Late Middle Pleistocene Occupations and Adaptations at Almonda, Estremadura, Portugal

Recently, in the Estremadura of Portugal, near Torres Novas, two Middle Pleistocene assemblages were discovered in a karstic setting (Marks et al. 1999). Brecha das Lascas, situated on a terrace, and Galeria Pesada, a collapsed cave, provide one of the only examples of in-situ Lower/Middle Paleolithic occupations with good faunal preservation and absolute dates.

Excavations took place from 1997-2002, revealing a complex stratigraphy and an abundance of lithic and faunal artifacts.  Analyses are ongoing, and a monograph is currently being produced.

Location of Galeria Pesada, together with other Iberian Lower/Middle Paleolithic assemblages

Within the Portuguese Estremadura, Almonda is a fault-structured cliff to the southwest of the Serras de Aire, one of the larger mountain ranges in Central Portugal.  A number of buried Paleolithic localities have recently been discovered from the interior karstic system by speleologists from the Torrejana de Espeleologia e Arqueologia.  After extrapolating its collapsed opening outwards onto the cliff face, Galeria Pesada was discovered after removing some 70 cubic meters of breccia and large limestone blocks.  Also, a partially eroded, artifact-rich complex of breccias, Brecha das Lascas, was exposed just to the west of the Galeria Pesada (Marks, Monigal, and Chabai 1999).

Both sites are characterized by a predominance of bifacial tools (including bifaces, foliates, and bifacial preforms), unifacial scrapers, and simple retouched pieces (Marks, Chabai, and Monigal in press).  The well-preserved faunal remains are typical of the Middle Pleistocene.  At Brecha das Lascas, eight geological units were identified, with two clear bone and artifact layers.  A probable true occupation occurs at the base of the deposits, which included crude bifaces and choppers on cobbles, and unifacial tools including well made denticulates and sidescrapers, a few notches, and some pointed implements.  Faunal remains are abundant in the Brecha das Lascas deposits, and include primarily horse (Marks, Monigal, and Chabai 1999).  An equid tooth recovered from the breccia has provided a preliminary date, based on gamma dose rate measured in the filed.  The ESR Early Uptake age is 193,000, while the Linear Uptake model's age is 281,000.  A Middle Pleistocene date from Brecha das Lascas is consistent with both the stone artifacts, and the presence of numerous archaic animal species, including horse (an Equus sp. of relatively large size and archaic tooth morphology) and deer (Cervus elaphus ssp.) of a larger size than the Upper Pleistocene variety, as well as two Middle Pleistocene small mammal species (Microtus brecciensis  and Allocricetus bursae) (Ibid.).

Excavations in the interior of Galeria Pesada

Profile of north wall, Galeria Pesada 2000.

Several archaeological layers have been revealed at Galleria Pesada, yielding both stone artifacts and well preserved faunal remains.  More tools seem to be found in the lower layers, which are characterized by a predominance of bifacial tools (including bifaces, foliates, and bifacial preforms), unifacial scrapers, and simple retouched pieces.  Abundant Middle Pleistocene mega- and micro-fauna has been recovered, and many of the megafauna have clear traces of cut marks and impact marks (Marks, Chabai, and Monigal 2003).  While the possibility that some of the animals in the cave were deposited through a natural chimney, which has not yet been supported with the evidence, the low percentage of carnivore remains, an absence of hyaenid species, and the limited bone damage from wolf sized-animals, all indicate probable active acquisition (hunting) by hominids for most of the Cervids and Equids.

Selected Publications

Marks, A. E., K. Monigal, and V. Chabai

1999    Report on the initial excavations of Brecha das Lascas and Galeria Pesada (Almonda, Portuguese Estremadura). Journal of Iberian Archaeology 1: 237-243.

Marks, A.E., et al.

2002 Le gisement Pleistocene moyen de Galeria Pesada (Estremadure, Portugal): Premires resultats. PALEO N° 14 - Décembre 2002 - Sommaire et résumés

Marks, A. E., V. Chabai, and K. Monigal

2003 Report of Activities at Brecha das Lascas and Galeria Pesada: 1999 Field Season. Journal of Iberian Archaeology.

Trinkaus, E., Marks AE, Brugal JP, Bailey SE, Rink WJ, Richter D.

2003 Later Middle Pleistocene human remains from the Almonda Karstic system, Torres Novas, Portugal. J Hum Evol. Sep;45(3):219-26.