Abstract
In this chapter, I provide an overview of Portuguese Upper Paleolithic projectile points made from mammal bone and red deer antler. These artefacts were recovered from nine archaeological sites, located in two geographic regions: Estremadura and Algarve. The majority of the Upper Paleolithic osseous assemblages from Portugal come from old excavations, and as early studies of the points are rare or only preliminary in nature, our understanding of this industry in Portugal is poorly understood. Consequently, this chapter will address morphologic and functional variability of the Portuguese technology, and focus on several aspects including fracture and stigmata patterns remaining from their manufacture and use. As a preliminary conclusion, it appears that these osseous projectile points share features with similar others from the Southern Iberian region.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Almeida, F., Angelucci, D., Gameiro, C., Correia, J., & Pereira, T. (2004). Novos dados para o Paleolítico Superior Final da Estremadura Portuguesa: resultados preliminares dos trabalhos arqueológicos de 1997–2002 na Lapa dos Coelhos (Casais Martanes, Torres Novas). Promontória, 2(2), 157–192.
Angelucci, D. E. (2002). The Geoarcheological Context. Portrait of the Artist as a Child. The Gravettian human skeleton from the Abrigo do Lagar Velho and its Archeological Context. Trabalhos de Arqueologia, 22, 58–91.
Asquerino Fernández, M. D., & Riquelme Cantal, J. A. (2005). Aproximación al aprovechamiento faunístico de mamíferos en el yacimento de Paleolítico Superior de “El Pirulejo”. In La Cuenca Mediterránea durante el Paleolítico Superior. IV Simposio de Prehistoria, Cueva de Nerja (pp. 256–271). Nerja.
Aubry, T., Fontugne, M., & Moura, M. H. (1997). Les occupations de la Grotte de Buraca Grande depuis le Paleolithique Supérieur et les apports de la séquence holocène a l’étude de la transition Mésolithique/Néolithique au Portugal. Bulletin de La Société Préhistorique Française, 94(2), 182–190.
Aubry, T., & Moura, M.H. (1993). Nouvelles donnes sur les occupations paleolithiques de la region de Rendinha (Serra de Sicó, Portugal). Coimbra, Portugal: Separata da 3ª Reunião do Quaternário Ibérico 439–449.
Aubry, T., & Moura, M. H. (1994). Paleolítico da Serra de Sicó. Trabalhos de Antropologia e Etnologia (Vol. XXXIV, Fasc. 3–4). Porto, Portugal: Actas do 1º Congresso de Arqueologia Peninsular, SPAE 43–60.
Aubry, T., Moura, M. H., & Zilhão, J. (1992). Dados preliminares sobre a organização estratigráfica da Buraca Grande do Vale do Poio Novo (Redinha), Memórias e Noticias. Publicações do Museu e Laboratório Mineralógico e Geológico, 114, 119–132.
Aura Tortosa, J. E., & Pérez Herrero, C. (1998). Micropuntas dobles o anzuelos? Una propuesta de estudio a partir de los materiales de la Cueva de Nerja (Málaga). In J. L. Sanchidrián Torti & M. D. Simón Vallejo (Eds.), Las Culturas del Pleistoceno Superior en Andalucía (pp. 339–348). Nerja, Spain: Patronato de la Cueva de Nerja.
Bertrand, A. (1999). Les armatures de sagaies Magdaléniennes en matière dure animal dans les Pyrénées. British Archaeological Reports International Series 773. Oxford: Archaeopress.
Bicho, N. F. (2000). Revisão Crítica dos conhecimentos actuais do Paleolítico Superior Português. Proccedings of the 3° Peninsular Archaeology Congress (Vol. II, pp. 425–442). Porto, Portugal: ADECAP
Bicho, N. F. (2005). The extinction of Neanderthals and the emergence of the Upper Paleolithic in Portugal. Promontória, 3, 174–228.
Bicho, N., & Cardoso, J. L. (2010). Paleolithic occupations and lithic assemblages from Furninha Cave, Peniche (Portugal) (pp. 17–38). LXVI: Zephyrus.
Bicho, N., Haws, J., & Hockett, B. (2006). Two sides of the same coin—rocks, bones and site function of Picareiro Cave, central Portugal. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 25, 485–499.
Bicho, N., Manne, T., Marreiros, J., Cascalheira, J., Pereira, T., Tátá, F., et al. (2013). The ecodynamics of the first modern humans in Southwestern Iberia: The case of Vale Boi, Portugal. Quaternary International, 318, 102–116.
Bicho, N., Stiner, M., & Lindly, J. (2004). Shell ornaments, bone tools and long distance connections in the Upper Paleolithic of Southern Portugal. In M. Otte (Ed.), La Spiritualité (pp. 71–80). Liège, Belgium: Université de Liège, ERAUL 106.
Cardoso, J. L. (1993). Contribuição para o conhecimento dos grandes mamíferos do Plistocénico Superior de Portugal. Oeiras, Portugal: Câmara Municipal de Oeiras.
Cardoso, J. L., & Gomes, M. V. (1994). Zagaias do Paleolítico Superior de Portugal. Portvgalia, Nova Série, XV, 07–31.
Chauviére, F. X. (2002). Industries et parures sur matières dures animales du Paléolithique Supérieur de la grotte de Caldeirão (Tomar, Portugal). Revista Portuguesa de Arqueologia, 5, 05–28.
d’Errico, F., & Giacobini, G. (1985). Approche methodologique de l’analyse de l’outillage osseaux, un exemple d’étude. L’Anthropologie, 89, 457–472.
Davis, S. J. M. (2002). The mammals and birds from the Gruta do Caldeirão, Portugal. Revista Portuguesa de Arqueologia, 5, 29–98.
Évora, M. A. (2008). Artefactos em haste e em osso do Paleolítico Superior Português. Promontória, 6, 9–50.
Évora, M. A. (2013). Osseous industry and exploitation of animal resources in Southern Iberia during the Upper Palaeolithic. Quaternary International, 318, 35–45.
Feruglio, V., & Buisson, D. (1999). Accolements de pièces à section demi-ronde. In M. Julien, A. Averbouh, D. Ramseyer, C. Bellier, D. Buisson, P. Cattelain, et al. (Eds.), Préhistoire d’Os. Recueil d’etudes sur l’industrie osseuse préhistorique (pp. 143–149). Aix-en-Provence, France: Publications de l’Université de Provence.
Haws, J., Funk, C. L., Benedetti, M. M., Bicho, N. F., Daniels, J. M., Minckley, T. A., et al. (2011). Paleolithic Landscapes and Seascapes of the West Coast of Portugal. In N. Bicho, J. A. Haws, & L. G. Davis (Eds.), Trekking the shore. Changing coastlines and the antiquity of coastal settlement (pp. 203–246). Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology. New York: Springer.
Julien, M. (1999). Une tendence créatrice au Magdalénian: À propos de stries d’adhérence sur quelques harpons. In M. Julien, A. Averbouh, D. Ramseyer, C. Bellier, D. Buisson, P. Cattelain, M. Pathou-Mathis, & N. Provenzano (Eds.), Préhistoire d’os. Recueil d’etudes sur l’industrie osseuse préhistorique (pp. 133–142). Aix-en-Provence, France: Publications de l’Université de Provence.
LeMoine, G. (1999). Skeletal technology in context: an optimistic overview. In A. M. Choyke & L. Bartosiewicz (Eds.), Crafting bone: Skeletal technologies through time and space, Proceeding of the 2nd meeting of the (ICAZ) worked bone research group (BAR International Series 937). Oxford, England: J. and E. Hedges. 1–7.
Manne, T. (2010). Upper Paleolithic foraging decisions and early economic intensification at Vale Boi, Southwestern Portugal. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Arizona.
Manne, T., Cascalheira, J., Évora, M., Marreiros, J., & Bicho, N. (2012). Intensive subsistence practices at Vale Boi, an Upper Paleolithic site in southwestern Portugal. Quaternary International, 264, 83–99.
Marks, A., Bicho, N., Zilhão, J., & Ferring, C. R. (1994). Upper pleistocene prehistory in Portuguese Estremadura: Results of preliminary research. Journal of Field Archaeology, 21, 53–68.
Moura, M. H., & Aubry, T. (1995). A Pré-História Recente da Serra de Sicó. Trabalhos de Antropologia e Etnologia, Actas do 1° Congresso de Arqueologia Peninsular (Vol. XXXV, Fasc. 3). Porto, Portugal: SPAE. 113–132.
Pétillon, J.-M. (2006). Des Magdaleniens en armes. Technologie des armatures de projectile en bois de cervidés du Magdalénien Superieur de la Grotte D’Isturitz (Pyrénées-Atlantiques). Treignes, Belgium: Editions du CEDARC.
Salgueiro, E., Voelker, A. H. L., Abreu, L., Abrantes, F., Meggers, H., & Wefer, G. (2010). Temperature and productivity changes off the western Iberian margin during the last 150 ky. Quaternary Science Reviews, 29, 680–695.
Straus, L. G., Altuna, J., Jackes, M., & Kunst, M. (1988). New excavations in Casa da Moura (Serra D’El Rei, Peniche) and at the Abrigos de Bocas (Rio Maior), Portugal. Arqueologia, 18, 65–95.
Yravedra Sainz de los Terreros, J. (2001a). Zooarquelogía de la Península Ibérica. Implicaciones tafonómicas y paleoecológicas en el debate de los homínidos del Pleistoceno Medio-Superior. British Archaeological Reports International Series 979. Oxford: Hadrian Books Ltd.
Yravedra Sainz de los Terreros, J. (2001b). La subsistencia en el Paleolítico Superior inicial en la región mediterránea de la Península Ibérica. Alcoi, Spain: Recerques del Museo d’Alcoi, Núm. 10. 7–16.
Villaverde Bonilla, V., Román, D., Pérez Ripoll, M., Mercè Bergadà, M., & Real, C. (2012). The end of the Upper Palaeolithic in the Mediterranean Basin of the Iberian Peninsula. Quaternary International, 272–273, 17–32.
Villaverde, V., Aura, J. E., Borao, M., & Roman, D. (2016). Upper palaeolithic bone and Antler projectiles in the Spanish Mediterranean Region: The Magdalenian period. In M. C. Langley (Ed.), Osseous projectile weaponry: Towards an understanding of Pleistocene cultural variability (pp. 109–130). Dordrecht: Springer.
Villaverde, V., Aura, J. E., & Barton, C. M. (1998). The Upper Paleolithic in Mediterranean Spain: a review of current evidence. Journal of World Prehistory, 12, 121–198.
Zilhão, J. (1992). A Gruta do Caldeirão. O Neolítico Antigo. Trabalhos de Arqueologia 6. Lisboa, Portugal: IPPAR.
Zilhão, J. (1995). O Paleolítico Superior da Estremadura Portuguesa. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Universidade de Lisboa.
Zilhão, J., & Almeida, F. (2002). The Archeological Framework. Portrait of the Artist as a Child. The Gravettian human skeleton from the Abrigo do Lagar Velho and its Archeological Context. Trabalhos de Arqueologia, 22, 29–57.
Acknowledgments
I wish to thank all the people and Institutions who gave me the opportunity to study the osseous projectile points from the Upper Paleolithic archaeological sites in Portugal: N. Bicho, J. L. Cardoso, T. Aubry, F. Almeida, L. Raposo (Museu Nacional de Arqueologia, Lisbon), M. Ramalho (Museu Geológico, Lisbon) and J. Zilhão. I thank Nuno Bicho for his comments and for reviewing the manuscript. I also thank Célia Gonçalves for providing the map of Iberian Peninsula. I would like to thank Thierry Aubry and Jaime Abrunhosa for providing the images of a projectile point from Buraca Grande . I also thank the two anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions to the manuscript. All images were photographed by M.A. Évora except when mention otherwise.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Évora, M.A. (2016). A Review of the Osseous Projectile Points from the Upper Paleolithic of Portugal. In: Langley, M. (eds) Osseous Projectile Weaponry. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-0899-7_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-0899-7_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-024-0897-3
Online ISBN: 978-94-024-0899-7
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)