RCAAP Repository

The site of Castelinho (Torre de Moncorvo, northeast of Portugal) is a fortification strategically placed on a small elevation, near the river Sabor, built in the Late Iron Age and occupied until the Early Roman period. It is characterized by impressive defensive features, including large walls with turrets, ditches and complex entrances, inside of which no clear evidences of domestic areas were found. On the contrary, this monumental defensive apparatus seems to have served mostly to protect several storage facilities, mainly elevated granaries, in which abundant archaeobotanical remains were recovered. The excavation of Castelinho comprised the systematic sampling of sediment in a wide diversity of contexts, ultimately leading to the recovery of large amounts of charcoal, fruits and seeds. Most came from secondary or tertiary refuse deposits but some seem to have been actually related to the destruction of granaries by fire. Carpological results show the predominance of naked wheat (Triticum aestivum/durum) while hulled barley (Hordeum vulgare) and broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum) were found in smaller amounts. These crops were stored fully processed, taking into account the almost absence of chaff and the scarce presence of weeds. Charcoal analysis suggest Pinus pinaster and Quercus evergreen provided most of the wood used in the construction of the granaries. In this study, this data will be presented, discussed and compared with archaeobotanical and archaeological information from other sites excavated in the Sabor Valley and in the surrounding region. The size and monumentality of Castelinho, combined with the fact that it provided few evidences of other activities besides storage, suggests this site had a relevant role for local communities. This will be discussed together with other evidence of the social relevance of storage for Late Iron Age communities in the region.

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Archaeological excavations at Vila do Touro uncovered a Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age occupation at the top of a prominent hill. It consisted of a structure built with perishable materials, supported by postholes, and a small subcircular storage facility made of stone. Abundant carbonized plant remains were visible throughout the excavation area during the field work suggesting a fire occurred prior to the abandonment of the place, sometime in the 9th century BC. Archaeobotanical sampling allowed the recovery of abundant wood charcoal as well as charred fruits and seeds. Analyses showed structures were built mostly out of wood from deciduous oak, although pine was also used. Evidence for growth suppression in oak wood suggests direct human management of wood resources, which agrees with other evidences from northern Iberia. Moreover, the storage facility was used to keep cereals, mostly naked wheat and common millet, but also barley. These were stored fully processed and ready for consumption. Faba beans were also recovered, outside the small storage facility. Results are similar to sites in northeast Portugal and the Central Meseta but contrast with hillforts from Atlantic areas where hulled wheats are staple crops, suggesting a West-East trend also reflected in environmental and cultural features.

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Gruta do Caldeirão is an archaeological cave site located in Tomar (Portugal, western Iberian Peninsula), which contains an important Late Pleistocene sequence from Middle Paleolithic (Mousterian) to Upper Paleolithic (Solutrean-Magdalenian), including lithic tools, human remains, and other large- and small-vertebrate remains. Our revision and interpretation of the rodent assemblage previously published in the 1990s leads to three important conclusions: 1) the only species of the subgenus Iberomys present in the sequence is the current endemic Iberian vole species Microtus (Iberomys) cabrerae (Cabrera’s vole); 2) the rodent assemblage is dominated through­out by open-forest species, such as the long-tailed field mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus), and species associated with open-humid areas such as the Mediterranean and Lusitanian pine voles (Microtus (Terricola) spp.), with the notable presence of an extinct hamster (Allocricetus bursae) in layer K, and three vole species not currently found in the vicinity of the cave (Microtus arvalis [the common vole], M. Agrestis [the field vole], and Chionomys nivalis [the European snow vole]) also in the assemblage; 3) the bioclimatic model, which is used to reconstruct climatic parameters on the basis of the rodent association, corroborates the proposal that the Solutrean occupation from layers H to Fa took place during a cold period equated to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), as indicated by the available radiocarbon dates and supported by the magnetic susceptibility data.

The lower Sado Valley in southern Portugal is one of the most important concentrations of Mesolithic settlements in Europe. Moreover, many of the sites included cemeteries, which have provided valuable information on mortuary practices of the last hunter-gatherers in southern Iberia and a very important sample of human remains. Despite the development of large systematic excavations in the mid-twentieth century and recent attempts to re-examine some sites, only very partial information was available. Yet, there are rich unpublished archaeological collections in the National Museum of Archaeology in Lisbon, and the preservation of most of the sites is quite satisfactory. Since 2010, a Luso-Spanish interdisciplinary team has systematically been re-appraising this area within the framework of COASTTRAN , CoChange, and SimTIC – three successive research projects on the transition to the Neolithic in coastal areas of south-western Atlantic Europe and the development of symbolic thought in the late Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic. The project design and preliminary results of the first six fieldwork seasons are presented in this paper.

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In this paper we discuss how the Late Mesolithic Sado Valley hunter-gatherers interacted with the first agropastoralist societies settled in southern Portugal in the course of the second half of the sixth millennium cal BC. The archaeological record available during this period in southern Portugal reflects the presence of two distinct cultural groups. Differences can be detected not only on an economic level but also in settlement patterns, material culture, and symbolic behaviour. By the end of the first quarter of the fifth millennium cal BC, the Sado shell middens seem to have been abandoned, raising the question of how and why these last hunter-gatherers left their traditional territory, since no environmental change is recorded in the area that could explain it. Using chronological information and some Neolithic elements found in the area of the shell middens, we will debate the Neolithization process from a Mesolithic point of view.

From the refrigerator mother theory to more recent comparisons to ‘warrior-heroes’, mothers of children with autism spectrum disorders have been historically categorised as emotionally remarkable. Drawing on my ethnographic fieldwork in Portugal, I explore in this article how mothers politically mobilise emotions, characteristics, and acts usually associated with good mothering, such as maternal love, dedication, and sacrifice. While these socially expected phenomena have been addressed as instruments of the relegation of women to motherhood and care labour, I propose a novel look at the value of affectivity in discourses and practices of care and advocacy. I argue that mothers strategically embody and employ their affectivity as political capital to validate their role as expert caregivers and advocates, creating new opportunities to access leading positions within the autism advocacy movement.

Abstract Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore and typify the characteristics and diverse features of urban speciality stores selling rural provenance food, taking the case of three cities in Portugal. Design/methodology/approach The study was based on hierarchical cluster analysis, performed upon data collected from a survey to 113 shops, located in Aveiro (n = 15), Lisbon (n = 56) and Porto (n = 42). Findings The study identified three clusters of shops according to the type of rural provenance products sold, services provided and clientele characteristics: the wine focused, the rural provenance focused and the generalist. The study confirms that in Portugal, small food retail outlets, with different rural provenance patterns and degrees of specialization have considerably grown in large cities over the last decade. Research limitations/implications The study contributes to typifying urban speciality food stores selling rural provenance products and to addressing critical research gaps on this topic. The study highlights the dynamism of small food retail outlets and their significance, mediating and responding to changing patterns of food consumption in urban spaces. Originality/value This study contributes to a better understanding and characterization of food speciality shops in urban settings and their links with rural territories of provenance, an under-researched topic on the food retail literature.

Lipid rafts form signaling platforms on biological membranes with incompletely characterized role in immune response to infection. Here we report that lipid-raft microdomains are essential components of phagolysosomal membranes of macrophages and depend on flotillins. Genetic deletion of flotillins demonstrates that the assembly of both major defense complexes vATPase and NADPH oxidase requires membrane microdomains. Furthermore, we describe a virulence mechanism leading to dysregulation of membrane microdomains by melanized wild-type conidia of the important human-pathogenic fungus Aspergillus fumigatus resulting in reduced phagolysosomal acidification. We show that phagolysosomes with ingested melanized conidia contain a reduced amount of free Ca2+ ions and that inhibition of Ca2+-dependent calmodulin activity led to reduced lipid-raft formation. We identify a single-nucleotide polymorphism in the human FLOT1 gene resulting in heightened susceptibility for invasive aspergillosis in hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients. Collectively, flotillin-dependent microdomains on the phagolysosomal membrane play an essential role in protective antifungal immunity.

Integrating solar photovoltaics in electric vehicles can reduce operating costs and extend the driving range. It is particularly appropriate for urban mobility due to the relatively short typical daily travels of urban vehicles. However, shadowing cast by buildings will reduce the solar irradiation falling on the vehicle, reducing its PV generation. This study assesses the solar potential of onboard solar for roads and urban parking using data in a geographical information system for the case study of Lisbon. Results show that annual losses due to shadowing may reach 25% for roads and over 50% for urban parking spaces. Nevertheless, despite these losses, the annual solar extended range for onboard solar vehicles is between 10 and 18 km/day/kWp, thus significantly reducing charging needs.

The Ecuadorian Amazon is considered a biodiverse region, and at the same time contains the largest number of oil blocks and oilfields in the country. Oil exploitation requires the implementation of oil facilities and related infrastructure, such as roads, water, and energy supply, for operation. These large engineering works can alter the dynamics of the Amazonian natural ecosystems. This paper analyzes the land use and land cover (LULC) change and relates spatial patterns within an oil block located in the province of Orellana, Ecuador. The study was processed in two phases, the first corresponding to the collection and classification of LULC classes within the oil block. The second phase concerned the calculation of landscape metrics, with the purpose of quantitatively characterizing each class. This analysis was carried out for the pre-concession, post-concession scenarios of the oil block and the current scenario of the region. The results revealed that the low predominance of forest cover within the study region is not directly associated with the beginning of the Block 47 concession. On the other hand, a significant reduction of the Coca River was evidenced for the 2018 scenario.

The introduction to this double issue entitled “A Sonic Anthropocene: Sound Practices in a Changing Environment” explores some of the concepts and methodological issues that inform our understanding of what we call the “Sonic Anthropocene”. We argue that incorporating practices of listening and aural documentation that register the transformations in the acoustic landscape creates a space of potential for examining the increasing impact of human activity on the environment. This introduction is divided into six sections. First, we provide an overview of the notion of the Anthropocene. Secondly, we explore the relationship between sound, environment and perception as cultivated by different strands of scholarship. Thirdly, we discuss the capacity of ethnography to generate new insights into the conditions of life in the Anthropocene. With this in mind, we highlight various examples of collaboration between environmental sound artists, researchers, and activists. Lastly, we introduce the essays included in this first volume. Ultimately, this double issue seeks to contribute toward sounding the Anthropocene by placing sound at the centre of an interdisciplinary conversation about the economic, social, cultural, political and ecological processes that underlie the currently ongoing planetary transformations.

Wildfire susceptibility maps are a well-known tool for optimizing available means to plan for prevention, early detection, and wildfire suppression in Portugal, especially regarding the critical fire season (1 July 30 September). These susceptibility maps typically disregard seasonal weather conditions on each given year, being based on predisposing variables that remain constant on the long-term, such as elevation. We employ logistic regression for combining wildfire susceptibility with a meteorological index representing spring conditions (the Seasonal Severity Rating), with the purpose of predicting, for any given year and ahead of the critical fire season, which areas will burn. Results show that the combination of the index with wildfire susceptibility slightly increases the capability to predict which areas will burn, when compared with susceptibility alone. Spring meteorological context was found better suited for predicting if the following summer wildfire season will be more severe, rather than predicting where wildfires will effectively occur. The model can be updated yearly after the critical wildfire season and can be applied to optimize the allocation of human and material resources regarding the prevention, early detection and suppression activities, required to reduce the severity of wildfires in the country.

International migration reconfigures rural places by engaging localities with globalising forces. Accommodating newcomers, be they farming labourers or lifestyle migrants is a challenge at the local level due to the clash of interests, different visions on how the land should be managed and development promoted. Using Odemira as a case study, the paper has two goals: to show the change brought about by foreign investments in agribusiness, international labourers and lifestyle migrants to a rural place; and to highlight the strategies devised by local actors in the accommodation of new demands of language and housing. Language classes for adults and housing provisions are far from satisfying the needs. Schools display more flexibility to accommodate migrant children, whereas the agribusiness firms are increasing its lobbying capacity for their interest by pushing forward the approval of an exceptional regime that authorises the installation of workers in precarious accommodation located on the farms.

A cerâmica de tipo Kuass é uma produção apenas recentemente sistematizada e representa um excelente fóssil director para os contextos dos momentos finais da Idade do Ferro no Ocidente Peninsular. A partir de finais do séc. IV a.C., é produzida em quantidades muito abundantes, reproduzindo formalmente as cerâmicas áticas de verniz negro, na área correntemente designada de Círculo do Estreito de Gibraltar . A característica mais marcante nestas produções é a aplicação de engobes de tonalidades cinzentas, acastanhadas, mas principalmente avermelhadas, que cobrem a totalidade das superfícies dos exemplares. Esta produção entra em decadência a partir do séc. II a.C., situação que se relaciona directamente com a chegada da cerâmica campaniense à Península Ibérica. A presença da cerâmica de tipo Kuass no território algarvio parece ser abundante, a julgar pelos conjuntos aqui analisados, e integra, claramente, esta área no âmbito dos circuitos comerciais, e mesmo culturais, do mundo mediterrânico ocidental. Os materiais que surgem estratigraficamente associados a estas produções quer ao nível da cerâmica comum quer dos contentores anfóricos, fornecem ainda dados importantes, em vários casos, para a caracterização de um momento cronológico bastante específico, além de revelar indícios sobre os principais produtos importados e possíveis zonas de proveniência.

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The study of dust intrusions in Portugal is still a subject on which little investigation has been made, especially in terms of their effects. Thus, this work aims to achieve two goals: firstly, to characterize the dust intrusions in the study area; and secondly, to evaluate the possible statistical association between the dust intrusion days and hospital admissions due to respiratory diseases. Dust intrusions in Portugal are prevalent during the summer season. During this season, the dust plumes tend to cover broader areas than in the other seasons and they have origin in the North African countries. In the study area for the period between 2005 and 2015, the relative risk of urgent hospitalizations due to respiratory diseases was 12.6% higher during dust intrusion days. In order to obtain this statistical association, a Distributed Lag Nonlinear Model was developed. With this work, we expect to help the development of further studies regarding North African dust intrusions in Portugal, more precisely their effects on human health.