Chronology of the Mesolithic occupation of the Muge valley, central Portugal: The case of Cabeço da Amoreira

Embedded Behavior: Human Activities and the Construction of the Mesolithic Shellmound of Cabeço da Amoreira, Muge, Portugal

“…(a) Map view of the site's location along the southern banks of the Muge River Valley. The red triangles mark the location of other known Mesolithic sites (see Bicho et al., for details). The inset shows the location of the region along the lower Tagus Valley, north of Lisbon, Portugal; (b) topographic map of the site and excavation areas (adapted from Bicho et al., ).…”

“…Large areas of the shellmound were excavated during the late 19th century (see Roche, for details), later during the 1930s by Mendes Corrêa (), from 1962 to 1964 under the direction of O. Veiga Ferreira and Jean Roche (Roche, , ), and more recently by José Rolão from 1997 to 2001 (Rolão, ; Rolão, Joaquinito, & Gonzaga, ). Renewed research at Cabeço da Amoreira started in 2008 under the direction of Nuno Bicho, with an interdisciplinary project that applies modern recording and excavation techniques (Bicho et al., , ).…”

“…One of the richest areas for the study of European Mesolithic shellmound adaptations is the paleo‐estuary of the river Muge, a subsidiary of the main Tagus Valley in Portugal (e.g., Roche, , ; Rolão, Joaquinito, & Gonzaga, ; Bicho et al., ). The Muge shellmounds are extensive artificial mounds with a preferential bladelet and geometric microburin lithic technology (e.g., Bicho et al., ; Paixão, ), containing numerous human inhumations (e.g., Lubell et al., ; Jackes, Lubell, & Meiklejohn, ; Cunha, Cardoso, & Umbelino, ; Jackes & Meiklejohn, ; Rocksandic, ), dog and other faunal remains (Detry & Cardoso, ), and anthropogenic features such as pits, postholes, putative hut‐related features, and hearths (Arnaud, ; Roche, ; Corrêa, ; Bicho et al., , ). While these shellmounds have been the target of intensive research over the years (Cardoso & Rolão, ; Roche, , , , ; Rolão, ; Rolão, Joaquinito, & Gonzaga, ), detailed studies of processes responsible for the accumulation of the sediments remain sparse (see Gutiérrez‐Zugasti et al., ).…”

Lithic economy and territory of Epipaleolithic hunter–gatherers in the Middle Tagus: The case of Pena d'Água (Portugal)

“…At this level, significant differences seem to occur only with the Mesolithic (Roche, 1972;Carvalho, 1998bCarvalho, , 2008Carvalho, , 2009Marchand, 2001;Paixão, 2014) most likely as the result of the dramatic paleoenvironmental changes forced by the 8.2 ka cal BP climatic crisis, which had a strong and direct impact on the biotic resources (see references above), demanding a dramatic response from the human populations. The change in the biotic resources, among other things, might have been the trigger for a shift from residential settlement systems to a logistic ones focused in estuarine areas of great rivers of the Atlantic coast, such as those in the Tagus (Bicho et al, 2010(Bicho et al, , 2012 (Arnaud, 1989;Diniz and Arias, 2012) basins in Portugal and from a foraging pattern to a collector strategy (sensu Binford, 1980). Recent investigation showed that, at least in the lower Tagus, the techno-typological patterns of the stone-tool production at the time of the 8.2 ka cal BP event was fairly similar to those of the Late Magdalenian (Pereira and Carvalho, n.d.).…”

The microstratigraphic record of human activities and formation processes at the Mesolithic shell midden of Poças de São Bento (Sado Valley, Portugal)

“…This site is a larger shell mound, forming an artificial hill perceptible in the landscape. It is one of a group of Mesolithic shell mounds known in the Muge Valley, part of the early Holocene palaeo-estuary of the Tagus River (for details, see Bicho et al 2013Bicho et al , 2011, located approximately 100 km north of the Sado shell middens area (Fig. 2).…”