0034 - Collaboration with project of archaeogenetics

Auroch horn from Neolithic pit 48 of Perdigões

The project Perdigões PTDC/EPH-ARQ/0798/2014 – MOBINTER - "Mobility and interaction in South Portugal Recent Prehistory: the role of aggregation centers” is collaborating with the project ARCHAIC. The archaeogenetics Of Iberian Cattle: investigating their origins, evolution and improvement” (see information here: http://archaic.campus.ciencias.ulisboa.pt/Archaic/home.html).

In this context sixty samples (30 of Bos taurus – domestic cattle -and 30 of Bos primigenius – auroch) will be selected for DNA analysis from Neolithic and Chalcolithic contexts of Perdigões. 

0033 - New master thesis on Perdigões

In October 18th, a new master thesis on Perdigões enclosures was presented: 

“Exploring Chalcolithic diet and mobility of humans and animals from Perdigões site”, by Indre Zalaite.

It was presented at University of Évora, in ARCHMAT program (ERASMUS MUNDUS MASTER IN ARCHaeological MATerials Science) and was also part of the project on mobility at Perdigões enclosures (see here) approved and financed by the Portuguese Science Foundation.

It is a first output of that project, which results will soon be published, product of the collaboration of the three institutions involved in the project integrated in the Global Program of Archaeological Research of Perdigões: ERA Arqueologia, Hércules Laboratory – Uévora and ICArEHB-UAlg. Center.

0032 - Perdigões and mobility research

Ditched enclosures, namely the large ones, are some of the best contexts to developed research on mobility, for they congregate numerous evidences of interaction and movement of people, animals and objects.

At an Iberian scale, Perdigões is now one of the main sites where this research is being developed.

There is a Portuguese Science Foundation project dedicated to this specific topic: “Mobility and interaction in South Portugal Recent Prehistory: the role of aggregation centers”. In this project participate the research unit of ERA Arqueologia, the research centre ICArEHB of university of Algarve and the laboratory Hércules of Évora University.

But this research has a wider projection, for this project is in articulated collaboration with several others related to the same topic.

We also integrate the project “Beyond migration and diffusion: peoples and technologies in prehistory”, financed by the Australian Research Council, and involve Era Arqueologia, the Australian National University, Griffith University and the Centro Nacional de Investigatión sobre l Evolución Humana. The goal will be research and compare mobility patterns between Prehistoric Iberia and the Pacific Islands.

Furthermore, we are establishing a partnership in this topic with another FCT project: “Beaker origins: Testing the hypothesis of late Neolithic dispersals from Iberia using both ancient and contemporary mitochondrial genomes” developed by Minho University with the collaboration of the doctoral scholarship programme at Huddersfield University (UK) entitled Genetic Journeys into History: The Next Generation (running 2015–2020).

Finally, we are engaged in other projects in phase of application, namely two on diets and mobility of animals in Iberia and another that will join the European Atlantic façade, “6,000 years of Farmers and Food: Reconnecting Atlantic Heritage” (working title), that will join institution from Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England, France, Portugal and Spain.

The participation of Perdigões complex of enclosures in all these projects, some of them already with preliminary results, puts it in a unique position (in Iberian terms) in the context of the actual focus of research in mobility in Prehistory at an international level.

But this is the result of the way the Global Program of Research of Perdigões was conceived and is being developed.

031 - Two new papers about Perdigões

0030 - Perdigões at Wood Conference

In a very profitable collaboration with Hercules Laboratory of Évora University, several archaeometric projects are being developed in order to provide answers to the main problems that are being researched at Perdigões by the Nia team. In the present case we are dealing with the funerary contexts of cremated human remains and trying to know what kind of wood was used for the cremations and what temperature was achieved by analysing the charcoal remains. A poster with the first results will be presented at the meeting “Wood and Charcoal” to be held at Minho University this month.

Here is the title of our collaboration:

Random gathering or intentional wood selection? Charcoal analysis of pit 16 deposit from Perdigões archaeological site

Ginevra Coradeschi, Cristina Dias, Fernando Branco, Laura Sadori and Antonio Valera

0029 - New collaborations

Perdigões is still enlarging its range of scientific collaborations. We are now starting a partnership with the project “Beaker origins: Testing the hypothesis of late Neolithic dispersals from Iberia using both ancient and contemporary mitochondrial genomes”,  a Portuguese Science Foudation financed project from Minho University (Environmental and Molecular Biology Center), and with a PhD thesis being made in the context of the Leverhulme Trust doctoral scholarship programme at Huddersfield University entitled Genetic Journeys into History: The Next Generation (running 2015–2020).

Meanwhile, a synthesis about the Bell Beaker phenomena at Perdigões will be presented at a meeting to be held in the University of Lisbon next May.  

0028 - New publication

0027 Ehxibition about Perdigões: the posters

For those who cannot visit the exhibition fo Perdigões in Évora here are the poster that go along with the archaeological materials.

0026 - Perdigões: Conference, Workshop, Exhibition

 

A conference about de global research program of Perdigões, followed by a workshop about that research and public display strategies and the inauguration of an archaeological exhibition will be occur in February 11^th in Évora, in the Direcção Regional de Cultura.

Here is the detailed program (starting at 15.00):

 

Conference:

“Perdigões: a síntese de 18 anos de investigação de um sítio de excepção.”  António Carlos Valera

 

Workshop (16.30 – 17.30):

A divulgação dos Perdigões: limitações e potencialidades.

Miguel Lago

 

O arquivo antropológico dos Perdigões: avaliação a partir do caso de estudo do sepulcro 1.

Lucy Shaw Evangelista

 

O registo faunístico nos Perdigões: os dados que resultam de 15 000 ossos já estudados.

Claúdia Costa

 

A investigação dos recintos de fossos em Portugal: razões da excepcionalidade dos Perdigões.

António Carlos Valera

 

 

Exhibition inauguration.



0025 – Manipulations of human bones at Perdigões

There is new information about the manipulation of human remains at Perdigões enclosures that will be published in a paper during 2016.

Here is a glimpse into the new data: a skull from a child that presents marks that probably resulted from scalping.