Lithic arrowheads: Siliceous raw material sources and technology in Southern Portugal

Abstract

This analysis focused on one hundred and fifteen lithic arrowheads recovered from the Zambujeiro and Mitra 2 dolmens, funerary monuments in Évora, Portugal. These were analyzed by noninvasive and minimally invasive analytical techniques, including handheld X-ray fluorescence (hXRF), variable pressure scanning electron microscope coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (VP-SEM-EDS), and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) to establish the sources of the raw materials used to manufacture these arrowheads and to compare and cluster different artefacts. The raw materials used in the manufacture of the arrowheads were found to be from different sources suggesting that long-distance trade routes extending south, east and possibly west were in place in Southern Iberia during the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods. Whether this difference is related to the availability of raw materials throughout time, different procurement strategies, or simply by choice, remains unknown. The trade routes associated with the Mitra 2 Dolmen also seem to have a greater range than those connected to the Zambujeiro Dolmen.

Creating frames of reference for chert exploitation during the Late Pleistocene in Southwesternmost Iberia

“…The identification of these patterns has been reliant on the great amount of studies that have originated from the archaeological site of Vale Boi [i.e., 22,23,24,25]. A large portion of these studies has focused on lithic technology [26][27][28], and unlike other regions of Portugal [29][30][31][32][33][34][35], archaeological studies focusing on raw materials, and especially chert, have been more scarce, focusing mostly on brief macroscopic results or the differentiation between possibly local and non-local sorts of raw materials. Despite the scarceness of these studies, chert played a significant role in early and later prehistory at Vale Boi [26,27,36], and across most of Prehistory in Southern Portugal [37,38].…”