The Emergence of Muge Mesolithic Shell Middens in Central Portugal and the 8200 cal yr BP Cold Event

摘要

The emergence of Portugal's Muge Mesolithic, with its characteristicshell middens and human burials, is widely seen as a response to theformation of a highly diverse terrestrial and aquatic ecotone in the Tagusbasin by the Flandrian transgression. Recently, some have suggestedthat this was an adaptive response to the 8200 cal yr BP event. Using theavailable radiocarbon data for the shell middens, paleoclimatic data,and paleoceanographic data we present a new model for the appearanceof the Muge Mesolithic shell middens and changes in settlement betweenthe Boreal and Atlantic phases for central Portugal. Coastal ecosystemswere altered due to diminution in upwelling and the occurrence ofthe 8.2 kyr cold event, with declining availability of marine resources,rapid sea level rise, and changes in coastal morphology. The resultwas that the previous coastal setting was no longer suitable for thehunter-gatherer-fishers causing a settlement shift to the new, large, andstable estuary of the Tagus Valley.