui Boaventura’s proposal for the chronology of the Megalithism in the same region.

Recent advances in radiocarbon dating have come to facilitate the successful processing of cremated bone samples, a material previously deemed unsuitable for this purpose. This opens up the possibility of obtaining scientific dating evidence from find contexts which have produced little other organic material and of revisiting the chronological issues they raise. In presenting a radiocarbon determination obtained from a Late Bronze Age cremation burial at Monte de São Domingos, here we take the opportunity to illustrate the potential of this relatively new technique, but also to discuss possible pitfalls and problems with its application.

In this paper we present Late Bronze materials recovered at the Historic Center of Oeiras. This large assemblage of plain and decorated containers, the last with the technique of “burnished ornaments” is associated with denticulated sickle’s flint flakes and an ivory comb. These findings are discussed within the framework of the Late Bronze Age society of the region on or of the north bank of the mouth of the Tagus, dating from the earliest trade contacts with the Central and Eastern Mediterranean of the beginnings of the first millennium BC.

608 páginas

The Middle Palaeolithic of S. Julião da Barra, in the mouth of the Tagus river. Within the scope of the Measures of Minimization of Archaeological Impacts, Neoépica, Lda. was contracted to carry out a set of archaeological surveys in the future University Campus of Carcavelos. Implemented on a plot of land between the S. Julião Fort and S. Gonçalo Farm, partly located in the Oeiras Municipality, ten surveys pits were carried out, in order to make a diagnosis of the archaeological potential of this area. In 3 of contiguous surveys, a sedimentary deposit was identified, related to a Tirrenian sea level, characterized by a thin, residual layer of quartzite pebbles, as well as basaltic elements. The group of stone artefacts is dominated by quartzitic pebbles, where the simple, uni and bifacial exploration prevails, with the presence of the levallois technique, justifies the attribution of the whole set to the Middle Palaeolithic.

The archaeological site of Cabeço dos Cinco Pinheiros (Sesimbra) was excavated as part of the measures to mitigate the negative impacts resulting from the execution of the Mata de Sesimbra-Sul Resort. It was characterized, prior to the excavation work, by the superficial dispersion of archaeological material, exclusively lithic artefacts, along the gentle slope of a small hill. Excavation work (43 square meters in total, including test pits and open-area excavation) allowed to identify, on a platform near the hill-top, a feature characterized by the accumulation of fire-cracked cobbles directly settled on the Pleio-Pleistocene sand levels. A small amount of flaked stone artefacts (in flint, quartz and quartzite) was found in association with this feature. The techno-typological analysis of these materials, with few clear chronological indicators that enable their allocation to a specific techno-complex, does not allow to advance rigorous considerations regarding the precise chronology and functionality of the site. However, the comparison with other recently excavated sites, where similar archaeographic contexts were documented, as well as the geological context, may allow the chrono-cultural integration of this site, possibly established between 11000 and 8000 BP, between a terminal phase of the Magdalenian and the beginnings of the Mesolithic, in the transition from the Pleistocene to the Holocene. This paper intends to test the chrono-cultural framework of the site of Cabeço dos Cinco Pinheiros, as well as to advance with an explanatory hypothesis, in terms of functionality, for the type of feature therein recognized.

The scientific study of the Upper Palaeolithic, Epipaleolithic and Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in Portugal has its roots in the mid-19th century. The 2nd Geological Commission, created by a decree of the queen D. Maria II (1857), played a fundamental role in the study of this period and in the recognition of the first Palaeolithic and Mesolithic deposits. This Institution, with brilliant elements such as Pereira da Costa, Carlos Ribeiro, Nery Delgado, have allowed the implementation of Prehistory and Archeological studies and brought worldwide recognition to the deposits such as the caves of the Casa da Moura and Furninha or the Muge Mesolithic shellmiddens. With the 20th century, the work of scientific research on hunter-gatherers was centered mainly on the Universities of Porto and Lisbon, the National Museum of Archeology and the Geological Service, developing work predominantly on the Atlantic coast and in the valleys of the great rivers Portuguese. The research in Africa with Mendes Corrêa and Santos Júnior through the Anthropological Missions of Estado Novo in the 1930’s must also be mentioned. In the last quarter of the century. Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic research was a major development not only in the interest of some, unfortunately scarce, Portuguese university students, but also by foreigner experts. Since the last decade of the millennium, the number of doctorates and Portuguese experts in these periods has greatly grown with the implementation of university studies in the Universities of Lisbon and Algarve, from which there has been a continued development of the study of the Upper Palaeolithic, Epipaleolithic, and Mesolithic in Portugal.

We present the set of ceramic productions attributable to the Early Neolithic, collected in successive interventions in the Lapa do Fumo (Sesimbra) directed by Eduardo da Cunha Serrão. Their location in the cave was possible using the diary of the excavations, tipped by Gustavo Marques, who also participated in the last phase of the field works, after the year of 1964.

A single individual burial in a pit was identified in the course of the preventive archaeological intervention carried out in the former Sommer Warehouses, located on the right bank of the Tagus, in the urban area of Lisbon. From the typology of the vessel that accompanied the deposition of a corpses in fetal position, as well as the absolute radiocarbon date obtained, this grave belongs to the Early Neolithic. It is the only occurrence of this nature hitherto recorded in the West of the Iberian Peninsula, and the similarities of implantation of the tombs of El Retamar on the lagoon coast of Cadiz with a similar geographic implantation is emphasized.

Between Cartailhac’s synthesis on the prehistoric ages of Spain and Portugal (1886) and Guilaine’s thesis on the shepherds and farmers of the Western Mediterranean (1976), the Neolithic studies in Portugal went through major changes during which the existence of an “early” phase within the period was seldom realized. Limitations of stratigraphic resolution and formal conceptualization – and research blas more often centered on the study of shell-middens and megaliths – have long prevented its definition as an autonomous unit of analysis. Between these temporal and conceptual extremes, however, there have been several studies and attempts of synthesis that deserve to be reviewed. The present contribution brings together some of the works and authors that most significantly dealt with the beginnings of the Neolithic in Portugal until the 1970’s – successively, É. Cartailhac, J. Leite de Vasconcellos, M. Vieira da Natividade, A. Santos Rocha, A. Mendes Corrêa, P. Bosch Gimpera, M. Heleno, H. N. Savory, V. Leisner and J. Guilaine. A periodization of the research itself is also tentatively put forward to give some intelligibility to a history of Archaeology which perhaps has been more characterized by omission.

The idea that the megalithic monuments of western and northern Europe were built by a specific group of people who travelled long distances along the Atlantic seaways was first proposed in the 18th century. It remained a dominant concept among 19th century antiquarians and archaeologists and became a feature of diffusionist models of Neolithic cultural interaction in the early 20th century. Opinions on the direction of travel were varied, some favouring a north-south and others a south-north movement of people. The ritual or religious character of these monuments was given particular focus in Gordon Childe’s notion of ‘megalithic missionaries’. Connections with the East Mediterranean also came to play an increasingly prominent role. The development of radiocarbon dating in the 1960s gave rise to different explanations of megalithic origins, emphasising regional sequences and indigenous social change. In recent years, however, novel scientific techniques – stable isotopes, ancient DNA, and improved dating methods – have given unexpected insight into the movement of prehistoric populations. Studies of exotic materials such as variscite and jadeitite have also renewed interest in maritime interconnections during the Neolithic.

The result of the archaeological surveys conducted on the slope underlying the platform where the prehistoric settlement of Leceia (Oeiras) was implanted are presented. The collected elements point to a remarkable geomorphological evolution of that area after the abandonment of the settlement, due to anthropic causes, the primitive surface of the soil being located during the Early Chalcolithic (2800/ 2500 BC) in the lower part of the slope investigated, about 2.5 m to 3.0 m below the current topographic surface of the slope.

In this study we present the results of the archaeological excavations at the fortified Chalcolithic settlement of Outeiro Redondo, Sesimbra in 2015 and 2016, directed by the first author. Two large areas were excavated: northeast and western areas of the settlement. The structures identified are defensive and domestic and in both cases they belong exclusively to the last phase of occupation of the settlement, attributed to the Full/Late Chalcolithic. The works undertaken demonstrated the scientific importance of this archeological site, in what concerns the structures found, related with a well preserved stratigraphic sequence, with a clear chronological and cultural significance, having in consideration the rich archeological record identified.

Excavations undertaken at the fortified Chalcolithic settlement of Outeiro Redondo between 2005 and 2016 produced an assemblage of eight stone implements likely used in the plastic deformation of metals. All implements come from clearly defined contexts of the Middle / Late Chalcolithic, within a sector of the site that has also produced copious other evidence for metallurgical activities. Drawing on archaeological and ethnographic comparisons, we discuss the choice of raw material and the morphology of these implements in terms of their manufacture, as well as their role in the operational sequence of Chalcolithic metalwork production. We also consider their potential to inform inferences concerning the social division of labour in Chalcolithic society.

The development of extensive exchange networks during the 3rd millennium BC, established and strengthened by the consolidation of stable archaeo-metallurgical societies, has boosted the long-distance circulation of raw materials and artefacts whose provenance areas are sometimes located more than 200 km away from the site where they were ultimately used – thus being viewed as hyper-regional procurement/acquisition goods. The presence, in Chalcolithic contexts of the Portuguese Estremadura, of exogenous elements such as amber, ivory, variscite, and certain lithic raw materials used in the production of flaked stone and polished stone tools, indicates precisely the extent of these interaction diagrams, with diffusion routes covering vast geographic areas. Within the large and diversified set of the lithic industry from the Chalcolithic fortified settlement of Outeiro Redondo, located in the Western area of Setúbal peninsula (municipality of Sesimbra, Estremadura, Portugal) and occupied for most of the 3rd millennium BC, artefacts (exclusively large blades) were recognized whose macro-petrographic features indicate that they are elements produced using oolitic flint (to which one can associate the presence of other exogenous raw materials, such as rhyolite), mostly integrated in stratigraphic or structural contexts dated from the Middle Chalcolithic local chrono-zone (second half of the 3rd millennium BC). Such presence, coupled with the apparent absence of usable oolitic silicifications on the Jurassic formations of Western Iberia (but widely documented in Southern Spain, between the areas of Malaga and Granada), allows to integrate this site into those schemes of long-distance trade encompassing the whole Southwestern Iberia during the 3rd millennium BCE, as a recipient of items with an “exotic” character – although being debatable their “sumptuous consumption” as “prestige goods”, precisely on the basis of the evidence from Outeiro Redondo, where the elements show intense use-wear marks.

In a tribute to O. da Veiga Ferreira that took place at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa (December 11th, 2017), the recently-obtained data from the Bell Beaker hypogeum of Convento do Carmo (Torres Novas) was presented as it allows this author’s thesis to be resumed and re-discussed in new grounds. Indeed, two main topics of his thesis seem to obtain unexpected support from the Convento do Carmo evidence: the hypothesis according to which Bell Beaker societies were structured according to principles of matriarchate, and the genetic differentiation between Iberian populations and their coeval counterparts of central Europe. The aim of this contribution is to present a brief outline of the main results from current research at the mentioned hypogeum that give support to the above hypotheses. The geographic scales of interaction connecting Portuguese Estremadura with the rest of the peninsula and the Western Mediterranean in Bell Beaker times are also pointed out.

The authors analyses the process of the research on the Bronze Age in the south of Portugal, since the heroic phase of the precursors (final of the nineteenth century) represented by Sebastião P. M. Estácio da Veiga, António Santos Rocha and José Leite de Vasconcelos; in the middle of the XX century, phase of increasing field-archaeology carried out by a group of archaeologists related with Abel Viana, an expansion of the culture of El Argar was proposed reaching the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Based on the excavation of the necropolis of Atalaia and on the re-elaboration of accumulated information, a new paradigm emerges, that considers the Bronze Age of southern Portugal an individualized and independent entity. Although, some influence from the culture of El Argar had been recognized, its origin was rooted in the regional late Chalcolithic. The most complete formulation of the concept of the Bronze Age culture of the Iberian Southwest, including the south of Portugal and the provinces of Huelva and Badajoz, is due to Hermanfrid Schubart (1975). Finally, the authors briefly allude to the current contributions to the knowledge on the Middle Bronze Age in the Iberian Southwest.