Portuguese collective burials offer unique insights into the life of Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic populations. However, most skeletal remains are commingled and fragmentary, leaving critical questions about dietary and occupational activities unsolved.
The development of cutting-edge bioarchaeological techniques has opened new lines of investigation that contribute to the study of fundamental aspects of the daily life of these populations, such as eating and occupational habits. Therefore, they can offer a new vision of the biography and economic subsistence of the first farming communities in the Iberian Peninsula.
Through a multidisciplinary approach, this doctoral project will analyze human dental remains to study aspects of daily life (diet and occupational activities), as well as social and paleoecological conditions of Portuguese Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic societies. Dental calculus will be analyzed to identify micro-debris belonging to plants related to dietary and occupational activities or medicinal/ritual use. The dental microwear will also be investigated, providing information about diet and occupational behavior. The microwear patterns will be related to the residues present in dental calculus, possibly linking them to specific behaviors.
This new approach will contribute to the study of the life of Portuguese Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic populations and demonstrate the potential of dental analysis for understanding the paleoenvironmental and living conditions of Prehistoric societies.
Keywords: Neolithic and Chalcolithic populations; Dental Anthropology; Foodprints; Occupational habits; Residue analysis; Functional analysis