Nuno Bicho

Earliest Known Use of Marine Resources by Neanderthals

Numerous studies along the northern Mediterranean borderland have documented the use of shellfish by Neanderthals but none of these finds are prior to Marine Isotopic Stage 3 (MIS 3). In this paper we present evidence that gathering and consumption of mollusks can now be traced back to the lowest level of the archaeological sequence at Bajondillo Cave (Málaga, Spain), dated during the MIS 6. The paper describes the taxonomical and taphonomical features of the mollusk assemblages from this level Bj19 and briefly touches upon those retrieved in levels Bj18 (MIS 5) and Bj17 (MIS 4), evidencing a continuity of the shellfishing activity that reaches to MIS 3. This evidence is substantiated on 29 datings through radiocarbon, thermoluminescence and U series methods. Obtained dates and paleoenvironmental records from the cave include isotopic, pollen, lithostratigraphic and sedimentological analyses and they are fully coherent with paleoclimate conditions expected for the different stages. We conclude that described use of shellfish resources by Neanderthals (H. neanderthalensis) in Southern Spain started ∼150 ka and were almost contemporaneous to Pinnacle Point (South Africa), when shellfishing is first documented in archaic modern humans.

The Upper Palaeolithic settlement of Iberia: first-generation maps

Modelling of Upper Palaeolithic occupation in Iberia (one of the most important refugia of the last Ice Age) has enabled mapping of human occupation against an improving chronology of absolute dates. Important patterns emerge from the still uneven data of Iberia, providing a basis for new hypotheses.

The Emergence of Muge Mesolithic Shell Middens in Central Portugal and the 8200 cal yr BP Cold Event

ABSTRACT The emergence of Portugals Muge Mesolithic, with its characteristic shell middens and human burials, is widely seen as a response to the formation of a highly diverse terrestrial and aquatic ecotone in the Tagus basin by the Flandrian transgression. Recently, some have suggested that this was an adaptive response to the 8200 cal yr BP event. Using the available radiocarbon data for the shell middens, paleoclimatic data, and paleoceanographic data we present a new model for the appearance of the Muge Mesolithic shell middens and changes in settlement between the Boreal and Atlantic phases for central Portugal. Coastal ecosystems were altered due to diminution in upwelling and the occurrence of the 8.2 kyr cold event, with declining availability of marine resources, rapid sea level rise, and changes in coastal morphology. The result was that the previous coastal setting was no longer suitable for the hunter-gatherer-fishers causing a settlement shift to the new, large, and stable estuary of the Tagus Valley.

Mesolithic to Neolithic transitions: new results from shell-middens in the western Algarve, Portugal

New research on shell middens in the Algarve region of southern Portugal shows continuity of marine exploitation from the Mesolithic into the early Neolithic periods, where the Neolithic period is defined by the appearance of pottery in c 5500BC. The authors propose that either shellfish remained important to Neolithic people in Portugal or that Mesolithic and Neolithic subsistence strategies co-existed in this area for a relatively long time.

Hunter–gatherer subsistence at the end of the Pleistocene: preliminary results from Picareiro Cave, Central Portugal

Excavation at the site of Picareiro Cave in Portugal provides an important and rare sample of animal remains. Preliminary study shows that late Pleistocene hunter–gatherers hunted rabbits, deer and a wide variety of fauna, perhaps during seasonal occupation of the cave.

Use-wear and residue analysis in archaeology

The publication in 1964 of the English version of Semenov’s seminal study revealed one of the most important disciplines for functional interpretations from use–wear traces on archaeological tools. The onset of use–wear studies was marked by the development of theory, method, and techniques in order to infer prehistoric tools functionality and, therefore, understand human technological, social, and cultural behavior. During the last decades of functional studies, use –wear and residue analysis have targeted the observation, recording, and interpretation of different activities and worked materials found in archeological tools made on different types of organic and nonorganic materials. The result was the development of different methods and techniques, and protocols have been used to study those materials, fundamental for all researchers, fully trained, and students of the discipline.

Prying New Meaning from Limpet Harvesting at Vale Boi During the Upper Paleolithic

The late Pleistocene record for human exploitation of marine resources is generally accepted as being underrepresented world-wide. The global lowering of sea levels during the last glacial maximum (LGM) extended coastlines, presumably causing much of the evidence for coastal living from that period to be inundated today. The southern coast of Iberia is no exception, having a gently sloping, submerged continental shelf along much of its coastline. During the LGM, this continental shelf would have been partially exposed, with the coastal shore lying a considerable distance south of where it is today. This set of circumstances has no doubt contributed to the lack of known Upper Paleolithic coastal sites in southern Iberia containing records of marine exploitation. However, two key southern Iberian sites provide evidence of long-term marine resource use in this region: Cueva de Nerja and Vale Boi. The southeastern Spanish site of Cueva de Nerja is known for its record of marine fish and shellfish exploitation beginning in the Solutrean (Cortes-Sanchez et al. 2008; Jorda 1986; Morales and Rosello 2008; Serrano et al. 1995). Now the Portuguese site of Vale Boi significantly adds to the evidence of long-term utilization of coastal resources, with its record of marine resource exploitation beginning in the Gravettian.

Late Glacial prehistory of central and southern Portugal

There is a clear technological distinction between Portugal and other areas of southwestern Europe after the Last Glacial Maximum, 18000 years ago, and allows an initial synthesis for Portuguese Late Glacial prehistory, 16000-8500 BP

Paleolithic Landscapes and Seascapes of the West Coast of Portugal

The antiquity of coastal adaptations has gained renewed attention in the last several years as archaeologists have recognized that coasts have long been important foci of human settlement (Bailey 2004; Bailey and Milner 2003; Erlandson and Fitzpatrick 2006; Fa 2008; Price 1995; Sauer 1962; Westley and Dix 2006).

La función de los instrumentos líticos en el asentamiento de Vale Boi (Algarve, Portugal): estudio del utillaje gravetiense y solutrense

En este trabajo presentamos los primeros resultados del analisis traceologico efectuado en el asentamiento de Vale Boi (Algane, Portugal). Los proyectos arqueologicos llevados a cabo desde la Universidade do Algarve estan aportando informacion de inestimable valor sobre la ocupacion humana durante el Paleolitico superior en el sur de Portugal. Entre los yacimientos descubiertos, Vale Boi constituye el yacimiento mas importante documentado hasta el momento, no solo por su amplia secuencia cronologica, sino tambien por su excepcional registro arqueologico.