Papers by António Carlos Valera
International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 2016
A human femur diaphysis in the form of a burin was excavated from a secondary burial context cont... more A human femur diaphysis in the form of a burin was excavated from a secondary burial context containing osteological remains and industry in the Archaeological Complex of Perdigões (Portugal). The majority of these evidences are thermo‐altered and highly fragmented. Radiocarbon dates for this context place it in the middle 3rd millennium BC. Typological analyses indicate that the human femur fragment is a burin, and use‐wear comparisons suggest that it was used to drill hide. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2025
Sex estimation based on amelogenin peptides in dental enamel has opened up possibilities to study... more Sex estimation based on amelogenin peptides in dental enamel has opened up possibilities to study prehistoric demography in a new light. The application of this technique is of particular importance for the analysis of prehistoric collective burials, where the commingled and disarticulated nature of human remains makes sex estimations challenging. This paper presents data on the sex of 35 individuals from the Late Neolithic-Chalcolithic site of Perdigões (Reguengos de Monsaraz, Portugal), obtained by amelogenin peptide analysis of dental enamel. The results are combined with observations on chronological and spatial distribution of the burial structures as well as strontium isotope data obtained from the same teeth. The new evidence enables the analysis of sex-specific mobility patterns, even at a site where the large majority of human remains discovered to date (MNI = 565) are heavily commingled and highly fragmented. The results show a greater number of males (n = 6) than females (n = 2) among the local individuals, and a balance between males (n = 14) and females (n = 13) among nonlocal ones, suggesting similar mobility for both sexes. These results are contextualized with the evidence available both for the Iberian Peninsula and the European continent. The greater female mobility observed at sites with similar chronologies in Central Europe, which has been interpreted in terms of female exogamy and patrilocality, is not replicated at Perdigões, where males and females have similar strontium isotope values.
From the magnetogram obtained for the Trigo ditched enclosure (Portel, Évora), the architectural ... more From the magnetogram obtained for the Trigo ditched enclosure (Portel, Évora), the architectural complexity of this enclosure is analysed, its relative chronology is established based on surface materials and its contextualization is made within the set of Neolithic ditch enclosures (3400-2900 BC) in the Alentejo interior. A review of the absolute chronological data and spatial distribution of these enclosures is carried out and a comparative analysis of their architecture, dimensions and complexity is developed, highlighting some structural aspects of these sites already during the Neolithic,
Integrating the research program on ditched enclosures developed by NIA-ERA since 2010, this pape... more Integrating the research program on ditched enclosures developed by NIA-ERA since 2010, this paper presents the results of geophysical surveys
conducted at the enclosures of Monte da Laje and São Brás 3 (both located in the municipality of Serpa), as well as the outline of a programmed research project for the latter site. Finally, it highlights actions aimed at public dissemination and heritage activation of the ditched enclosures in the region, including the organization of a traveling exhibition on these sites and their inclusion in a visitation route of Alentejo’s ditched enclosures.
Resumo: Durante o 3º milénio a.C., a Península Ibérica assistiu a um acelerado crescimento das re... more Resumo: Durante o 3º milénio a.C., a Península Ibérica assistiu a um acelerado crescimento das redes de interacção de larga escala, onde circulavam pessoas, animais, matérias-primas, objectos, informação, ideias, técnicas e estilos, circulação essa que se constituiu como variável fundamental do processo de complexificação social em curso. No presente texto aborda-se um elemento estilístico específico que integrou essas redes: a decoração cerâmica com "pastilhas repuxadas". É analisada a sua distribuição e discutidas algumas rotas de difusão, relacionando-as com a circulação de outros elementos, numa análise a partir do contexto mais meridional em ocorrem em Portugal: o recinto dos Perdigões (Reguengos de Monsaraz). Conclui-se que este é mais um elemento que vem reforçar as conexões setentrionais do interior alentejano, ajudando a matizar as tradicionalmente privilegiadas conexões meridionais/mediterrânicas.
Abstract: During the 3rd millennium BC, the Iberian Peninsula witnessed a rapid growth of large-scale interaction networks, through which people, animals, raw materials, objects, knowledge, ideas, techniques, and
styles circulated. This circulation constituted a fundamental variable in the ongoing process of social complexification. The present text addresses a specific stylistic element that integrated these networks: ceramic
decoration with “repoussé patches.” Its distribution is analysed, and some diffusion routes are discussed, relating them to the circulation of other elements, in an analysis from the southernmost context where they
occur in Portugal: the Perdigões enclosure (Reguengos de Monsaraz). It is concluded that this is another element that reinforces the northern connections of the Alentejo interior, helping to nuance the traditionally
privileged southern/Mediterranean connections.
Vila Nova de São Pedro no contexto do Calcolítico peninsular, 2024
We present the context recorded in Fossa 96 locatized in the centre of a ceremonial wooden struct... more We present the context recorded in Fossa 96 locatized in the centre of a ceremonial wooden structure (“Timber Circle”) at the heart of the ditched enclosure of Perdigões (Reguengos de Monsaraz), which was reopened for the deposition of a human head decapitated in beaker times, followed by a refilling during which a series of depositions and acts of commensality were recorded. The results of bioanthropological
and zooarchaeological analyses, isotopic for mobility and diets, and radiocarbon dating are presented, as well as the brief integration of this context in the ritualized practices that characterized this central area of
Perdigões in the second half of the 3rd millennium BC.
Vila Nova de São Pedro e o Calcolítico Peninsular, 2024
he construction of enclosures is one of the innovations Late Prehistory. For a long time, the Por... more he construction of enclosures is one of the innovations Late Prehistory. For a long time, the Portuguese Archeology of the period was involved in intense debates around the nature of walled enclosures, traditionally called “fortified settlements”. During the last three decades of the XX century, they were used to confront different theoretical perspectives, such as Historical Culturalism, Functionalism, Historical Materialism or contextualism.
In the last two decades a new reality emerged: the proliferation of ditched enclosures, with a major concentration in South Portugal inner Alentejo, raising the question of how to relate and incorporate these two types
of enclosures in the scientific discourse.
This essay develops a comparative approach to these two types of sites in South Portugal, discussing their differences and proximities at several levels, not in a framework submitted to dichotomies such as domestic/
ceremonial or functional/sacred, but focused on how they differently or similarly allowed and materialized some of the social, economic, and ideological practices of Neolithic and Chalcolithic societies.
Ídolos Miradas Milenares, 2024
The present essay addresses the human representations in the mobile material culture of Perdigões... more The present essay addresses the human representations in the mobile material culture of Perdigões ditched enclosures (Reguengos de Monsaraz, South Portugal). An updated inventory of the items is presented, along with the available absolute chronology for the contexts where they were recorded. A contextual characterization of the finds is made, emphasising the importance of the different circumstances of depositions for the interpretation of the social roles of these figurines. These roles are then discussed using three specific dualities: diversity of roles vs. monolithic meanings; individuality vs. collectiveness; realism vs. schematism. Understood as forms of small scale monumentality, these figurines are considered to use the human body for the first time in mobile material culture as means of expressing and conforming ideologies, social and political relations, processes of identity management and even ontological developments, which were being forged in a period of accelerated complexification of several Iberian societies in Recent Prehistory.
In the scope of the construction of a golf course by the Pestana Group in the municipality of Lag... more In the scope of the construction of a golf course by the Pestana Group in the municipality of Lagoa, three funerary structures attributable to the Middle Neolithic period (mid-4th millennium BC) and a tomb dating back to the early 3rd millennium BC were intervened by the team from Era Arqueologia. In this article, data regarding the bioanthropological characterization of human skeletal remains and the identified funerary rituals will be presented.
The Quinta dos Poços, located in the municipality of Lagoa, was intervened by ERA Arqueologia as ... more The Quinta dos Poços, located in the municipality of Lagoa, was intervened by ERA Arqueologia as part of the construction of a golf course by the Pestana Group. These works involved archaeological monitoring, geophysical prospecting, and archaeological excavation. Four tombs were intervened, one of which revealed a chronology from the 3rd millennium BC, and the remaining three were attributed to the Middle Neolithic (4th millennium BC). This text presents the data regarding the architectures, stratigraphies, votive material component, and available absolute chronology. It also provides a brief regional contextualization, emphasizing the main contributions of this context to the deepening of knowledge of the Recent Regional Prehistory.
A review of the Beaker presence in Portugal, and of associated architectures associated in the So... more A review of the Beaker presence in Portugal, and of associated architectures associated in the South.
In the ceremonial architecture of the Iberian Late Prehistory, wood has been considered essential... more In the ceremonial architecture of the Iberian Late Prehistory, wood has been considered essentially as an accessory raw material for construction. This paper presents two contexts (Outeiro Alto 2 and Perdigões, southern Portugal) which, for the first time, show the presence of wooden monuments. These are concentric circles of posts and wooden palisades, exclusive in the peninsula, and which find the closest parallels in Northern and Central Europe. Contextual data and available chronologies are presented, developing a first set of considerations on the importance that this type of monumental architecture may have had in the context of the trajectories of social complexity in the second half of the 4 th and 3 rd millennium BC.
Plos One, 2023
Anthracological analyses of charcoal samples retrieved from Pit 16 of Perdigões (Reguengos de Mon... more Anthracological analyses of charcoal samples retrieved from Pit 16 of Perdigões (Reguengos de Monsaraz, Portugal), a secondary deposition of cremated human remains dated back to the middle of the 3 rd millennium BC, enabled the identification of 7 different taxa: Olea europaea, Quercus spp. (evergreen), Pinus pinaster, Fraxinus cf. angustifolia, Arbutus unedo, Cistus sp. and Fabaceae. All taxa are characteristic of both deciduous and evergreen Mediterranean vegetation, and this data might indicate that the gathering of woods employed for the human cremation/s occurred either on site, or in its vicinity. However, considering both the large distribution of the identified taxa and data about human mobility, it is not possible to conclusively determine the origin of the wood used in the cremation(s). Chemometric analysis were carried out to estimate the absolute burning temperature of woods employed for the human cremation/s. An in-lab charcoal reference collection was created by burning sound wood samples of the three main taxa identified from Pit 16, Olea europaea var. sylvestris, Quercus suber (evergreen type) and Pinus pinaster, at temperatures between 350 and 600˚C. The archaeological charcoal samples and the charcoal reference collection were chemically characterized by using mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy in the 1800-400 cm-1 range, and Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression method was used to build calibration models to predict the absolute combustion temperature of the archaeological woods. Results showed successful PLS forecasting of burn temperature for each taxon (significant (P <0.05) cross validation coefficients). The anthracological and chemometric analysis evidenced differences between the taxa coming from the two stratigraphic units
Apontamentos de Arqueologia e Património, 2023
During the intervention carried out by the company Omniknos at the site of Senhora da Alegria (pa... more During the intervention carried out by the company Omniknos at the site of Senhora da Alegria (parish of Almalaguês, municipality of Coimbra), which presents occupations from the Early, Middle and Late Neolithic and from the Late Roman period and Middle Age, the infrastructure (post holes) of an elongated wooden house with a sub-rectangular plan was identified. This text describes the structure, discusses its stratigraphic and chronological framework in the Late Neolithic occupation, which is briefly characterized, and seeks to question it in the context of some evidence for orthogonal domestic architectures in Late Prehistory in Iberia.
Prospective look at the near future of Prehistory
Archaeology in Portugal, focussing primarily on... more Prospective look at the near future of Prehistory
Archaeology in Portugal, focussing primarily on research
agendas, research trends and how they relate to
professional practices, as well as their social eff ects.
Th e author claims that the great strength of peninsular
Prehistory Archaeology in the past few decades has
resulted from its focus on comprehensive issues.
However, nowadays there is a growing tendency
towards scientism and specialisation excesses.
Th is path has consequences in Prehistory Archaeology’s
ability to act visibly in society and, therefore, in its
capacity to affi rm the documentary sources that
support it, safeguarding them and activating
their heritage value.
Emerging Inequalities at Animal Farm. Tracing the Symbolic Use of Cattle from the Late Neolithic to the Middle Bronze Age in Southern Portugal
CATTLE AND PEOPLE Interdisciplinary Approaches to an Ancient Relationship, 2022
The complexity of human-animal relations in later prehistory can be seen in the contrast between ... more The complexity of human-animal relations in later prehistory can be seen in the contrast between the symbolic use of
cattle and of other species during the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age in southern Portugal. From a minor symbolic presence
among the most common species in the Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic expressed mainly in rock art representations,
animal burials, and rare #gurines—ca"le emerged with emblematic leading roles in certain funerary contexts in
the Middle Bronze Age. !e systematic use of ca"le limb elements in Middle Bronze Age hypogea in the Serpa area (Beja
district, Alentejo), and a decrease in the symbolic use of other animals, suggests a significant change in the cosmological
and ideological status of several species within these communities.
!is study explores the possible symbolic meaning of the growing prominence of cattle within a context characterized
by structural changes in several variables of the social system. In doing so, it proposes that the increased use of cattle in
funerary contexts is intimately related to the construction of a new social and cosmological order, as well as to a new
military atmosphere.
Arqueologia em Portugal 2020 - Estado da Questão - Textos, 2020
This paper presents the first results of the archaeological work carried out in the Chalcolithic ... more This paper presents the first results of the archaeological work carried out in the Chalcolithic ditched enclosure of Folha do Ouro 1 (Serpa, Beja). The site was identified in an aerial image and integrated in the research developed by NIA-Era Arqueologia regarding this type of contexts and submitted to geophysics and surface prospection with collection of archaeological materials. Here, we address the assemblage of archaeological materials, the chronological scope of the site, its topographical location and architectonic characteristics observed in the magnetogram. The site is integrated in the regional context, comparing with the known characteristics of the Alentejo’s ditched enclosures
Zephyrus Revista De Prehistoria Y Arqueologia, 2013
The Outeiro Alto 2 (Brinches, Serpa, Portugal) is part of a wider range of archaeological sites r... more The Outeiro Alto 2 (Brinches, Serpa, Portugal) is part of a wider range of archaeological sites recently excavated on the left bank of the Guadiana River, Baixo Alentejo, in the context of the Empreendimento de Fins Múltiplos de Alqueva -EDIA (Alqueva Dam). The chronology of its occupation extends from the Final Neolithic to the Bronze Age, also through Chalcolithic, and it is located on a gentle hill with a wide view of the landscape. In this study we present the data concerning to the occupation of the site during the Bronze Age, more specifically the hypogea necropolis. It is a cultural reality badly known and scarcely characterized and documented until recently, proper to the region, but where it becomes evident the influence of Argaric Culture, especially in the funerary rituals.
A large-scale environmental strontium isotope baseline map of Portugal for archaeological and paleoecological provenance studies
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2022
Strontium isotopes (87Sr/86Sr) provide valuable information to help reconstruct past mobility. Fo... more Strontium isotopes (87Sr/86Sr) provide valuable information to help reconstruct past mobility. For the analysis of
archaeological tooth enamel to provide a direct assessment of mobility, a comparison to the baseline 87Sr/86Sr in
a region is required. In this study, a large-scale 87Sr/86Sr baseline of Portugal is created based on 151 paired plant
and soil leachate samples combined with previously published data (20 additional plant and 33 additional soil
leachate sites). Spatial patterns of 87Sr/86Sr are evident, following Portugal’s geology and terrain, with higher
87Sr/86Sr in the granite dominated north and further inland. Influences from sea spray are observed along the
coastal regions of the country. The bioavailable strontium range for Portugal is 0.70575–0.73487, and paired
plant-soil leachate site measurements show a strong positive relationship. Empirical Bayesian Kriging (EBK)
alongside mean 87Sr/86Sr per geological unit are used to provide predictive surfaces for bioavailable 87Sr/86Sr.
We find that the addition of archaeological site-specific measurements is required in archaeological mobility
studies to ensure local-scale 87Sr/86Sr variation is captured, illustrated in this study using the Late Middle
Neolithic to Early Bronze Age site of Perdig˜oes. The bioavailable strontium isoscape for Portugal provides a
baseline map for future archaeological and palaeoecological studies in this region and contributes to the global
efforts to map strontium isotope variability.
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Papers by António Carlos Valera
conducted at the enclosures of Monte da Laje and São Brás 3 (both located in the municipality of Serpa), as well as the outline of a programmed research project for the latter site. Finally, it highlights actions aimed at public dissemination and heritage activation of the ditched enclosures in the region, including the organization of a traveling exhibition on these sites and their inclusion in a visitation route of Alentejo’s ditched enclosures.
Abstract: During the 3rd millennium BC, the Iberian Peninsula witnessed a rapid growth of large-scale interaction networks, through which people, animals, raw materials, objects, knowledge, ideas, techniques, and
styles circulated. This circulation constituted a fundamental variable in the ongoing process of social complexification. The present text addresses a specific stylistic element that integrated these networks: ceramic
decoration with “repoussé patches.” Its distribution is analysed, and some diffusion routes are discussed, relating them to the circulation of other elements, in an analysis from the southernmost context where they
occur in Portugal: the Perdigões enclosure (Reguengos de Monsaraz). It is concluded that this is another element that reinforces the northern connections of the Alentejo interior, helping to nuance the traditionally
privileged southern/Mediterranean connections.
and zooarchaeological analyses, isotopic for mobility and diets, and radiocarbon dating are presented, as well as the brief integration of this context in the ritualized practices that characterized this central area of
Perdigões in the second half of the 3rd millennium BC.
In the last two decades a new reality emerged: the proliferation of ditched enclosures, with a major concentration in South Portugal inner Alentejo, raising the question of how to relate and incorporate these two types
of enclosures in the scientific discourse.
This essay develops a comparative approach to these two types of sites in South Portugal, discussing their differences and proximities at several levels, not in a framework submitted to dichotomies such as domestic/
ceremonial or functional/sacred, but focused on how they differently or similarly allowed and materialized some of the social, economic, and ideological practices of Neolithic and Chalcolithic societies.
Archaeology in Portugal, focussing primarily on research
agendas, research trends and how they relate to
professional practices, as well as their social eff ects.
Th e author claims that the great strength of peninsular
Prehistory Archaeology in the past few decades has
resulted from its focus on comprehensive issues.
However, nowadays there is a growing tendency
towards scientism and specialisation excesses.
Th is path has consequences in Prehistory Archaeology’s
ability to act visibly in society and, therefore, in its
capacity to affi rm the documentary sources that
support it, safeguarding them and activating
their heritage value.
cattle and of other species during the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age in southern Portugal. From a minor symbolic presence
among the most common species in the Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic expressed mainly in rock art representations,
animal burials, and rare #gurines—ca"le emerged with emblematic leading roles in certain funerary contexts in
the Middle Bronze Age. !e systematic use of ca"le limb elements in Middle Bronze Age hypogea in the Serpa area (Beja
district, Alentejo), and a decrease in the symbolic use of other animals, suggests a significant change in the cosmological
and ideological status of several species within these communities.
!is study explores the possible symbolic meaning of the growing prominence of cattle within a context characterized
by structural changes in several variables of the social system. In doing so, it proposes that the increased use of cattle in
funerary contexts is intimately related to the construction of a new social and cosmological order, as well as to a new
military atmosphere.
archaeological tooth enamel to provide a direct assessment of mobility, a comparison to the baseline 87Sr/86Sr in
a region is required. In this study, a large-scale 87Sr/86Sr baseline of Portugal is created based on 151 paired plant
and soil leachate samples combined with previously published data (20 additional plant and 33 additional soil
leachate sites). Spatial patterns of 87Sr/86Sr are evident, following Portugal’s geology and terrain, with higher
87Sr/86Sr in the granite dominated north and further inland. Influences from sea spray are observed along the
coastal regions of the country. The bioavailable strontium range for Portugal is 0.70575–0.73487, and paired
plant-soil leachate site measurements show a strong positive relationship. Empirical Bayesian Kriging (EBK)
alongside mean 87Sr/86Sr per geological unit are used to provide predictive surfaces for bioavailable 87Sr/86Sr.
We find that the addition of archaeological site-specific measurements is required in archaeological mobility
studies to ensure local-scale 87Sr/86Sr variation is captured, illustrated in this study using the Late Middle
Neolithic to Early Bronze Age site of Perdig˜oes. The bioavailable strontium isoscape for Portugal provides a
baseline map for future archaeological and palaeoecological studies in this region and contributes to the global
efforts to map strontium isotope variability.