Archaeomalacological investigations at Barrosinha, a Neolithic shell midden located in the Sado estuary, Portugal

Abstract

Barrosinha shell-midden is at Comporta, on the southern bank of the Sado estuary in Portugal. It is a large open-air site located on top of a dune, which was explored in 1979 by two of the researchers (Joaquina Soares and Carlos Tavares da Silva), with a very high density of marine or estuarine #12;sh and invertebrate remains. In 2017, a team directed by Pablo Arias re-excavated the site and obtained new samples from two pits, named Pit 1 and Pit 2. In this communication we present the preliminary results of our investigations in Pit 2. It focuses on the characterization of the intensive exploitation of marine or estuarine shell#12;sh (mainly the grooved carpet shell Ruditapes decussatus, but also the mussel Mytilus sp. and the grooved razor shell Solen sp.), as well as of the presence of freshwater (e.g. Peringia ulvae) and terrestrial (e. g. Theba pisana) gastropods documented in the Neolithic stratigraphic units of the shell-midden.