Cleia Detry

• PhD
• Professor (Assistant) at School of Arts and Humanities of the University of Lisbon

The domestic cat (Felis catus) descends from the African wildcat subspecies Felis lybica lybica. Its global distribution alongside humans testifies to its successful adaptation to anthropogenic environments. Uncertainty remains regarding whether domestic cats originated in the Levant, Egypt or elsewhere in its natural range, and on the timing and c...

In this article, we present new data on the faunal remains recovered in the most recent excavations of the Chalcolithic settlement of Vila Nova de São Pedro. Building upon previous work, we analyze three additional contexts from area 1 and two from area 3, from test pits 1 and 2. The elements studied have allowed us to add more information to the c...

Nesta síntese caracterizam‑se as dinâmicas de vegetação com recurso a dados polínicos de diferentes sequências do ocidente peninsular, de forma a obter informação acerca do impacte da romanização no que viria a tornar‑se a província da Lusitania. De uma forma geral, as tendências de desflorestação já observadas na Idade do Ferro mantêm‑se, com perd...

During the last years, the study of animal remains benefited, among others, from the implementation of molecular, isotopic and biometric techniques. These, together with other more traditional approaches, allow for the acquisition of a wide variety of information aiming to characterize human-animal relations and dynamics through time and space. In...

In this article, we analyse faunal samples from the Late Neolithic (Layer 4) and Early Chalcolithic (Layer 3) levels of the fortified settlement of Leceia (Oeiras, Portugal) in order to understand the management of the feeding of domestic animals recovered in these excavations. Through the analyses of stable isotopes of δ13C and δ15N in bone collag...

Over the last 10,000 y, humans have manipulated fallow deer populations with varying outcomes. Persian fallow deer ( Dama mesopotamica ) are now endangered. European fallow deer ( Dama dama ) are globally widespread and are simultaneously considered wild, domestic, endangered, invasive and are even the national animal of Barbuda and Antigua. Despit...

Genetic diversity is lost in small and isolated populations, affecting many globally declining species. Interspecific admixture events can increase genetic variation in the recipient species’ gene pool, but empirical examples of species-wide restoration of genetic diversity by admixture are lacking. Here we present multi-fold coverage genomic data...

A sedimentary succession containing evidence ranging from Prehistory to the 20th century was identified in the scope of a preventive archaeological excavation, conducted in 2021/2022 at the Unidade de Execução de Entrecampos - Parcela A (UEE-PA) in central Lisbon, Portugal. This poster aims to present the preliminary results of lithic taphonomy and...

Mobility is a quality of individuals and social groups that have the ability to move around the territory for economic, social and/or cultural reasons. In this sense, mobility is a dynamic reality that must be considered in archaeological research on all historical periods. In recent decades, zooarchaeology has advanced in the knowledge of the form...

The Maghreb is a key region for understanding the dynamics of cattle dispersal and admixture with local aurochs following their earliest domestication in the Fertile Crescent more than 10,000 years ago. Here, we present data on autosomal genomes and mitogenomes obtained for four archaeological specimens of Iron Age (∼2,800 cal BP–2,000 cal BP) dome...

The Last Glacial Maximum brought long-term harsh climatic and environmental conditions. Because of that, human groups had to adapt to such changes, which was done through the development of new technologies, ecodynamics and settlement patterns. Buraca da Moira is a cave in Central Portugal with LGM human occupations in which faunal remains with dif...

The principal aim of this work is to establish the degree of human control over the management and animal diet of domesticates and characterize different herding systems during the Neolithic-Chalcolithic transition in Leceia site.

Skeletal remains of two equid species, Equus caballus (horse) and Equus asinus (donkey), have been found in archaeological contexts throughout Iberia since the Palaeolithic and Chalcolithic periods, respectively. These two species play different economic and cultural roles, and therefore it is important to be able to distinguish between the two spe...

The diet of the clarisses of the Santa Clara-a-Velha Monastery of Coimbra (14th to 17th centuries) was characterized by the analysis of stable isotopes of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) on 28 human skeletons. The results were compared with historical, carpological and zooarchaeological data. The values observed of δ13C (between −18.3 ‰ and −16.5...

Archaeological excavations conducted in Quinta do Almaraz (Almada, Portugal) between 1986 and 2001 have allowed to identify a settlement with an important Iron Age occupation. These interventions provided a large assemblage of faunal remains and its study has enabled a detailed analysis of the diet, lifestyle, and habits of the people who lived...

EZI2017 Proceedings

Throughout prehistory, landscapes were repeatedly subjected to both global and localized climatic fluctuations that changed the regional environments where human groups lived. This instability demanded constant adaptation and, as a result, the functionality of some sites changed over time. In this light, the western coast of Iberia represents an e...

A large odontometric reference database is essential for a clear and reliable differentiation between the teeth of dogs and wolves found in archaeological contexts. However, the data compilation of skeletal material is a slow process because access to dog remains may be difficult. The expansion of a dental database could benefit from computed tomog...

This volume originates in a conference session that took place at the 2018 International Council of Archaeozoology conference in Ankara, Turkey, entitled "Humans and Cattle: Interdisciplinary Perspectives to an Ancient Relationship." The aim of the session was to bring together zooarchaeologists and their colleagues from various other research fiel...

This volume originates in a conference session that took place at the 2018 International Council of Archaeozoology conference in Ankara, Turkey, entitled "Humans and Cattle: Interdisciplinary Perspectives to an Ancient Relationship." The aim of the session was to bring together zooarchaeologists and their colleagues from various other research fiel...

This paper presents the facial reconstruction of a Mesolithic dog whose skeleton was recovered from the Muge shell middens (Portugal) in the 19th century. We used the anatomical deformation approach based on a collection of computer tomography images as an attempt to reconstruct the Muge dog’s head appearance. We faced a few challenges due to the l...

ABSTRACT: A synthesis of the Roman-Republican occupation of Chibanes is proceeded, framing it in the process of Conquest of the Western Iberia. Founded inside an indigenous oppidum, at the end of the 2nd century BC, its first phase of roman republican occupation ended with a destructive event related to the Sertorian wars. The site was rehabilitate...

Domesticated dogs have been present in the Iberian Peninsula long before other domesticated species, back to the late Palaeolithic period. Their origin is still uncertain, but dogs were already well established during the Chalcolithic period (ca. 5000–4000 BP). This study employed a multidisciplinary approach comprising osteometric, radiographic an...

Apresenta-se o primeiro e para já único contexto conhecido da I Idade do Ferro de Coimbra. Reporta-se a uma intervenção arqueológica de salvaguarda realizada no Largo de D. Dinis, em 2008. Neste local identificou-se um depósito estratigráfico pouco extenso, encerrando espólio cerâmico e restos ósseos humanos e faunísticos. Embora modesto e desgarra...

A fossil remain of porcupine, a large-sized rodent hitherto unknown in Portugal, was identified during the 2010-13 excavation of the Last Interglacial deposit of Figueira Brava cave. The specimen is a left hemimandible retaining the PM/4 to M/2 series but lacking the incisor and the M/3. Based on the analysis of its morphological and odontometric f...

The excavations promoted by MAEDS under the direction of Carlos Tavares da Silva and Joaquina Soares contributed to the accumulation of knowledge about this period and region, with the great advantage of having collected osteological materials. Fauna studies from the Roman period in the Setubal region have already allowed the accumulation of some i...

This new collection of papers from leading experts provides an overview of cutting-edge research in Old World zooarchaeology. The research presented here spans various areas across Europe, Western Asia and North Africa – from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. Several chapters focus on Iberia, but the eastern Mediterranean and Britain are also feat...

We present the results obtained from the analysis of unpublished faunal remains from the Bronze Age settlement of Outeiro do Circo (Beja). The materials provenance is diverse, corresponding mainly to one pit/silo from trench 3 and the areas near the defensive systems designated trench 7 and 8. Hunting strategies are complementary in the assemblage,...

In 2017, a team from UNIARQ – School of Arts and Humanities of the University of Lisbon and the Association of Portuguese Archaeologists presented a research project to the Directorate-General for Cultural Heritage, entitled Vila Nova de São Pedro in the 3rd millennium (VNSP3000), with the intention to resume excavations in VNSP. Within the scope o...

The archaeological site of Vila Nova de São Pedro (Azambuja) was discovered in 1936 through the surveys carried out by Hipólito Cabaço. In 1937, the first excavation campaign was led by Eugénio Jalhay and Afonso do Paço. With the death of the first, in 1950, Paço assumed, with occasional collaborations, the direction of the archaeological works on...

This paper analyses and discusses the fuel and plant offerings found in 174 primary (pyre remains) and secondary contexts (ritual pits) of the necropolis of Via XVII in Bracara Augusta (Braga), in northern Portugal. This site is one of the largest Roman funerary complexes in the Iberian Peninsula, spanning from the last decades of the 1st century B...

The funerary contexts in which the presence of Canis lupus familiaris are identified are diverse, comprehending individual burials (with or without artifacts), inclusion in human graves, or disposal of corpses, thus suggesting a diverse range of meanings, measurable in function of the nature of the archaeological context. This study reports to the...

Archaeological evidence indicates that pig domestication had begun by ∼10,500 y before the present (BP) in the Near East, and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) suggests that pigs arrived in Europe alongside farmers ∼8,500 y BP. A few thousand years after the introduction of Near Eastern pigs into Europe, however, their characteristic mtDNA signature disapp...

Archaeological evidence indicates that pig domestication had begun by ∼10,500 y before the present (BP) in the Near East, and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) suggests that pigs arrived in Europe alongside farmers ∼8,500 y BP. A few thousand years after the introduction of Near Eastern pigs into Europe, however, their characteristic mtDNA signature disapp...

Archaeological evidence indicates that pig domestication had begun by ∼10,500 y before the present (BP) in the Near East, and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) suggests that pigs arrived in Europe alongside farmers ∼8,500 y BP. A few thousand years after the introduction of Near Eastern pigs into Europe, however, their characteristic mtDNA signature disapp...

During archaeological excavations carried out in the xx Course of Archaeology of the Consortium of Merida several rooms of the north wing of the Casa del Mitreo were uncovered. One of those rooms, excavated years ago, corresponded to a taberna with an exit to the street that bordered this domus on its north side.. The archaeological work we have ca...

Horse domestication revolutionized warfare and accelerated travel, trade, and the geographic expansion of languages. Here, we present the largest DNA time series for a non-human organism to date, including genome-scale data from 149 ancient animals and 129 ancient genomes (≥1-fold coverage), 87 of which are new. This extensive dataset allows us to...

We present preliminary sclerochronological analysis on 15 Argyrosomus regius (meagre) otoliths collected from two different human occupation levels from the Cabeço da Amoreira shell midden (Muge valley, Portugal). The otoliths were sectioned and observed under a reflected light stereomicroscope to examine seasonal growth rings. Carbonates collected...

In this study, we attempted to carry out a genomic amplification of ancient DNA from four pre-historic Iberian dogs using the Illumina sequencing method; to assign mtDNA sequences to the major dog haplogroups and to characterize some phenotypic traits of these dogs.

New finds of bones of the Egyptian Mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon), one from Portugal and one from Spain, were directly ¹⁴C dated to the first century AD. While the Portuguese specimen was found without connection to the Chalcolithic occupation of the Pedra Furada cave where it was recovered, the Spanish find, collected in the city of Mérida, comes...

Measurements taken on 47 complete and 44 distal fragments of cattle metacarpals from 17 th century AD Carnide, Lisbon, separate into two groups. Comparison with 21 ancient DNA sexed specimens and modern specimens of known sex (seven Barrosã cows and a Barrosã bull), indicates that the Carnide metacarpals probably belonged to both cows and bulls/oxe...

Archaeological excavations and surveys carried out in 2015 and 2016 in Chões de Alpompé allowed us to gather significant data concerning its ancient occupations. The existence of an Iron Age, which initially is characterized by an orientalizing matrix, reflected both in the artifacts and also in domestic structures, made it possible to return to th...

RESUMO Apresenta-se o estudo da fauna (mamíferos e aves) recolhida no âmbito de várias cam-panhas de escavação no sítio de Monte dos Castelinhos, enquadradas no Projecto PIPA, Monte dos Castelinhos e a romanização do baixo Tejo (MOCRATE). O estudo faunístico que aqui se descreve foi efectuado sobre os restos animais de época republicana (século I a...

Os trabalhos de minimização de impacto ambiental levados a cabo durante a construção do reservatório de água Serpa-Norte, puseram a descoberto o sítio arqueológico de Alto de Brinches 3. Este inclui cerca de 224 estruturas negativas do Calcolítico à Idade Moderna. O estudo zoo arqueológico apresentado refere-se aos restos faunísticos do Calcolítico...

In this study, we integrate osteometric and palaeogenetic data to investigate dog variability in the Roman Empire in Iberia and North Africa. Osteometry was used to distinguish the status-domestic or wild, of approximately 2000 years old Canis remains and to understand to what extent teeth and long bones varied in dogs in the Roman provinces of Mau...

RESUMO No tricentenário do lançamento da primeira pedra do Real Monumento de Mafra apresentam -se os contextos arqueológicos identificados no Terreiro D. João V durante as obras de requalificação (2009 -2011). A intervenção arqueológica incidiu fundamentalmente no Terreiro Norte, espaço urbano que teve já variadas designações e usos. Inicialmente e...

There is the tendency to assume that endangered species have been both genetically and demographically healthier in the past, so that any genetic erosion observed today was caused by their recent decline. The Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) suffered a dramatic and continuous decline during the 20th century, and now shows extremely low genome- and spec...

Environmental impact surveys undertaken during construction of the Serpa-Norte water reservoir revealed the archaeological site - Alto de Brinches 3. These included some 224 negative structures, dated from the Chalcolithic to the Modern period. We present a zooarchaeological study of the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age animal remains. The archaeologica...

Resumo Neste artigo descrevem-se os restos de fauna recuperados nos níveis de ocupação romano-republicana do Castro de Chibanes, situado nos arredores de Palmela. Este sítio arqueológico foi ocupado desde o Calcolítico até ao final do I milénio a.C. Os materiais aqui analisados refe-rem-se a dois horizontes: o IIIA e o IIIB. O primeiro, de carácter...

In the last years new discoveries regarding Early Holocene human occupations have been made in inland Iberia, namely in northeast Portugal. One particular site, Foz do Medal, will bring important contributions to the study of Mesolithic communities due to its well preserved records as well as to its location in the border of Spanish Meseta. Foz do...

The Pleistocene–Holocene transition c. 11.5 ka cal. BP is associated with dramatic climatic changes. These events led to fundamental shifts in landscape and have, therefore, been seen as responsible for a major impact on the human ecological behavior of the last hunter–gatherers in the Western European territory. In the case of Iberian Peninsula, i...

Excavations carried out in a basement of downtown Lisbon, in the Archaeological Centre of Rua dos Correeiros, allowed the identification of several archaeological contexts, namely of residential and industrial type, dated from the 5th century to early 4th century BC. These contexts provided a remarkable set of mammalogical and malacological remains...

Resumo O presente estudo analisa um pequeno conjunto de faunas recuperadas nas escavações do sítio do Creiro, um estabelecimento fabril, com tanques dedicados à produção de preparados pis-cícolas, localizado no Portinho da Arrábida (Setúbal) e datado do Período Romano (séculos I a V d.C.). Os elementos de fauna foram recolhidos em unidades estratig...

Resultados da primeira reunião geral de investigadores das áreas científicas da Arqueobotânica e Zooarqueologia a trabalhar em Portugal, realizada em Outubro de 2014, no Museu Nacional de Arqueologia (Lisboa). Identificando um conjunto de dificuldades comuns às duas disciplinas, os presentes decidiram criar um grupo de trabalho informal para foment...

Ancient DNA analysis has been an emergent area of research during the past few decades. With the development of new molecular biology techniques it has become easier to retrieve genetic information from archaeological samples than was previously thought possible. This is of great importance as it helps us to clarify species phylogenies and understa...

The remains collected by Hipólito Cabaço in the 1950s, following the exploration of the cave of Pedra Furada 1 are presented here. The review of the archaeological and osteological material, the later human and faunal, showed that the cave has been visited and used intermittently between the transition from the fourth and third millennia BC; in the...

El presente estudio sobre la variación osteométrica de los restos de oveja y vacuno recuperados de yacimientos arqueológicos del sur de Portugal — región que fue controlada por los musulmanes — revela que durante el período andalusí se produjo un incremento en la talla de la oveja, seguido tras la reconquista por un subsiguiente aumento del tamaño...

In the course of a zooarchaeological survey of Holocene sites in southern Portugal, a substantial size increase of cattle bones was noted following the Christian reconquista of the 11th–13th centuries AD. A size increase in the course of time within a lineage of domestic livestock is usually considered to represent animal improvement. However sever...

The 1992 and 1993 excavations of Roman to Medieval layers of Conimbriga, in central Portugal, uncovered a Roman amphitheatre that pre-dated the Late Roman wall. Layers dated to the late Roman (3rd - 4th Cent. AD), late Antiquity (6th - 7th Cent. AD) and Islamic (7th - 11th Cent. AD) periods were also exposed. Almost 3000 animal bones were recovered...

A leitura da paisagem onde se insere o castelo de Palmela é, por si só, demonstrativa das potencialidades agro-pastoris, piscícolas e cinegéticas que beneficiariam as populações medievais. De facto, à planície que se estende a norte, antes em boa parte ocupada por matas com bons recursos de caça e marinhas de sal, acrescentava-se a qualidade dos so...