Cabeço dos Cinco Pinheiros (Sesimbra): a site dated from the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in the Western part of Setúbal Peninsular

Abstract

The archaeological site of Cabeço dos Cinco Pinheiros (Sesimbra) was excavated as part of the measures to mitigate the negative impacts resulting from the execution of the Mata de Sesimbra-Sul Resort. It was characterized, prior to the excavation work, by the superficial dispersion of archaeological material, exclusively lithic artefacts, along the gentle slope of a small hill. Excavation work (43 square meters in total, including test pits and open-area excavation) allowed to identify, on a platform near the hill-top, a feature characterized by the accumulation of fire-cracked cobbles directly settled on the Pleio-Pleistocene sand levels. A small amount of flaked stone artefacts (in flint, quartz and quartzite) was found in association with this feature. The techno-typological analysis of these materials, with few clear chronological indicators that enable their allocation to a specific techno-complex, does not allow to advance rigorous considerations regarding the precise chronology and functionality of the site. However, the comparison with other recently excavated sites, where similar archaeographic contexts were documented, as well as the geological context, may allow the chrono-cultural integration of this site, possibly established between 11000 and 8000 BP, between a terminal phase of the Magdalenian and the beginnings of the Mesolithic, in the transition from the Pleistocene to the Holocene. This paper intends to test the chrono-cultural framework of the site of Cabeço dos Cinco Pinheiros, as well as to advance with an explanatory hypothesis, in terms of functionality, for the type of feature therein recognized.