Thesis Chapters by Henrique Matias
The study of raw materials in a sample from Gruta da Oliveira stratigraphic unit 14, dated to ~45... more The study of raw materials in a sample from Gruta da Oliveira stratigraphic unit 14, dated to ~45,000 years ago, was conducted using a methodology that emphasizes observation at multiple scales.
Through an initial review of the literature, potential procurement areas were defined and surveyed. Eventually, 21 outcrops were identified and sampled in both primary and secondary position in the Estremadura Limestone Massif and in the Sedimentary Basin of the Tagus River. Petrographic analyses, focused mainly on the chert, were conducted at macro and microscopic scales allowing the identification of 11 distinct types based on the genetic and post-genetic characteristics of the rocks.
The sourcing study, which should be considered the first step in the reconstruction of the chaîne opératoire gives a spatial dimension to technological organization at Gruta da Oliveira. Among the archaeological material, a total of 3071 lithic artifacts typologically and technologically classified, six genetic types of chert were identified, through petrographical study at a macroscopical scale.
Combined with the data from the geological samples, the artifact analysis showed that two kinds of raw material procurement were in existence. Quartz and quartzite, especially the "fine grained" materials, occur locally. The chert comes from a 30 km radius. Some occurs locally, but it was mostly collected at sources located at least 15 km to the southwest; one particular type of flint from the Oxfordian has its closest sources some 25 km to the northeast, along the natural corridor represented by the valley of the Nabão River.
These results, obtained through a methodological approach that hitherto remained to be applied to the sites of this region/period, provide novel insights into Neanderthal mobility, economy, and subsistence during the late Middle Paleolithic of Portugal.
Keywords: Petroarchaeology, Middle Palaeolithic, Raw material sourcing, Chert, Lusitanian Bassin
Papers by Henrique Matias
Cambridge Scholars Publishing eBooks, 2019
The flints used to produce the diagnostic Solutrean stone tools from Gruta do Caldeirão are class... more The flints used to produce the diagnostic Solutrean stone tools from Gruta do Caldeirão are classified, their geological and geographical origin is determined, and results are compared with available data for three other regions of Iberia: the Côa Valley and the Sicó Massif, in Portugal, and Cantabria, in northern Spain. Three of the five Caldeirão flint types have sources less than 30 km away. Such catchment sizes are like those inferred for most silicifications found at Buraca Grande (Sicó Massif). Longdistance circulations — such as the ones recognized in some Côa Valley and Cantabrian sites — have not been identified. However, the other two Caldeirão flint types remain of unknown origin, so broader procurement ranges cannot be excluded.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Understanding mobility and landscape use is important in reconstructing subsistence behavior, ran... more Understanding mobility and landscape use is important in reconstructing subsistence behavior, range, and group size, and it may contribute to our understanding of phenomena such as the dynamics of biological and cultural interactions between distinct populations of Upper Pleistocene humans. However, studies using traditional strontium isotope analysis are generally limited to identifying locations of childhood residence or nonlocal individuals and lack the sampling resolution to detect movement over short timescales. Here, using an optimized methodology, we present highly spatially resolved 87 Sr/ 86 Sr measurements made by laser ablation multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry along the growth axis of the enamel of two marine isotope stage 5b, Middle Paleolithic Neanderthal teeth (Gruta da Oliveira), a Tardiglacial, Late Magdalenian human tooth (Galeria da Cisterna), and associated contemporaneous fauna from the Almonda karst system, Torres Novas, Portugal. Stro...
En este trabajo presentamos el estudio de las materias primas utilizadas para la talla lítica en ... more En este trabajo presentamos el estudio de las materias primas utilizadas para la talla lítica en el centro y norte de Portugal, a partir de los trabajos de identificación arqueopetrológica llevados a cabo considerando los materiales obtenidos en las diversas prospecciones sobre el terreno y su comparación con diversas series arqueológicas. El análisis ha contemplado materiales de naturaleza diversa (cuarcitas, cuarzos, sílex y silcretas). El trabajo ha permitido vincular diversas áreas fuente potenciales con determinados territorios prehistóricos.In this work we present the results of the study of the raw materials used for knapping in the centre and northern Portugal. Applying the archaeopetrological identification to lithic materials gathered in the field surveys and their comparison with prehistoric lithic assemblages. We have taken into account several lithic raw materials as: quartzite, quartz, flint and silcretes). As a result many geographical areas have been related with sev...
From an anthropological perspective, the passage from the Gravettian to the Solutrean is one of t... more From an anthropological perspective, the passage from the Gravettian to the Solutrean is one of the most interesting transition periods in Old World Prehistory. Between 22 kyr BP and 21 kyr BP, during the beginning stages of the Last Glacial Maximum, Iberia and Southwest France witness a process of substitution of a Pan-European Technocomplex—the Gravettian—to one of the first examples of regionalism by Anatomically Modern Humans in the European continent—the Solutrean. While the question of the origins of the Solutrean is almost as old as its first definition, the process under which it substituted the Gravettian started to be readdressed, both in Portugal and in France, after the mid 1990’s. Two chronological models for the transition have been advanced, but until very recently the lack of new archaeological contexts of the period, and the fact that the many of the sequences have been drastically affected by post depositional disturbances during the Lascaux event, prevented their ...
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Proceedings of the European Society for the study of Human Evolution, 2019
International audienceThe geographic and temporal diversity of Middle Paleolithic technological s... more International audienceThe geographic and temporal diversity of Middle Paleolithic technological systems remains poorly understood, due to the limited number of sites with long stratigraphic sequences associated with a reliable chronometric framework. Gruta da Oliveira [1-3] is exceptional in this regard, particularly where the early parts of the Upper Pleistocene (MIS 5 and MIS 4) are concerned. Discovered in 1989, the site was excavated until 2012 by J. Zilhão. Its 9 m-thick archeo-stratigraphic sequence is sealed by a thick colmatation breccia and the stone tool assemblages found therein are of Middle Palaeolithic technology from top to bottom. Made on flint, quartz and quartzite, these assemblages are associated with abundant faunal and microfaunal remains. Fragmentary Neandertal fossils were also found in a number of stratigraphic units.Combined with the results of radiocarbon, TL and U-series dating, stratigraphic constraints suggest that the upper part of the sequence (layers 7-12) is of MIS-3 age, its middle part (layers 13-14) of MIS-4 age, and its lower part (layers 15-27) of MIS-5 age [4-5]. In the interest of documenting diachronic techno-economic change across these phases, we present preliminary results of our ongoing work on the unpublished lithic artefacts from the sequence (>29,000 items catalogued so far, and counting). We will place special emphasis on the lower part of the sequence, for which the TL date obtained on burnt flints recovered in overlying layer 14 (77±8 ka) provides a reliable terminus ante quem. Our conclusions are based on a taphonomical critique of the archaeo-stratigraphy, based on the systematic intra-level and inter-level refitting of all quartzite artefacts (preferred over flint due their higher “phenotypic” diversity, which makes for a higher rate of success in the identification of the original nodule of provenience). The spatial distribution of the refit units (148 so far for layers 15-27, 213 so far for layers 8-13) is then used to (a) evaluate the degree of post-depositional integrity of the stratigraphic units recognized in the field and (b) define layer groupings that are meaningful for the purposes of assessing change through time.As is common in the Middle Paleolithic of Portugal, the percentage of retouched tools, mostly notches and denticulates, is very low throughout; typological analysis is therefore of little utility for the characterization of the Gruta da Oliveira assemblages.This scarcity remains to be fully understood but can be related to raw-material procurement and the economy of the débitage, ultimately determined by settlement-subsistence systems quite distinct from those documented in the Middle Paleolithic elsewhere in Western Europe. The Levallois method is well represented. Macro-tools — cleavers made on flakes, and hand-axes — are found in low numbers in layers 19-17, but they are entirely missing above and below. This pattern suggests that their production is a temporally discrete phenomenon and, hence, a distinctive feature of the late MIS 5 stone tool assemblages of the region, begging the question of their relationship with the cleaver-yielding assemblages from Northern Spain and Southwestern France, which we will discuss
The flints used to produce the diagnostic Solutrean stone tools from Gruta do Caldeirão are class... more The flints used to produce the diagnostic Solutrean stone tools from Gruta do Caldeirão are classified, their geological and geographical origin is determined, and results are compared with available data for three other regions of Iberia: the Côa Valley and the Sicó Massif, in Portugal, and Cantabria, in northern Spain. Three of the five Caldeirão flint types have sources less than 30 km away. Such catchment sizes are like those inferred for most silicifications found at Buraca Grande (Sicó Massif). Longdistance circulations — such as the ones recognized in some Côa Valley and Cantabrian sites — have not been identified. However, the other two Caldeirão flint types remain of unknown origin, so broader procurement ranges cannot be excluded.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
A identificacao recente, no Vale do Vouga, de tres sitios de habitat com amplo espectro de ocupac... more A identificacao recente, no Vale do Vouga, de tres sitios de habitat com amplo espectro de ocupacao diacronica durante o final do Paleolitico Superior, constitui uma preciosa achega para a definicao da sequencia crono-cultural do Paleolitico Superior em Portugal. Apresentamos uma analise sintetica das modalidades de producao, transformacao e utilizacao da utensilagem litica recuperada no Rodo, Vau e Bispeira 8, procedendo- -se tambem a sua comparacao com os sitios analogos da Estremadura portuguesa e do Vale do Coa para afinar a integracao crono-cultural das distintas ocupacoes humanas identificadas.
The Moita do Ourives site is located on a Quaternary terrace of the left bank of the lower Tagus.... more The Moita do Ourives site is located on a Quaternary terrace of the left bank of the lower Tagus. Quartz and quartzite are abundant in these siliciclastic deposits, and were knapped expediently to produce flakes and cobble tools. Flint sources are unknown in the left bank of the Tagus. Therefore, here, flint can be used as a proxy for regional and long distance raw‐material procurement, contributing to the understanding of the circulation routes, economy and social dynamics of the area’s prehistoric communities. Moita do Ourives yielded Upper Cenomanian flint from sources in secondary position located in the siliciclastic deposits of the right bank of the Tagus. Oxfordian flint from the Nabão river, located more than 90 km to the North, as well as jasper, where the closest known source is located to the South, in the Sado river basin, have also been identified.
In this work we present the results of the study of the raw materials used for knapping in the ce... more In this work we present the results of the study of the raw materials used for knapping in the centre and northern Portugal. Applying the archaeopetrological identification to lithic materials gathered in the field surveys and their comparison with prehistoric lithic assemblages. We have taken into account several lithic raw materials as: quartzite, quartz, fl and silcretes). As a result many geographical areas have been related with several archaeological territories.
Antiquity, 2021
Sourced from the Tyrrhenian Islands and exchanged over long distances, obsidian was used widely a... more Sourced from the Tyrrhenian Islands and exchanged over long distances, obsidian was used widely across prehistoric Western Europe. An obsidian core and bladelets from a newly discovered rockshelter site in south-eastern Spain, however, raised the possibility of an unrecognised mainland source of obsidian. EDXRF analysis of the Early Magdalenian finds from La Boja links them to a source 125km to the south-west. The artefacts were discarded during two brief activity phases at the site, indicating that obsidian procurement was integral to the technological choices of the site's users. The specificities of the technocomplex may explain the unique nature of this occurrence.
Science, 2020
Fruits of the sea The origins of marine resource consumption by humans have been much debated. Zi... more 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). Excavations at the Figueira Brava site on Portugal's Atlantic coast reveal shell middens rich in the remains of mollusks, crabs, and fish, as well as terrestrial food items. Familiarity with the sea and its resources may thus have been widespread for residents there in the Middle Paleolithic. The Figueira Brava Neanderthals also exploited stone pine nuts in a way akin to that previously identified in the Holocene of Iberia. These findings add broader dimensions to our understanding of the role of aquatic resources in the subsistence of Paleolithic humans. Science , this issue p. eaaz7943 ; see also p. 1422
Comptes Rendus Palevol, 2018
Journal of Lithic Studies, 2016
The cave site of Gruta da Oliveira is located in the Almonda karst system, at the interface betwe... more The cave site of Gruta da Oliveira is located in the Almonda karst system, at the interface between the Central Limestone Massif of Portuguese Estremadura (CLM) and the adjacent Sedimentary Basin of the River Tagus (TSB). The cave presents a stratification dated to ~37-107 ka containing hearth features, Neanderthal skeletal remains, as well as fauna, microfauna and wood charcoal remains. The lithic assemblages are large and feature a diverse range of raw materials.Knappable lithic raw materials in primary, sub-primary and secondary position in the CLM and the TSB were systematically surveyed and sampled. The characterization of the geological samples was carried out at both the macro- and the microscopic scales and data were systematized under the petroarcheological and “evolutionary chain of silica” approaches.The study of the lithic assemblage from layer 14 (dated to the ~61-93 ka 95.4% probability interval by TL) indicates that the Gruta da Oliveira Neanderthals used quartzite, q...
Journal of Lithic Studies, 2016
We present the results of the study of lithic raw materials used in Upper Palaeolithic occupation... more We present the results of the study of lithic raw materials used in Upper Palaeolithic occupations preserved in caves, rockshelters and open-air sites from two different geological environments in Portugal. For the sites located in the Lusitanian Basin, flint or silcrete sources are easily available in close vicinity. The Côa Valley sites, located in the Iberian Massif, are within a geological environment where restricted fine-grained vein quartz and siliceous metamorphic rocks are available, but no flint or silcrete, even though both are present in the archaeological assemblages. Data from the two clusters of sites are compared with a third newly located site in the Lower Vouga valley, at the limit of the Iberian Massif with the Lusitanian Basin, where quartz vein raw material types are locally available and flint is about 40 kilometres distant. This study reveals prehistoric adaptations to these different geological contexts, with shorter networks for the Lusitanian basin sites co...
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Thesis Chapters by Henrique Matias
Through an initial review of the literature, potential procurement areas were defined and surveyed. Eventually, 21 outcrops were identified and sampled in both primary and secondary position in the Estremadura Limestone Massif and in the Sedimentary Basin of the Tagus River. Petrographic analyses, focused mainly on the chert, were conducted at macro and microscopic scales allowing the identification of 11 distinct types based on the genetic and post-genetic characteristics of the rocks.
The sourcing study, which should be considered the first step in the reconstruction of the chaîne opératoire gives a spatial dimension to technological organization at Gruta da Oliveira. Among the archaeological material, a total of 3071 lithic artifacts typologically and technologically classified, six genetic types of chert were identified, through petrographical study at a macroscopical scale.
Combined with the data from the geological samples, the artifact analysis showed that two kinds of raw material procurement were in existence. Quartz and quartzite, especially the "fine grained" materials, occur locally. The chert comes from a 30 km radius. Some occurs locally, but it was mostly collected at sources located at least 15 km to the southwest; one particular type of flint from the Oxfordian has its closest sources some 25 km to the northeast, along the natural corridor represented by the valley of the Nabão River.
These results, obtained through a methodological approach that hitherto remained to be applied to the sites of this region/period, provide novel insights into Neanderthal mobility, economy, and subsistence during the late Middle Paleolithic of Portugal.
Keywords: Petroarchaeology, Middle Palaeolithic, Raw material sourcing, Chert, Lusitanian Bassin
Papers by Henrique Matias
Through an initial review of the literature, potential procurement areas were defined and surveyed. Eventually, 21 outcrops were identified and sampled in both primary and secondary position in the Estremadura Limestone Massif and in the Sedimentary Basin of the Tagus River. Petrographic analyses, focused mainly on the chert, were conducted at macro and microscopic scales allowing the identification of 11 distinct types based on the genetic and post-genetic characteristics of the rocks.
The sourcing study, which should be considered the first step in the reconstruction of the chaîne opératoire gives a spatial dimension to technological organization at Gruta da Oliveira. Among the archaeological material, a total of 3071 lithic artifacts typologically and technologically classified, six genetic types of chert were identified, through petrographical study at a macroscopical scale.
Combined with the data from the geological samples, the artifact analysis showed that two kinds of raw material procurement were in existence. Quartz and quartzite, especially the "fine grained" materials, occur locally. The chert comes from a 30 km radius. Some occurs locally, but it was mostly collected at sources located at least 15 km to the southwest; one particular type of flint from the Oxfordian has its closest sources some 25 km to the northeast, along the natural corridor represented by the valley of the Nabão River.
These results, obtained through a methodological approach that hitherto remained to be applied to the sites of this region/period, provide novel insights into Neanderthal mobility, economy, and subsistence during the late Middle Paleolithic of Portugal.
Keywords: Petroarchaeology, Middle Palaeolithic, Raw material sourcing, Chert, Lusitanian Bassin
By the analysis of the recovered assets (exploitation and debitage debris, briefly formed nodules, core preforms, few finished instruments and few fragments of ceramic vessels), as well as by the definition of the geological context in which they are inserted – namely, upper Cenomanian limestones (Cretacious), rich in siliceous nodules –, both sites were interpreted as spaces dedicated to a specific activity in the Prehistory of ancient peasant communities (Neolithic and Calcolithic).
Apparently, these are flint «mines» at open air, where there is registered the exploitation of raw materials in the exposed limestone benches and the occasional production of flaked stone instruments – using exclusively flint stone.
Pedreira do Aires is located in the bottom of a hill, at the confluence of two watercourses, close to limestone outcrop. The recovered artefacts can be related to a Neolithic period, without further specification. The immediate archaeological context includes several megalithic monuments (dolmen type) and a height settlement poorly characterized. Monte das Pedras is located in the extreme of a large platform, on a limestone bench, in which was identified possible areas of surface exploration and production of artefacts. The recovered artefacts are related to Early Neolithic, Late Neolithic and Calcolithic periods. The immediate archaeological context includes several megalithic monuments (dolmen, rock cut caves and tholos type) and several neolithic and calcolithic settlements.
Thus, they can be characterized as small seasonal campsites located in the sphere of influence of a larger settlement – fact that is more evident in Monte das Pedras – included in a complex population network, outlining specific models/patterns of space occupation and resources exploitation.
By so, it is established the relationship with other contextually similar sites, setting up the strategies for the flint exploitation during the fourth and third millennia before our Era in Lisbon peninsula.
Com base nas prospecções realizadas no sector setentrional da bacia lusitaniana, apresentamos um inventário das fontes de sílex primárias e secundárias. A comparação com os dados arqueológicos permite-nos reconstituir os espaços geográficos de difusão das diferentes fontes de sílex ao longo do Paleolítico médio e superior. São finalmente apresentadas as perspectivas da aplicação desta metodologia às outras categorias de rochas siliciosas.
Conquanto esteja ainda em fase preliminar, está já no entanto estabelecida uma análise biorientada entre os sílices arqueológicos e o referencial geológico — que será amostrado no âmbito de prospeções a desenvolver na região — do ponto de vista macro e microscópico (usando-se para o efeito uma lupa binocular até x45 e um microscópio petrográfico até x200).
Através da determinação da origem dos produtos que circulam, será possível estabelecer padrões de aprovisionamento, mobilidade e circulação das matérias‐primas. Assim, o cruzamento destes dados com outros já obtidos, nomeadamente a mobilidade humana que se inferiu das análises de estrôncio (87Sr/86Sr) contido nos respetivos restos osteológicos, considera-se de extrema importância de modo a obter informação sobre a relação do Homem com o seu meio natural durante aquele período pré-histórico, tanto do ponto de vista da sua gestão como do território percorrido.
Combined with the results of radiocarbon, TL and U-series dating, stratigraphic constraints suggest that the upper part of the sequence (layers 7-12) is of MIS-3 age, its middle part (layers 13-14) of MIS-4 age, and its lower part (layers 15-27) of MIS-5 age [4-5]. In the interest of documenting diachronic techno-economic change across these phases, we present preliminary results of our ongoing work on the unpublished lithic artefacts from the sequence (>29,000 items catalogued so far, and counting). We will place special emphasis on the lower part of the sequence, for which the TL date obtained on burnt flints recovered in overlying layer 14 (77±8 ka) provides a reliable terminus ante quem. Our conclusions are based on a taphonomical critique of the archaeo-stratigraphy, based on the systematic intra-level and inter-level refitting of all quartzite artefacts (preferred over flint due their higher “phenotypic” diversity, which makes for a higher rate of success in the identification of the original nodule of provenience). The spatial distribution of the refit units (148 so far for layers 15-27, 213 so far for layers 8-13) is then used to (a) evaluate the degree of post-depositional integrity of the stratigraphic units recognized in the field and (b) define layer groupings that are meaningful for the purposes of assessing change through time.
As is common in the Middle Paleolithic of Portugal, the percentage of retouched tools, mostly notches and denticulates, is very low throughout; typological analysis is therefore of little utility for the characterization of the Gruta da Oliveira assemblages. This scarcity remains to be fully understood but can be related to raw-material procurement and the economy of the débitage, ultimately determined by settlement-subsistence systems quite distinct from those documented in the Middle Paleolithic elsewhere in Western Europe. The Levallois method is well represented. Macro-tools — cleavers made on flakes, and hand-axes — are found in low numbers in layers 19-17, but they are entirely missing above and below. This pattern suggests that their production is a temporally discrete phenomenon and, hence, a distinctive feature of the late MIS 5 stone tool assemblages of the region, begging the question of their relationship with the cleaver-yielding assemblages from Northern Spain and Southwestern France, which we will discuss.