The Palaeolithic occupation of southern Alentejo: the Sado River Drainage Survey

Abstract

La ocupación paleolítica del Alentejo meridional: investigación en la cuenca del río SadoAriane Burke (*) Liliane Meignen (**) Michael Bisson (***) Nuno Pimentel (****) Virginia Henriques (*****) César Andrade (****) Maria da Conceição Freitas (****) Masa Kageyama (******) William Fletcher (*******) Carla Parslow (********) Dario Guiducci (*) ABSTRACTThe Sado River Drainage Survey project (2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008) was designed to fill a significant gap in our knowledge of the prehistory of Portugal. Southern Alentejo constitutes nearly one third of the total land mass of continental Portugal, but has received comparatively little attention from Palaeolithic archaeologists. Practically nothing was known about the prehistory of the Sado River basin, which includes the southern Alentejo plain, before now. The results of the Sado River Drainage Survey (SRDS) indicate that the Sado River basin was likely occupied at low population densities during the Middle Palaeolithic. There is some evidence for a Lower Palaeolithic presence but little or no evidence of an Upper Palaeolithic occupation. The emerging pattern suggests either an occupational hiatus or a major shift in settlement pattern towards the end of the Middle Palaeolithic. Possible explanations for this pattern, including aridification driven by climate change, are explored here. RESUMEN

Raw material sourcing in the Middle Paleolithic site of Gruta da Oliveira (Central Limestone Massif, Estremadura, Portugal)

“…Subsequent studies in southern Portugal include survey and macroscopic characterization of Jurassic flint in primary and secondary position in the region of Vila do Bispo, Burke et al 2011) survey and geochemical analysis of jasper sources in the context of a study of the Middle Paleolithic in western Alentejo, and Gaspar's (2009;Gaspar et al 2009) research on the igneous and metamorphic rocks used in the Neolithic site of Laginha 8. In the MCWB, Jordão (2010) determined the …”

O tecno‑complexo Acheulense em Portugal: contribuição para um balanço dos conhecimentos

“…A presença de indústrias líticas associáveis ao Paleolítico Inferior encontra -se também há muito documentada a sul do rio Tejo, quer através de achados isolados e dispersos (Viana -Zbyszewski 1952), quer com a recolha de materiais diversos na superfície de depósitos fluviais do rio Guadiana e do rio Sado (Viana 1945;Burke et al 2011).…”

Análisis Locacional Del Yacimiento Paleolítico De Cova Eirós (Triacastela, Lugo)

“…Es preciso destacar algunos de ellos en los que se relacionaba el emplazamiento en un determinado sitio con una variable concreta como por ejemplo la vegetación (García Moreno , 2008b, la insolación (García Moreno 2008a, la presencia visual (García Moreno 2013c), la movilidad (García Moreno 2013a; Prieto et al 2016;Ríos-Garaizar & García Moreno 2015;Sánchez et al 2016) o el clima (Burke et al 2014). También se han realizado estudios en los que se incluía más de una variable y que tenían como objetivo definir el patrón de asentamiento y la ocupación de yacimientos paleolíticos localizados en zonas geográficas concretas, como por ejemplo el valle del río Arlanzón (Marcos Sáiz 2006), la cornisa cantábrica (Fernández Fernández 2010;García Moreno 2013a;Marín Arroyo 2008Ortega Martínez & Ruíz-Redondo 2017;Turrero et al 2013), el valle del río Asón (Fano Martínez et al 2016;García Moreno 2010;García Moreno & Fano Martínez 2011), el valle del río Nalón (Corchón et al 2014;García Moreno et al 2013;García Moreno & Fano Martínez 2014), la cuenca del río Mundo (García Moreno 2014) y el río Sado (Burke et al 2011).…”