3 research outputs found
Records of human occupation from Pleistocene river terrace and aeolian sediments in the Arneiro depression (Lower Tejo River, central eastern Portugal)
The earliest Pleistocene archaeological sites in western Iberia: present evidences and research prospects
Archaeological evidence for the earliest human presence in western Iberia is summarised and discussed.
Western Iberia is geologically characterised by magmatic and metamorphic rocks (Hesperian Massif) but
also by siliciclastic and carbonate Mesozoic and Cenozoic formations. The geological context affects the
distribution of Pleistocene archaeological sites, as the most of the archaeological evidence known today
is located in river terrace formations or in karst deposits. Very few sites have been fully investigated; the
older ones are tentatively dated as middle/late Middle Pleistocene. Recent results have been obtained
using an archaeological and geomorphological approach carried out in the Portuguese region of Alto
Ribatejo. Dating of the lithic assemblages found in fluvial terraces or in cave deposits indicates that the
first human presence in Portugal is not older than the OIS 8–9. However, it remains difficult to explain
the long chronological gap between the archaeological evidences in western Iberia and the older sites in
central and eastern Iberia, such as those in the Sierra de Atapuerca and Guadix Baxa areas
Novos dados crono- estratigr\ue0ficos e paleo- ambientais no Alto Ribatejo , paper presented at the Iberian Congress, 23-26 September 1999
Si descrivono le indagini svolte nell'alto Ribatejo (Portogallo) sotto la guida dell'Istituto Politecnico di Toma