[Archport] Lançamento de um novo livro - 1ª mensagem

[VICTOR S. GONÇALVES <vsg@fl.ul.pt>]

 

UNIARQ -CURTAS

(DESTA VEZ NÃO TÃO CURTA COMO É COSTUME)

 

LANÇAMENTO DE UMA OBRA DE PESO

PELAS 15:00 H DE DIA 18 DE ABRIL SERÁ LANÇADA NA SALA VERMELHA DO MUSEU DO CONDE DE CASTRO GUIMARÃES, EM CASCAIS, UMA OBRA DE PESO (3,032 KG) DEDICADA ÀS FURNAS DO POÇO VELHO:

«AS OCUPAÇÕES PRÉ-HISTÓRICAS DAS FURNAS DO POÇO VELHO (CASCAIS)», DE VICTOR S. GONÇALVES.

O AUTOR, QUE SEMPRE DESEJOU LANÇAR UM LIVRO NO SENTIDO LITERAL DO TERMO (ISTO É: ATIRANDO-O À ASSISTÊNCIA), VÊ-SE OBRIGADO A ADIAR MAIS UMA VEZ ESSE ANTIGO PROJECTO, EVITANDO ASSIM SER EVENTUALMENTE ACUSADO DE HOMICÍDIO INVOLUNTÁRIO...

 

PARA OS PORTUGUESES QUE AINDA GOSTAM DE LIVROS, DEVE DIZER-SE QUE SE TRATA DO 3º VOLUME DA COLECÇÃO «CASCAIS, TEMPOS ANTIGOS», EDITADA PELA CÂMARA MUNICIPAL DE CASCAIS, E A QUE AINDA ESTE ANO SE JUNTARÃO OUTROS DOIS VOLUMES (AS ACTAS DO 3º COLÓQUIO INTERNACIONAL TRANSFORMAÇÃO & MUDANÇA E A MONOGRAFIA SOBRE AS CERÂMICAS COM BORDOS DENTEADOS OU ENTALHADOS DA PAREDE). FORMATO A4, 590 PÁGINAS, PROFUSAMENTE ILUSTRADAS A CORES, E CAPA DURA, PARA RESISTIR ÀS TEMPESTADES QUE PROLIFERAM HOJE NA ARQUEOLOGIA PORTUGUESA.

SAUDAÇÕES!!

 

PARA OS ANGLÓFONOS, QUE DIFICILMENTE ESTARÃO PRESENTES, JUNTA-SE O RESUMO EM INGLÊS DO LIVRINHO:

 

ABSTRACT

 

This monograph presents the prehistoric use of Poço Velho caves from a tripartite perspective. First of all there is the history of the discovery and the excavations in 1879 (António Mendes ? Carlos Ribeiro) and the new and last excavations in 1945-1947 (Abreu Nunes), the comments on the caves in scientific circles and the entire troubled history of the site. Secondly, after presenting the structure of the various descriptive items for the archaeological material, there is the description and commentaries on the objects and artefacts. The third part includes the absolute and relative chronology (13 radiocarbon dates), establishing comparisons with the main monuments and sites, with particular emphasis on those in the Cascais region. Finally, there is the integral inventory of the material, now housed at the Instituto Geológico e Mineiro Museum and at the Conde de Castro Guimarães Museum, and a bibliography with comments. A new plan and new cutaway views of the caves are also published.

 

The Poço Velho caves had scant occupation during the Upper Palaeolithic (only three Solutrean artefacts were found); there are some artefacts from the 4^th millennium BCE, heavy utilisation for burial use during the 3^rd millennium and also occupation during the late Bronze Age. The finds referent to subsequent periods is minimal: material from the Iron Age, one Visigoth belt buckle, coins and some recent garbage.

According to the material collected, Solutrean artefacts may represent the final episode of a hunt or be the result of an opportune shelter for Palaeolithic hunters, just as the remaining finds from after the 3^rd millennium may be the remains of occupations of minimal duration. And it is effectively the 3^rd millennium BCE that we find represented in force (with some artefacts probably from the second half of the 4^th), the caves having been used exclusively as burial chambers. In contrast to what has been written, actually nobody lived there? at least not before the Bronze Age.

We know nothing or very little about the rites that accompanied the burials or about the ceremonies held because the earth and the bodies must have been washed away by the intense circulation of water. The red ochre, that would have been used, has disappeared almost completely.

The diverse finds take us, however, to more precise situations: there are components present of two large magico-religious complexes from the 3^rd millennium (the engraved schist plaques and, in larger number, the limestone votive artefacts). In addition, beaker ceramics have some representation, although strangely rare in an area where they were significant in burial chambers such as the artificial cave in São Pedro do Estoril and Alapraia.

Flaked stone (cores, blades, bladelets, ovoide bifaces, geometrical microliths) and polished stone (axes, adzes and gouges) are very well represented in Poço Velho. This book also presents an innovative study on the characteristics of adzes, the ?golpe de enxó? (Gonçalves, 2008), a typical large negative near the blade of the adze (the distal pole).

However, some artefacts, being statistically fewer in number, are of particular interest. This is the case of the baetylus, the adze with handle and the lunar crescent, all in limestone, the bone rabbits for hanging around the neck, the bone combs or the ceramic vase, IGM-347, with red ochre stains in its interior.

 

The chronology of prehistoric utilisations of the Poço Velho caves was made easier due to the type of archaeological materials collected and the radiocarbon dating. Almost all carried out of human bone (one of an artefact). The chronology of some human bones collected from the Poço Velho caves can be attributed to the last centuries of the 4^th millennium BCE but the great majority are of the 3^rd millenium. The actual ¹⁴C dating on human bone confirms this; the time intervals Beta-244394 and 245138 go from 3360 to 3030 BC, at two sigmas, and the remaining 11 dates are situated between 2920 and 2290 BCE, at two sigmas, covering almost the entire 3^rd millennium (there is a curious scarcity of items from the last three centuries of the millennium, the high point for «Palmela-type» cups, in fact very scarcely represented in Poço Velho.

 

The anthropology of the human remains found at Poço Velho was studied by Antunes-Ferreira (2005) and showed pathologies common to that (and other) epochs: caries, arthrosis, traumatic pathologies and some rarer diseases such as Legg-Calvé-Perthes, some neoplasia and exostoses. The minimum number of individuals was established at circa 115 (22 being sub-adults). These would have been aged between 2 and 10. The adults are distributed by probability parameters as being aged between 19 and 83. The stature, another relevant point, was established at between 1.38 and 1.60 m for women and between 1.55 and 1.71 m for men. These statures are identical to those determined in other contemporary groups. In this group, the number of men and women was similar, there being no imbalance of genders.

 

Utilisation of caves as burial chambers is common in various cultural phases and periods in our species, due to the obvious convenience of using pre-existing natural spaces, which required no considerable construction investment, unlike what happens, for example, with Megalithic monuments. In this condition, caves are used by very different groups and do not in themselves constitute a cultural indicator, except negatively.

At Poço Velho, we have found continued presences and very interesting gaps. Practically all of the equipment from burial chambers in the second half of the 4^th millennium and all of the 3^rd are present, except for the late beakers, which are rare. Even the carinated bowls, the pottery with indented, incised or impressed rims, and the fluted pottery, absent in the Porto Covo cave, are represented here.

Due to their easily accessible locations, these Poço Velho caves signified to the ancient peasant societies a convenient place for burying their dead and this was not wasted. Excepting, however, the most ancient among them: there being no recognised traces so far of any Neolithic occupation prior to the 4^th millennium.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PROF. VICTOR S. GONÇALVES
CENTRO DE ARQUEOLOGIA (UNIARQ)
FACULDADE DE LETRAS   UNIV. LISBOA
P-1600-214 LISBOA PORIUGAL