João Cascalheira
Biographic Data
| ID | 107432 |
|---|---|
| NAME | João Cascalheira |
| GIVEN NAMES | João |
| FAMILY NAME | Cascalheira |
| SIGNATURE | CASCALHEIRA J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Algarve |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0321-8892 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 45 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 297 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 44 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 10 |
Mozambique Stone Age Landscape: A Decade of Archaeological Research
Since the publication of our 2016 review mapping the Stone Age of Mozambique (Gonçalves et al., 2016), Stone Age archaeological research in the country has intensified significantly. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of 654 Stone Age sites, including 272 newly documented sites. The recent discoveries in a total of more than 400 sites, discovered primarily through systematic survey campaigns between 2010 and 2025, represent an important…
Early evidence of earthquake management through mobility and social network adjustments at Vale Boi (SW Iberia)
Tectonic processes profoundly influenced the dispersal, evolution, and archaeological record of our Paleolithic ancestors. However, in-depth reconstructions of human resilience against seismic events come mostly from contexts dating to the last 13,000 years. Here, we present geophysical, geological, geochronological, and archaeological data from the open-air site of Vale Boy in southwestern Iberia, revealing how foragers mitigated earthquake impa…
Within and Beyond: Chert Procurement Patterns During The Upper Palaeolithic in Southwesternmost Iberia
Analyses of raw materials and the distinction between local/regional and long-distance sources have proven invaluable for understanding the extensive movements, interactions, and social networks during the Upper Palaeolithic in the Iberian Peninsula. However, unlike other parts of Iberia, research on the management and acquisition of raw materials in the south and west of Iberia remains relatively underdeveloped. Despite significant knowledge abo…
Lithic Miniaturization and Technological Innovation on the Southern Dispersal Route Out of Africa
Over the past fifteen years, the Dhofar Archaeological Project has mapped 272 Middle Stone Age/Middle Palaeolithic sites in southern Oman, each exhibiting some extent of Nubian Levallois technology. This study describes a representative sample of 15 such assemblages and conducts quantitative analyses to explore variability in core reduction strategies, metric proportions, and post-depositional surface modifications. Lithic taphonomy provides insi…
The Non-Adult Burials of Cabeço da Amoreira, Muge (Portugal): Recent Discoveries and New Insights into Mesolithic Funerary Practices
From stone to tool: How raw materials influenced Upper Palaeolithic technology in southwestern Iberia (Vale Boi)
The Upper Palaeolithic (UP) of westernmost Europe was marked by technological and cultural transformations and abrupt climatic shifts. The Iberian Peninsula, particularly southwestern Iberia, served as a refugia and key eco-cultural niche, making it a key region for UP studies. Vale Boi, the only site in southwestern Iberia with a nearly complete UP sequence, provides critical insights into technological, economical and mobility patterns over tim…
Quantifying Levallois: A 3D geometric morphometric approach to Nubian technology
Levallois technology, a hallmark of Middle Palaeolithic stone tool manufacture, involves sophisticated core reduction strategies that have major implications for understanding human cognitive and technological evolution. However, traditional methods of analysing Levallois cores often fail to capture the nuanced variability in their morphology. This study introduces a novel application of three-dimensional geometric morphometrics (GM) to quantify …
Alternating carnivore and Neanderthal activities at Escoural Cave: Insights from the taphonomic and machine learning analysis of leporid remains
Exploring the varied subsistence strategies and cave occupation patterns of Neanderthals is key to understanding their complex behaviors and ecological adaptations. Small game consumption, in particular, is considered a relevant indicator of their behavioral complexity. Rabbit assemblages from Pleistocene cave sites provide valuable insights into Neanderthal interactions with small prey and potential competition with carnivores. Here, we present …
To date or not to date? A comparison of different 14 C pretreatment methods applied to archeological marine shells from Vale Boi (Portugal)
Mollusk shells are often found in archeological sites, given their great preservation potential and high value as a multipurpose resource, and they can often be the only available materials useful for radiocarbon ( 14 C) dating. However, dates obtained from shells are often regarded as less reliable compared to those from bones, wood, or charcoals due to different factors (e.g., Isotope fractionation, reservoir effects etc.). The standard acid et…
Mapping lateral stratigraphy at Palaeolithic surface sites: A case study from Dhofar, Oman
Open-air accumulations of chipped stone debris are a common feature in arid landscapes, yet despite their prevalence, such archives are often dismissed as uninformative or unreliable. In the canyonlands of Dhofar, southern Oman, lithic surface scatters are nearly ubiquitous, including extensive, multi-component workshops associated with chert outcrops. These sites typically display chronologically diagnostic features that correspond to distinct t…
The sediment at the end of the tunnel: Geophysical research to locate the Pleistocene entrance of Gruta da Companheira (Algarve, Southern Portugal)
Until recently, evidence of Neanderthal cave use in the Algarve (Southern Portugal) came only from the site of Ibn Ammar. Over the last couple of years, archaeological excavations inside another cave, Gruta da Companheira, yielded Mousterian stone tools associated with possible human fossils. The discovery of this assemblage is groundbreaking because it may contribute to enlighten the Neanderthal/cave relationship and explain the dearth of simila…
The nature of Nubian: Developing current global perspectives on Nubian Levallois technology and the Nubian complex
Paleoenvironments and human adaptations during the Last Glacial Maximum in the Iberian Peninsula: A review
Foragers in the middle Limpopo Valley: Trade, place-making, and social complexity, written by Tim Forssman
Lithic bipolar methods as an adaptive strategy through space and time
Use of Lithic Assemblages for the Definition of Short-Term Occupations in Hunter-Gatherer Prehistory
Introduction to Short-Term Occupations in Palaeolithic Archaeology
The Early Neolithic at the Muge Shellmiddens (Portugal): Analysis and Review of the Ceramic Evidence from Cabeço da Amoreira
This article, on the Early Neolithic pottery from the Cabeço da Amoreira shellmidden in the Muge region of central Portugal, presents a detailed review of the evidence to date and a systematic analysis of the decorative and mineralogical characteristics of the stratified and radiocarbon-dated ceramic assemblage. A homogenous pottery manufacturing tradition seems to be present right from the beginning, including both local and non-local ceramics. …
Human adaptive responses to climate and environmental change during the Gravettian of Lapa do Picareiro (Portugal)
The Gravettian-Solutrean transition in westernmost Iberia: New data from the sites of Vale Boi and Lapa do Picareiro
Technology, use-wear and raw material sourcing analysis of a c. 7500 cal BP lithic assemblage from Cabeço da Amoreira shellmidden (Muge, Portugal)
Short-Term Occupations in Paleolithic Archaeology: Definition and Interpretation
The Role of Lithic Bipolar Technology in Western Iberia’s Upper Paleolithic: The Case of Vale Boi (Southern Portugal)
Middle Stone Age Technologies in Mozambique: A Preliminary Study of the Niassa and Massingir Regions
Southeast Africa has become an important region for understanding the development of the Middle Stone Age ( MSA ) and Anatomically Modern Humans. Due to its location between east and southern Africa, Mozambique is a key region for evaluating the development of Homo sapiens and the MSA across Africa. Here, we present the first results of lithic analyses of MSA assemblages collected during survey and testing in the Niassa and Massingir regions of M…
Portable art and personal ornaments from Txina-Txina: A new Later Stone Age site in the Limpopo River Valley, southern Mozambique
This paper reports on preliminary fieldwork at the Later Stone Age site of Txina-Txina in Mozambique. Excavation yielded a long stratigraphic sequence, a large lithic assemblage, a unique decorated gastropod shell fragment and two ostrich eggshell beads-the first of their type recovered from a Stone Age context in Mozambique
Intensive subsistence practices at Vale Boi, an Upper Paleolithic site in southwestern Portugal
Shell bead production in the Upper Paleolithic of Vale Boi (SW Portugal): An experimental perspective
Bayesian modeling and the chronology of the Portuguese Gravettian
Lithic technology from the Gravettian of Vale Boi: New insights into Early Upper Paleolithic human behavior in Southern Iberian Peninsula
Hunter–gatherer ecodynamics and the impact of the Heinrich event 2 in Central and Southern Portugal
Resilience, replacement and acculturation in the Mesolithic/Neolithic transition: The case of Muge, central Portugal
Rapid climatic events and long term cultural change: The case of the Portuguese Upper Paleolithic
The nature of Nubian: Developing current global perspectives on Nubian Levallois technology and the Nubian complex
Short-Term Occupations in Paleolithic Archaeology: Definition and Interpretation
Lithic bipolar methods as an adaptive strategy through space and time
The Role of Lithic Bipolar Technology in Western Iberia’s Upper Paleolithic: The Case of Vale Boi (Southern Portugal)
Mapping lateral stratigraphy at Palaeolithic surface sites: A case study from Dhofar, Oman
Open-air accumulations of chipped stone debris are a common feature in arid landscapes, yet despite their prevalence, such archives are often dismissed as uninformative or unreliable. In the canyonlands of Dhofar, southern Oman, lithic surface scatters are nearly ubiquitous, including extensive, multi-component workshops associated with chert outcrops. These sites typically display chronologically diagnostic features that correspond to distinct t…
The ecodynamics of the first modern humans in Southwestern Iberia: The case of Vale Boi, Portugal
The Gravettian-Solutrean transition in westernmost Iberia: New data from the sites of Vale Boi and Lapa do Picareiro
A Google-Based Freeware Solution for Archaeological Field Survey and Onsite Artifact Analysis
This paper introduces a new freeware digital system, based on Google/Android platforms, designed to be a fully integrated and customizable solution to record, manage, and share archaeological survey data. The core of the system is two custom smartphone/tablet applications, through which surveyors are able to retrieve geographical coordinates and relevant attribute data from archaeological locations, but also to perform onsite analysis of artifact…
Cross-scale adaptive behaviors during the Upper Paleolithic in Iberia: The example of Vale Boi (Southwestern Portugal)
Mapping the Stone Age of Mozambique
Human adaptive responses to climate and environmental change during the Gravettian of Lapa do Picareiro (Portugal)
Middle Stone Age Technologies in Mozambique: A Preliminary Study of the Niassa and Massingir Regions
Southeast Africa has become an important region for understanding the development of the Middle Stone Age ( MSA ) and Anatomically Modern Humans. Due to its location between east and southern Africa, Mozambique is a key region for evaluating the development of Homo sapiens and the MSA across Africa. Here, we present the first results of lithic analyses of MSA assemblages collected during survey and testing in the Niassa and Massingir regions of M…
Portable art and personal ornaments from Txina-Txina: A new Later Stone Age site in the Limpopo River Valley, southern Mozambique
This paper reports on preliminary fieldwork at the Later Stone Age site of Txina-Txina in Mozambique. Excavation yielded a long stratigraphic sequence, a large lithic assemblage, a unique decorated gastropod shell fragment and two ostrich eggshell beads-the first of their type recovered from a Stone Age context in Mozambique
Middle and Late Stone Age of the Niassa region, northern Mozambique. Preliminary results
Vale Boi (Algarve, Portugal) and the Solutrean in Southwestern Iberia
Located at the crossroads of two rather different ecological and cultural worlds (Mediterranean Spain and Portuguese Atlantic), the site of Vale Boi is a crucial element in understanding the economic and social traits of the communities that inhabited Southwestern Iberia during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Combining an open-air with a rockshelter component, Vale Boi presents a lengthy Solutrean record starting with a Proto-Solutrean phase foll…
Quantifying Levallois: A 3D geometric morphometric approach to Nubian technology
Levallois technology, a hallmark of Middle Palaeolithic stone tool manufacture, involves sophisticated core reduction strategies that have major implications for understanding human cognitive and technological evolution. However, traditional methods of analysing Levallois cores often fail to capture the nuanced variability in their morphology. This study introduces a novel application of three-dimensional geometric morphometrics (GM) to quantify …
Detecting single events in large shell mounds: A GIS approach to Cabeço da Amoreira, Muge, Central Portugal
Within and Beyond: Chert Procurement Patterns During The Upper Palaeolithic in Southwesternmost Iberia
Analyses of raw materials and the distinction between local/regional and long-distance sources have proven invaluable for understanding the extensive movements, interactions, and social networks during the Upper Palaeolithic in the Iberian Peninsula. However, unlike other parts of Iberia, research on the management and acquisition of raw materials in the south and west of Iberia remains relatively underdeveloped. Despite significant knowledge abo…
On the (L)edge: The Case of Vale Boi Rockshelter (Algarve, Southern Portugal)
Variación en la explotación de la cuarcita durante el Paleolítico Superior en el Suroeste de la Península Ibérica
El Paleolítico Superior del Suroeste de la Península Ibérica está marcado por la presencia de conjuntos de cantos tallados y lascas en cuarcita. La caracterización detallada a nivel regional y cronológico de estos conjuntos es de la mayor importancia, ya que, en las fases más recientes del Paleolítico, se pueden encontrar sin asociación a fósiles-guía o depósitos datables. En este estudio, hemos utilizado 36 conjuntos de cuarcita de esa región pa…
Intensive subsistence practices at Vale Boi, an Upper Paleolithic site in southwestern Portugal
Chronology of the Mesolithic occupation of the Muge valley, central Portugal: The case of Cabeço da Amoreira
The ecodynamics of the first modern humans in Southwestern Iberia: The case of Vale Boi, Portugal
Vale Boi (Algarve, Portugal) and the Solutrean in Southwestern Iberia
Located at the crossroads of two rather different ecological and cultural worlds (Mediterranean Spain and Portuguese Atlantic), the site of Vale Boi is a crucial element in understanding the economic and social traits of the communities that inhabited Southwestern Iberia during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Combining an open-air with a rockshelter component, Vale Boi presents a lengthy Solutrean record starting with a Proto-Solutrean phase foll…
Hunter–gatherer ecodynamics and the impact of the Heinrich event 2 in Central and Southern Portugal
Shell bead production in the Upper Paleolithic of Vale Boi (SW Portugal): An experimental perspective
Shellmiddens as landmarks: Visibility studies on the Mesolithic of the Muge valley (Central Portugal)
Bayesian modeling and the chronology of the Portuguese Gravettian
Lithic technology from the Gravettian of Vale Boi: New insights into Early Upper Paleolithic human behavior in Southern Iberian Peninsula
Middle and Late Stone Age of the Niassa region, northern Mozambique. Preliminary results
Rapid climatic events and long term cultural change: The case of the Portuguese Upper Paleolithic
Territory and abiotic resources between 33 and 15.6 ka at Vale Boi (SW Portugal)
Early Gravettian Projectile Technology in Southwestern Iberian Peninsula: The Double Backed and Bipointed Bladelets of Vale Boi (Portugal)
Mapping the Stone Age of Mozambique
A Google-Based Freeware Solution for Archaeological Field Survey and Onsite Artifact Analysis
This paper introduces a new freeware digital system, based on Google/Android platforms, designed to be a fully integrated and customizable solution to record, manage, and share archaeological survey data. The core of the system is two custom smartphone/tablet applications, through which surveyors are able to retrieve geographical coordinates and relevant attribute data from archaeological locations, but also to perform onsite analysis of artifact…
Detecting single events in large shell mounds: A GIS approach to Cabeço da Amoreira, Muge, Central Portugal
Cross-scale adaptive behaviors during the Upper Paleolithic in Iberia: The example of Vale Boi (Southwestern Portugal)
Resilience, replacement and acculturation in the Mesolithic/Neolithic transition: The case of Muge, central Portugal
Middle Stone Age Technologies in Mozambique: A Preliminary Study of the Niassa and Massingir Regions
Southeast Africa has become an important region for understanding the development of the Middle Stone Age ( MSA ) and Anatomically Modern Humans. Due to its location between east and southern Africa, Mozambique is a key region for evaluating the development of Homo sapiens and the MSA across Africa. Here, we present the first results of lithic analyses of MSA assemblages collected during survey and testing in the Niassa and Massingir regions of M…
Portable art and personal ornaments from Txina-Txina: A new Later Stone Age site in the Limpopo River Valley, southern Mozambique
This paper reports on preliminary fieldwork at the Later Stone Age site of Txina-Txina in Mozambique. Excavation yielded a long stratigraphic sequence, a large lithic assemblage, a unique decorated gastropod shell fragment and two ostrich eggshell beads-the first of their type recovered from a Stone Age context in Mozambique
Technology, use-wear and raw material sourcing analysis of a c. 7500 cal BP lithic assemblage from Cabeço da Amoreira shellmidden (Muge, Portugal)
Short-Term Occupations in Paleolithic Archaeology: Definition and Interpretation
The Role of Lithic Bipolar Technology in Western Iberia’s Upper Paleolithic: The Case of Vale Boi (Southern Portugal)
Geography (40 works) · Archaeology (39 works) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (38 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (28 works) · Geology (24 works) · Archaeological and Geological Studies (15 works) · Lithic technology (14 works) · Paleontology (14 works) · Cave (12 works) · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies (11 works)