Northwest Iberia

RESUMO
Apresentamos neste artigo objetivos, metodologia e alguns resultados preliminares do trabalho que, desde
2019, temos vindo a desenvolver no âmbito da nossa tese de Mestrado. Concretamente, fazemos um resumo
da primeira fase do estudo, que incidiu na classificação da coleção de cerâmica comum proveniente dos níveis
ocupacionais alto-medievais do arqueossítio da rua de D. Hugo, nº 5, localizado em pleno centro histórico da
cidade do Porto.

ABSTRACT
In the following article, we present the objectives, methodology, and preliminary results of the work that,
since 2019, we have been developing in the context of our Master’s thesis. Concretely, we summarize the first
phase of this work, which focused on the classification of the coarse ware assemblage collected from the Early
Medieval strata of the “Rua de D. Hugo, No. 5” archaeological site, located in the historic centre of the city
of Porto.

By an updated analysis of the archaeological information concerning the Bronze Age statuary in Northwestern Iberian Peninsula, we make a typological classification; we also explain geographic and iconographic relations between different specimens and groups; in addition we explore their possible social and historical senses; and finally, we provide a context for this statuary within a social and historical process in the long term which result in the generalization of a hillfort-type model of settlement in the beginnings of the Early Iron Age, and throughout which develops the “public” promotion of social identities or personhood linked to elements of body adornment, dress and, especially, metallic weaponry, as a mechanism aimed at the reproduction of social order by increasingly territorialized communities.

La excavación en 2005 del castro de Punta de Muros
(Arteixo, A Coruña), también conocido como Castro do
Cociñadoiro, supuso un gran impacto a todos los niveles
de la arqueología gallega, no solo por las circunstancias
que trajo consigo la intervención, sino por los resultados
ofrecidos por la misma. Este asentamiento, situado
en pleno litoral atlántico, presentaba unas características
inusuales para un castro del Hierro I del Noroeste, como
pueden ser la organización de su entramado urbanístico,
las características de algunas estructuras o su intensa producción
metalúrgica.
Ante un asentamiento aparentemente novedoso en
su contexto, resulta necesario plantearse ciertas cuestiones:
¿hasta qué punto podemos considerarlo un asentamiento
excepcional? ¿Sus particularidades se limitan a
meras diferenciaciones tipológicas y materiales, o podemos
rastrear distintas intencionalidades sociales respecto
a otros asentamientos? ¿De qué forma se integra en los
procesos históricos sincrónicos de su entorno? Este tipo
de interrogantes resultan esenciales para poder valorar la
excepcionalidad de este asentamiento dentro de su contexto
histórico y arqueológico.
Con estos planteamientos, nuestra intención es componer
un análisis individualizado del castro costero de
Punta de Muros, y elaborar un estudio comparativo de
diversas características (entre otros: estructuración urbanística,
arquitectura doméstica, obtención y procesamiento
de materias primas) en confrontación con el resto
de asentamientos conocidos del Hierro I en el Noroeste
peninsular. Nuestro objetivo será ponderar las posibles
diferencias entre los distintos poblados para valorar la excepcionalidad
del castro de Cociñadoiro y considerar si
presenta diferencias tangibles respecto al resto de comunidades
coetáneas, con la intención de sentar las bases de
estudios posteriores que diluciden la organización social y
las estrategias de las comunidades prehistóricas que ocuparon
Punta de Muros.

Las modificaciones que se experimentan en el noroeste peninsular con la instauración del urbanismo castreño afectarán a las interacciones establecidas entre el ser humano y su entorno natural y antrópico. A partir de la descripción y el análisis de estas transformaciones se propondrán una serie de consecuencias que incidirán en la construcción de un nuevo pensamiento simbólico que, en líneas generales, se mantendrá vigente a lo largo de la Edad del Hierro.
The modifications experienced in the peninsular northwest with the establishment of urban planning of the hillfort settlement will affect the interactions established between the humans and their natural and anthropic environment. From the description and analysis of these transformations we'll propose a series of consequences that will affect the construction of a new symbolic thought that will generally remain in force throughout the Iron Age.

In this paper, we deal with the locational analysis of the Cova Eirós site (Triacastela, Lugo), occupied from the Middle Palaeolithic to the present. From GIS and statistics, we intend to approach those environmental factors that define its importance as a place of occupation over time and on a recurring basis. Once we have analysed the variables that characterize the site’s patterns of use, we have verified that Cova Eirós is an important, prominent and strategic point. The place is very close to the potential transit routes and has great visibility. It is also protected and set on a steep slope. Moreover, the site has hunting resources and raw materials sources nearby. So it is a settlement that presents ideal living conditions for hunter-gatherer groups.

A convite e ponderação de ambas as partes (o signatário deste relatório, a presidência da Câmara Municipal de Vila do Conde e o Gabinete de Arqueologia da mesma) foi acordado em Agosto de 2018 que o signatário deste relatório pudesse estudar o material indígena proveniente das escavações na Cividade de Bagunte dos anos 2009, 2011 e 2015.
Com efeito, foram apresentados os resultados da investigação de uma amostra da cerâmica proveniente das campanhas de escavação dos anos já referidos.

Fábregas Valcarce, R.; de Lombera-Hermida, A.; Viñas Vallverdú, R.; Rodríguez-Álvarez, X.P.; Figueiredo, S.S. (2015): Throwing light on the hidden corners. New data on Paleolithic art from NW Iberia. In: Primitiva Bueno Ramírez, Paul G. Bahn (Eds). Prehistoric Art as Prehistoric Culture. Studies in Honour of Professor Rodrigo de Balbín-Behrmann. Archaeopress: 171-180.

São poucos os lugares de arte rupestre conhecidos na bacia do rio Cávado. Tornando-se crucial a divulgação de sítios inéditos, são apresentados novos dados relativos a lugares com gravuras rupestres no concelho de Barcelos, distrito de Braga. Considerado como a representação clássica de Arte Atlântica, o complexo da Quinta de Paranho conjuga círculos concêntricos, círculos segmentados e covinhas.
Motivo raro nesta área geográfica, a representação de um possível equídeo, surge no corpo da capela de Santiago de Moldes. Por fim, em Campo de Moinhos ocorre a representação de outro raro motivo, uma mão com antebraço. Entre outras considerações, os dados revelam uma ampla tradição na gravação de afloramentos nesta área, entre a Préhistória Recente e a Proto-história ou mesmo época posterior. A presença de um equídeo, a sul da bacia do rio Lima, considerada a “fronteira” destas representações, permite colocar a hipótese de que a expansão deste tipo de motivos possa ter ocorrido de norte para sul, quiçá por via marítima.

New interpretations to a selected set of “hoards” of palstave axes with two rings from the North-western Iberia are proposed. This task was based not only on morphological study of these objects but also on their spatial contexts of deposition.
The morphological (dimensions and weight) variations observed between objects of a same deposit allow us to consider its formation by unique and individual objects. This reveals the use of different casting molds and alloys and, hypothetically, distinct production origins.
At the same time, the distribution of different sets appears to have relations with natural circulation corridors (rivers basins and ridges areas). These were routes known and used since long ago, which certainly promoted more than occasional encounters between distinct human groups.

ABSTRACT Two sedimentary sequences (coastal and subtidal) were studied in San Simón Bay (Ría de Vigo), situated on the Atlantic coast of NW Iberia. The coastal record is a shallowing upward sequence which evidences a locally-developed low marsh, situated below the current beach, and dated at the second half of the 4th century. During the following decades this low marsh was progressively replaced by an alder swamp which formed on it. This suggests an apparent stabilisation or slow-down of the relative sea-level (RSL), in this site, at the beginning of the Dark Ages (DA). The subtidal sequence studied reflects the main changes in the landscape, the hydrological conditions, climate and RSL affecting this part of NW Iberia during the last 1250 years. Evidence of changing dinocysts content in the sediment reveals that two centennial or decadal-scale episodes existed of shelf marine waters more intensely penetrating inside the bay: between the 15th-18th centuries and at ca 1800–1930 AD. Besides, we related different proxies with the occurrence of four main climatic stages, namely the previously described Dark Ages (DA, ca 350–750 AD), the Mediaeval Climatic Anomaly (MCA, ca 750–1100 AD) and the Little Ice Age (LIA. ca 1500–1930 AD); in addition we propose a regional MCA/LIA transition (ca 1100–1500 AD) that it has not been previously described. Our environmental characterization indicates a persistent North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) negative mode domain in Ría de Vigo during the MCA, but this became weaker during the LIA and, probably, also during the earlier DA. NAO mode become more irregular during the MCA/LIA transition, generally persisting in dominant negative mode except for a phase of minor upwelling intensification, at ca 1150–1350 AD, which mainly affected the external parts of the ria. We postulate that an almost simultaneous phase (ca 1100–1350 AD) of stronger continental contribution in the sediments may be related to increasing storm intensities, probably linked to a reinforcement of the Easter Atlantic (EA) pattern; and also that the intertidal/supratidal ecosystems inside San Simón Bay may have extended further in the past, at least towards the end of the 5th century, and between ca 1050–1350 AD and ca 1450–1750 AD. A number of local historical references are consistent with our palaeoecological data and so support the chronology proposed as well as many of the environmental changes reconstructed. This good agreement will help in the interpretation of other analogous sequences extending back in time.