Contextualização geoarqueológica preliminar da indústria Acheulense da jazida do Canal Intercetor de Esposende I (NW de Portugal)

Abstract

The archaeological site of the Esposende Interceptor Canal I (EIC I) was discovered in 2021 following the opening of the "Esposende City Flood and Risk Management Interceptor Canal". Subsequent archaeological excavations took place at the site in 2022, 2023, and 2024. The presence of handaxes, unifaces, and cleavers among the collected artefacts allowed them to be associated with the Acheulean technocomplex. As with other sites on the Portuguese northern coast, these artefacts resulted from expedient knapping sequences, related to the recurrent use of quartzite pebbles of marine morphometry. Regarding chronology, the stratigraphic position of the lithics indicates that they are later than the formation of the marine terrace identified at the archaeological site, which lies at an altitude of ~8-13 m asl. According to research carried out along the coastal strip between the mouth of the river Neiva and the mouth of the river Minho, immediately north of the municipality of Esposende, this terrace likely dates from MIS 9. The fluvial deposits that overlay the terrace and which contain the Acheulean industry can, in turn, be associated with the next marine isotopic stage, i.e., MIS 8.