Climate variability and human adaptation during the Last Glacial Period: a multidisciplinary project in the Côa Valley region (northeast Portugal)

Abstract

The Project «CLIMATE@COA - COA/CAC/0031/2019» proposes an integrated multidisciplinary approach based on stratigraphical, sedimentological, geochemical, geomorphological, archaeological, zoo-archaeological, and geochronological analyses of various continental archives (landforms and deposits) from a set of open-air sites distributed across the fluvial valley of the Côa River and surrounding plateau areas (northeast Portugal). Most of those landforms and deposits contain relevant information concerning the climate evolution of the Last Glacial Period and archaeological remains that allow us to understand coeval human behaviours. The proposed research aims to develop an evolutionary model for the Côa Valley region and deduce the environmental factors forcing such evolution, namely climate and ecosystem changes. We intend to characterise the late Pleistocene human occupation and reconstruct the geographical range of lithic raw material supply and choices. Typo-technological variability of lithic production of Neanderthal and Anatomically Modern Human (AMH) will be used to assess exploitation systems and strategies through time and to understand the societies and behaviours of Palaeolithic hunter-gatherer human populations. The project’s data will allow us to better define the chronology of the transition between Neanderthal and AMH and to infer territoriality and social organisation in its environmental context. The knowledge produced can bring to the forefront original and valuable scientific data useful to support territorial planning, environmental management, and tourism (e.g., through the exploration of the natural/cultural heritage and the diversification of tourism offers), to contribute to the definition of the strategies to adopt for a more integrated and sustainable local/regional development.