The Zooarchaeology of ancient whaling practices in Portugal: A review and a new Roman Republican contribution at Castelo Velho de Safara.

ABSTRACT: The identification of archaeological cetacean specimens to the species level often presents challenges, primarily due to the frequent fragmentation of their remains. This limitation hampers our ability to comprehensively understand the spatiotemporal distributions of cetaceans in the past and constrains our knowledge of early whaling activities. To address this issue, a systematic zooarchaeological review was conducted, encompassing published literature and reports that compile available data related to cetaceans retrieved from archaeological contexts in Portugal, spanning from the Middle Palaeolithic to the 18th century. Furthermore, this study introduces a new discovery of a cetacean specimen from the Roman Republican levels at Castelo Velho de Safara, which has been incorporated into th

SUBMITTER: Nabais M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11578453 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature