Filipa Rodrigues

University of Lisbon | UL · Centro de Arqueologia

This paper will address the processes that resulted in the formation the archaeological record of the Late Neolithic ditched enclosures of Ponte da Azambuja 2 (Portel Évora). The features recorded at the site-structures, stratigraphy and material culture-allowed us to conclude that there is a link between the places chosen for the establishment of...

This paper presents the votive artefacts from the surficial burial context identified at Sala do Ricardo, Lapa da Bugalheira, mostly composed of polished stone tools, a «Montbolo» vessel, knapped stone tools, and Glycymeris sp. bracelets. Coupled with the radiocarbon ages obtained on the associated human bone remains, this composition is consistent...

The European climate during the Holocene period is characterised by frequent changes of temperature and precipitation. The North Atlantic plays a major role as a driver for European climate and is a dominant precipitation source, particularly for the western European and north African realm. Atmospheric pressure gradients over the Atlantic (North A...

We present the results of the first year of the field work carried out at Lapa da Bugalheira (Almonda, Torres Novas) by the ARQEVO research project. We have identified an Early Neolithic occupation featuring a characteristic artefact assemblage with impressed wares (both cardial and “boquique”), geometric microliths and ornaments. The age of the as...

The site of Gruta da Aroeira (Torres Novas, Portugal), with evidence of human occupancy dating to ca. 400 ka (Marine Isotope Stage 11), is one of the very few Middle Pleistocene localities to have provided a fossil hominin cranium associated with Acheulean bifaces in a cave context. The multianalytic study reported here of the by-products of burnin...

Fruits of the sea The origins of marine resource consumption by humans have been much debated. Zilhão et al. present evidence that, in Atlantic Iberia's coastal settings, Middle Paleolithic Neanderthals exploited marine resources at a scale on par with the modern human–associated Middle Stone Age of southern Africa (see the Perspective by Will). Ex...

Dated to ca. 400 ka (Marine Isotope Stage 11), the site of Gruta da Aroeira (Torres Novas, Portugal) is one of the very few Middle Pleistocene localities that have yielded a fossil hominin cranium associated with Acheulean bifaces, in a cave context. Our multi-analytical approach to the site’s archaeological record focused on different aspects: the...

Neste artigo pretende-se por um lado apresentar os trabalhos arqueoló-gicos realizados no sítio da Portela 1 (Maceira, Leiria), e, por outro lado, des-crever quer a proveniência quer as características tecno-tipológicas do con-junto cerâmico ali recolhido, que permite atribuir uma cronologia relativa ao arqueossítio, enquadrando-o nas primeiras eta...

This paper aims to discuss the spatial analysis between ditched enclosures and megalithic monuments in Alentejo Central, in order to infer the social behaviors of groups that occupied this region during Late Neolithic period. Em Portugal, mais concretamente na região centro-alentejana, o universo funerário das sociedades camponesas do 4.º e 3.º mi...

Bifaces dominate the Acheulean stone tools recovered during the archaeological excavation of layer X of Gruta da Aroeira, dated to 389–436 ka. Faunal remains and a human cranium were found in association with this lithic assemblage. The raw materials used are mostly quartz and quartzite cobbles available in the vicinity of the site. Technological a...

Porto Torrão is a settlement site in the Alentejo lowlands. The site is cut by the Vale do Ouro stream, which drains into the Sado River a few kilometers from the archaeological site. Known since the early 1980’s for its impressive dimensions and important archaeological occupation, from the Late Neolithic to Bell Beaker times (Arnaud, 1982, 1993)...

O sítio arqueológico Moita do Ourives é um espaço de habitat intervencionado no âmbito da arqueologia de emergência. Localizado, genericamente, na margem esquerda do Baixo Tejo (Benavente), foi-lhe atribuído uma cronologia relativa que o integra no denominado Neolítico médio.

This paper will discuss the use of the double-ditch system of Porto Torrão as a prehistoric hydraulic system. Based on the its speci c features, this hypothesis is applied to the excavated sections on the le bank of the stream that runs across the archaeological site. Keywords: Porto Torrão, Ditched enclosures, Double-ditch system, Hydraulic struc...

From the late 1990’s onwards, studies on the Late Prehistory of present-day Portugal went through a “true empirical revolution” (Valera, 2008: 112), which concerns ditched enclosures as well. Furthermore, an archaeological discovery boom, along with the issues raised by such sites, turned the whole subject of ditched enclosures into a specific stud...

In the last decades, the discourse on the subject of Prehistoric ditched enclosures from the Iberian SW underwent various changes, ranging from its theoretical interpretation – residential spaces vs. temporary ceremonial spaces – to its terminology – settlement (povoado) vs. enclosure; indeed, both aspects are intrinsically related. As far as Portu...

O sítio arqueológico de Porto Torrão foi descoberto em 1981, ano em que se realizaram as primeiras recolhas de superfície, parte das quais levada a cabo de forma sistemática sob a direcção de J.M. Arnaud. Estes trabalhos permitiram concluir pela impressionante extensão do sítio e pela abundância e variedade de vestígios arqueológicos, entre os quai...

Significance We describe a recently discovered cranium from the Aroeira cave in Portugal dated to around 400 ka. This specimen is the westernmost Middle Pleistocene cranium of Europe and is one of the earliest fossils from this region associated with Acheulean tools. Unlike most other Middle Pleistocene finds, which are of uncertain chronology, the...

Este artigo pretende apresentar a análise da cultura material, mais concretamente a análise dos materiais cerâ-micos, do recinto de fossos da Ponte da Azambuja 2 (Portel, Évora), adotando um perspetiva que visa não só o enquadramento tipológico dos artefactos mas também a tecnologia da sua execução. Palavras-chave: Recinto de fossos, Neolítico Fina...

Human variability in the earlier Middle Pleistocene of Europe is poorly known, which makes it diffi-cult to assess patterns of human diversity and possible regions for ancestral populations asso-ciated with the western Eurasian spread of the Acheulian technocomplex. A recently discovered partial cranium from the Gruta da Aroeira may shed some light...

Neolithic faunal assemblages are scarce in Portugal and, although some trends related to the beginning of domestication are now becoming understood, more data and further zooarchaeological analyses are necessary to fully understand them. Ponte da Azambuja 2 is a set of three Late Neolithic ditch enclosures located in the Alentejo region, Southern P...

O sítio arqueológico da Portela 1 foi identificado durante o acompanhamento arqueológico da rede de saneamento da localidade da Maceira. Durante este acompanhamento foram identificados vários fragmentos de cerâmica manual concentrados numa pequena área, verificando-se no corte da vala aberta outros fragmentos em estratigrafia. De forma a contextual...

No âmbito de trabalhos de arqueologia de emergência, foi levada a cabo uma intervenção no sítio arqueológico da Moita do Ourives (Benavente, Portugal). Localizado na margem esquerda da Bacia Terciária do Baixo Tejo, este sítio de habitat, ao ar livre, revela uma cultura material que o enquadra, cronologicamente, no Neolítico médio. A sua singularid...

This article presents the main goals of a research project design to study the neolithisation process in lower Tagus valley left bank (NAM project-developed, since 2006, by the Research Department of CRIVARQUE, Lda). This area, occupied by late Mesolithic hunter-gatherers at least until 6300 BP, was traditionally seen as a "no-man's land" during Ne...

A Casa Branca 7 é um sítio arqueológico situado no Sudoeste de Portugal, cuja cronologia se situa nos finais do IV milénio/ inícios do III milénio a.C. Foram escavadas, neste local, várias estruturas arqueológicas in situ, fornecendo novos dados sobre este período de transicção no Sudoeste de Portugal. Casa Branca 7 is an archaelogical site in th...