The Bom Santo Cave (Lisbon, Portugal): Catchment, Diet, and Patterns of Mobility of a Middle Neolithic Population

Faustino Carvalho, A.; Alves Cardoso, F.; Gonçalves, D.; Granja, R.; Cardoso, J.L.; Dean, R.; Gibaja, J.F.; Masucci, M.; Arroyo-Pardo, E.; Fernández-Domínguez, E.; Petchey, F.; Price, T.D.; Mateus, J.; Queiroz, P.F.; Callapez, P.; Pimenta, C.; Regala, F.T.

Abstract

The study of the Bom Santo Cave (central Portugal), a Neolithic cemetery, indicates a complex social, palaeoeconomic, and population scenario. With isotope, aDNA, and provenance, analyses of raw materials coupled with stylistic variability of material culture items and palaeogeographical data, light is shed on the territory and social organization of a population dated to 3800–3400 cal BC, i.e. the Middle Neolithic. Results indicate an itinerant farming, segmentary society, where exogamic practices were the norm. Its lifeway may be that of the earliest megalithic builders of the region, but further research is needed to correctly evaluate the degree of this community's participation in such a phenomenon.

Citation

Faustino Carvalho, A., Alves Cardoso, F., Gonçalves, D., Granja, R., Cardoso, J., Dean, R., …Regala, F. (2017). The Bom Santo Cave (Lisbon, Portugal): Catchment, Diet, and Patterns of Mobility of a Middle Neolithic Population. European Journal of Archaeology, 19(2), 187-214. https://doi.org/10.1179/1461957115y.0000000014

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 18, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Jan 20, 2017
• Publication Date: Jan 20, 2017
• Deposit Date: Oct 9, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 25, 2017
• Journal: European Journal of Archaeology
• Print ISSN: 1461-9571
• Electronic ISSN: 1741-2722
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 19
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 187-214
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1179/1461957115y.0000000014