M Portillo
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 40111 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | M Portillo |
| NOMBRES | M |
| APELLIDO | Portillo |
| FIRMA | PORTILLO M |
| AFILIACIONES | Institución Milá y Fontanals de Investigación en Humanidades |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2703-031X |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 53 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 378 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 53 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2006 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 10 |
An experimental study of fuel use at the microscale
This paper addresses the contribution of experimentally-produced combustion installations to microarchaeological research on the identification, characterization and taphonomy of fuel materials as valuable past traces of fire use. Recent studies have investigated the taphonomy of microscopic remains (primarily opaline phytoliths and calcitic microfossils) from traditional mud-constructed ovens and their associated ashes, as well as of dung materi…
Agropastoral practices and woodland management shaped the Irano-Turanian steppe-forest vegetation during the Transitional PPNA/B–Early PPNB (8895–8210 cal bce) at Kharaysin, Jordan
The present study reconstructs vegetation change and human–environment interactions from the Transitional Pre-Pottery Neolithic A/B (8895–8415 cal bce) to the Early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (8465–8210 cal bce) at the Kharaysin archaeological site (Zarqa, Jordan). For the first time at this site, integrated pollen, wood charcoal and phytolith analyses have been carried out in combination with a detailed archaeostratigraphic and Bayesian-modelled ch…
Site formation processes and settlement reorganisation during the late iron age–roman transition in the eastern Pyrenees
Despite the growing body of archaeobiological data from Iron Age and Roman sites in the Iberian Peninsula, the interpretative potential of micro-contextual evidence remains insufficiently explored. This study investigates plant use, combustion technologies, and depositional processes at the Late Iron Age and Roman Republican settlement of Serrat del Castellar (Bellver de Cerdanya, eastern Pyrenees), a fortified hilltop site strategically position…
Nuevas evidencias de molienda en la Cultura de El Argar a través del análisis de fitolitos y del estudio funcional de los útiles macrolíticos de Peñalosa (Baños de la Encina, Jaén)
El Argar (2250-1450 cal a. C.) es una de las culturas arqueológicas más destacadas de la Edad del Bronce en el sureste peninsular. La producción agrícola debió tener un papel fundamental en la subsistencia de las poblaciones argáricas, siendo los útiles de molienda los elementos que proporcionan una mayor información sobre el procesado de alimentos de origen vegetal. En el yacimiento de Peñalosa (Baños de la Encina, Jaén) se conserva un amplio co…
Long term dynamics in a mediterranean mountainous landscape. Exploring land use and social strategies in Varica Virtudes (2nd-1st millennia BCE, Southeastern Iberia)
Research on Mediterranean mountain landscapes continues to be challenged by limited empirical knowledge and the persistence of traditional assumptions, such as their alleged isolation, statism and marginality. We present the results of a multiproxy and multiscale study in the Varica Virtudes mountain (Taibilla River Basin, southwestern Iberian Peninsula), integrating landscape studies and archaeological excavation, microstratigraphic techniques, …
Microarchaeology
A Late Iron Age hillfort under the magnifying glass. Microarchaeological research at Icedo fortified site (Burgos, Spain)
This study focuses on domestic architecture from the Early-Late Iron Age (5th to first centuries BCE) at the hillfort of Icedo, which is located in the Las Loras Geopark in Burgos, Spain. The most up-to-date methodological approaches to macro and micro analysis are used to explore the topic. In other words, it examines the architectural, social and ecological characteristics of the so-called Late Iron Age oppida. This approach aims to shed light …
Construcción, uso y mantenimiento de los hogares en la Cesetania ibérica (ss. V-III a. C.)
Se presenta el estudio de 19 hogares localizados en seis yacimientos del territorio de la antigua Cesetania ibérica, con cronologías entre los siglos V y III a.C. Todos ellos se analizan, en primer lugar, desde una perspectiva macroscópica y morfológica (técnicas de construcción, forma, ubicación). En los casos en que ha sido posible, se han aplicado, además, diversos métodos de análisis microcontextual (antracología, fitolitos y microrrestos cal…
Human Subsistence and Climate Change in the Late Pleistocene of North-western Africa
Engaging the Public Through Prehistory
The aim of this article is to advocate and raise awareness of the vital need for universal, barrier-free and inclusive scientific dissemination: outreach in which everyone is involved in the whole process, from the design of the activity to its assessment. It starts with some reflections and the practical process used to develop new activities and didactic tools. Three experiences with groups with difficulties in accessing knowledge are then pres…
Ancient Evidence of Plant Processing in Human Communities at the End of the European Pleistocene
Tracing household economies and food technologies in the Eastern Pyrenees
This study presents a pilot systematic analysis of rotative grinding stones from the highland site of El Castellot de Bolvir (La Cerdanya, eastern Pyrenees), occupied continuously from the Late Bronze Age to the Roman Republican period. Focusing on the transitional phase between the Late Iron Age and early Roman influence (3rd–2nd centuries BCE), the research combines typological and microbotanical (phytolith) records to investigate domestic food…
Domestic activities at Las eras del Alcázar (Úbeda-Jaén, Southern Iberia) through phytolith and calcitic microfossil evidence
The archaeological site of Las Eras del Alcázar is situated in Úbeda (Jaén) and its chronological sequence spans from the second quarter of the 4th millennium BC to the first quarter of the 2nd millennium BC. This study aims to present the findings obtained from integrated microfossil analyses, including phytoliths, calcitic plant and faecal microremains, from a Bronze Age dwelling displaying three well-defined stony floor sequences and a hearth …
Derecho en la literatura
El vínculo entre la literatura y el derecho no ha sido prácticamente explorado en Uruguay y menos aún su conexión con el surrealismo. Si bien esta relación aparece inicialmente lejana, se reconocen obras que permiten un análisis desde esta perspectiva. Este trabajo estudia el cuento «María del Carmen» de Francisco Espínola y pretende, en primer lugar, ampliar el espacio de reflexión acerca de la potencialidad de la relación entre el derecho y la …
The exploitation of mountain natural resources during the Iron Age in the Eastern Pyrenees
The Iron Age site of Tossal de Baltarga (Bellver de Cerdanya) was a large Iberian residential complex occupying a strategic position in the middle of the Eastern Pyrenees. It was destroyed by fire in the second half of the 3rd century BCE, preserving an important volume of archaeological and bioarchaeological material in certain areas. This is the case of Building G, a two-story construction whose violent blaze has offered the possibility of anal…
Roman farmers in eastern Iberia
Plant processing and grinding tools from the early Neolithic settlement of La Marmotta, Italy
Tracing the biographies of textiles in the transition of medieval to modern times
Findings of archaeological textiles and fibres in Northern Iberia are extremely rare. The occurrence of a set of textile fragments, dated between the 14th and 16th centuries CE at the Pambre castle (Palas de Rei, Lugo, Spain) is exceptional. The original stone roof of the southeastern tower was intact. The dark, cold and moist conditions inside the tower favoured the preservation of a unique series of waterlogged textile remains. In addition, a s…
An interdisciplinary approach to the combustion structures of the Western Mediterranean Iron Age. The first results
The stone connection
Formentera was one of the last Mediterranean islands to be colonized by humans at the end of the third millennium BC. This island is rather small (83¿km2) with marked biogeographical constraints. Typical of a semi-arid environment, the island is poor in resources and biodiversity. Macrolithic tools from the prehistoric sites of Ca na Costa (ca. 2130¿1790 cal BC), Cap de Barbaria II (ca. 1740¿900 cal BC), and Sa Cala (ca. 800¿570 cal BC) showed si…
Animal Indoor Penning in the Eastern Pyrenees
Over the last decades, micro-archaeological and ethnoarchaeological approaches have demonstrated the importance of animal dung deposits for reconstructing past human lifeways, primarily within caves and rock-shelters. The case study of Tossal de Baltarga (eastern Pyrenees) provides evidence from simultaneous storage and penning, along with the in situ remains in anatomical connection of several ovicaprines and a horse within a building destroyed …
Livestock management at the Late Iron Age site of Baltarga (eastern Pyrenees)
Despite the important role of livestock farming amongst Iron Age communities living in mountain regions, there is little information about livestock management, and particularly stabling practises, breeding systems, and grazing/foddering patterns. The study of the ground floor of Building G in Tossal de Baltarga has provided valuable insights into these important issues and has given us a better understanding of the social and economic patterns i…
Iron Age combustion structures in the north-eastern Iberian Peninsula
The aim of this research is to investigate the efficiency of combustion structures, the fuels used, the structure maintenance and the range of related domestic activities. An experimental programme was carried out in which replicas of archaeological Iron Age combustion structures were put to work. Based on the available archaeobotanical records, various fuel types (wood, grasses, palm leaves and animal dung) were used. Variables such as increased…
Investigating the function of late-Neolithic ‘husking trays’ from Syrian Jazira through integrated use-alteration and phytolith analyses
Integrating microfossil records from livestock dung burned as fuel in Menorca, Balearic Islands
Phytolith-rich layers from the Late Bronze and Iron Ages at Tel Dor (Israel)
Early Neolithic household behavior at Tell Seker al-Aheimar (Upper Khabur, Syria)
Morphometric Analysis of Inflorescence Phytoliths Produced by Avena sativa L. and Avena strigosa Schreb
Morphometric analysis of phytoliths
Geoarchaeological and palaeobotanical evidence for prehistoric cereal storage in the southern Caucasus
Husbandry practices and livestock dung at the Numidian site of Althiburos (el Médéina, Kef Governorate, northern Tunisia)
Animal penning and open area activity at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey
Tracing microfossil residues of cereal processing in the archaeobotanical record
The Taphonomy of Plant and Livestock Dung Microfossils
This study examines the contribution of ethnoarchaeological and experimental research to interdisciplinary approaches on the identification and taphonomy of livestock dung. Ethnographic and experimental records provide comparative reference models on a range of taphonomic issues that are still understudied, such as variation in the type and preservation of plant and faecal microfossils that are excreted with dung and the effects of heating. The f…
Lithic Technology and Chronology of Initial Upper Paleolithic Assemblages at Tor Fawaz, Southern Jordan
The Initial Upper Paleolithic (IUP) is a key chrono-cultural concept in our understanding of the cultural and population dynamics at the transition from the Middle Paleolithic to Upper Paleolithic period. This paper presents technological and chronological analyses of lithic assemblages from a rockshelter site at Tor Fawaz in the Jebel Qalkha area, southern Jordan, to provide accurate dating and detailed recognition of the IUP variability in the …
Early Animal Management Strategies during the Neolithic of the Konya Plain, Central Anatolia
This paper examines the contribution of microscopic multi-proxy approaches to the study of early husbandry practices and animal diet by integrated micromorphological, phytolith, and calcitic dung spherulite analyses of midden deposits at the three neighbouring Neolithic sites of Boncuklu (9th–8th millennium cal BC), Pınarbaşı (7th millennium cal BC) and Çatalhöyük (8th–6th millennium cal BC) in the Konya Plain, Central Turkey.The results reveal c…
Advances in Morphometrics in Archaeobotany
Morphometric analysis offers an alternative or augmentation to traditional archaeobotanical methods to address differences within and between plant species and their remains, refining and enhancing taxonomic resolution. Morphometrics, the measurement of size and shape, and the multivariate statistical analysis of generated quantitative variables, have long played a major role in biological research, including plant taxonomy and systematics, altho…
Revealing the invisible dead
Recent investigations of an apparently ‘empty,’ partly disturbed Viking chamber grave in Denmark (Fregerslev II, dated around the mid-10th century CE) provided an opportunity to develop a novel multi-scale and multi-method analysis of burial and post-burial processes. To overcome the limitations of poor preservation of artefacts and bones, and the lack of a clear macrostratigraphic sequence, we integrated multi-proxy analyses of organic and inorg…
Holocene resource exploitation along the Nile
The subsistence practices of Holocene communities living in the Nile Valley of Central Sudan are comparatively little known. Recent excavations at Khor Shambat, Sudan, have yielded well-defined Mesolithic and Neolithic stratigraphy. Here, for the first time, archaeozoological, palaeobotanical, phytolith and dental calculus studies are combined with lipid residue analysis of around 100 pottery fragments and comparative analysis of faunal remains a…
Changing Plant-based Subsistence Practices among Early and Middle Holocene Communities in Eastern Maghreb
The eastern Maghreb is a key area for understanding environmental and cultural dynamics during the early and middle Holocene. Capsian populations from around 10000–7500 cal BP were among the last foragers in the region. Capsian sites are known as escargotières (land shell middens), and locally called rammadiyat (meaning ashy mound). As taphonomic conditions in Capsian open-air sites generally favour the preservation of resistant materials such as…
Livestock management at the Late Iron Age site of Baltarga (eastern Pyrenees)
Despite the important role of livestock farming amongst Iron Age communities living in mountain regions, there is little information about livestock management, and particularly stabling practises, breeding systems, and grazing/foddering patterns. The study of the ground floor of Building G in Tossal de Baltarga has provided valuable insights into these important issues and has given us a better understanding of the social and economic patterns i…
An interdisciplinary approach to the combustion structures of the Western Mediterranean Iron Age. The first results
Blame it on the goats? Desertification in the Near East during the Holocene
The degree to which desertification during the Holocene resulted from climatic deterioration or alternatively from overgrazing has puzzled Quaternary scientists in many arid regions of the world. In the research reported upon here, a multi-disciplinary investigation of a 5-m deep, ~11,000-year-old sediment column excavated in a dry lake bed in southern Jordan revealed an early interval in which proxies of plant cover and sheep/goat stocking rates…
The potential of phytolith analysis to reveal grave goods
Non-woody plant remains are known from burial contexts in North–western Europe, but get overlooked when preservation is suboptimal. While phytolith analysis has demonstrated its value regarding the detection of vegetative grave goods, systematic application of this method to graves in European archaeology is, however, scarce. This paper concerns the examination of the elite Viking-Age equestrian burial at Fregerslev II, where phytolith analysis, …
Animal Indoor Penning in the Eastern Pyrenees
Over the last decades, micro-archaeological and ethnoarchaeological approaches have demonstrated the importance of animal dung deposits for reconstructing past human lifeways, primarily within caves and rock-shelters. The case study of Tossal de Baltarga (eastern Pyrenees) provides evidence from simultaneous storage and penning, along with the in situ remains in anatomical connection of several ovicaprines and a horse within a building destroyed …
Tracing the biographies of textiles in the transition of medieval to modern times
Findings of archaeological textiles and fibres in Northern Iberia are extremely rare. The occurrence of a set of textile fragments, dated between the 14th and 16th centuries CE at the Pambre castle (Palas de Rei, Lugo, Spain) is exceptional. The original stone roof of the southeastern tower was intact. The dark, cold and moist conditions inside the tower favoured the preservation of a unique series of waterlogged textile remains. In addition, a s…
The stone connection
Formentera was one of the last Mediterranean islands to be colonized by humans at the end of the third millennium BC. This island is rather small (83¿km2) with marked biogeographical constraints. Typical of a semi-arid environment, the island is poor in resources and biodiversity. Macrolithic tools from the prehistoric sites of Ca na Costa (ca. 2130¿1790 cal BC), Cap de Barbaria II (ca. 1740¿900 cal BC), and Sa Cala (ca. 800¿570 cal BC) showed si…
Iron Age combustion structures in the north-eastern Iberian Peninsula
The aim of this research is to investigate the efficiency of combustion structures, the fuels used, the structure maintenance and the range of related domestic activities. An experimental programme was carried out in which replicas of archaeological Iron Age combustion structures were put to work. Based on the available archaeobotanical records, various fuel types (wood, grasses, palm leaves and animal dung) were used. Variables such as increased…
Investigating the function of late-Neolithic ‘husking trays’ from Syrian Jazira through integrated use-alteration and phytolith analyses
From Anatolia to Algarve
The introduction and spread of the Neolithic “way of life” in Europe was a process that took several millennia, followed by different rhythms and displayed singularities in each geographic area. It was therefore a very complex phenomenon that, despite highly significant advances in research in recent decades, is yet to be fully understood. To deepen our understanding of the very early stages of the introduction of herding and agriculture througho…
Morphometric Analysis of Inflorescence Phytoliths Produced by Avena sativa L. and Avena strigosa Schreb
Phytolith-rich layers from the Late Bronze and Iron Ages at Tel Dor (Israel)
Domestic activities and spatial distribution in Ain Abū Nukhayla (Wadi Rum, Southern Jordan)
La excavación arqueológica de los Grandes Almacenes El Pilar (Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, España)
Los estudios arqueobotánicos no han tenido en el área gallega un gran desarrollo en yacimientos medievalesexceptuando algunos análisis antracológicos. Tampoco ha sido habitual la aplicación de métodos deidentificación de polen y fitolitos para estructuras tipo silos, no solo para esta época sino en la investigaciónarqueológica del NW peninsular en general. El hallazgo de varias fosas en el contexto de la intervenciónarqueológica de los Grandes Al…
Husbandry practices and livestock dung at the Numidian site of Althiburos (el Médéina, Kef Governorate, northern Tunisia)
Domestic patterns in the Numidian site of Althiburos (northern Tunisia)
Early Neolithic household behavior at Tell Seker al-Aheimar (Upper Khabur, Syria)
Geoarchaeological and palaeobotanical evidence for prehistoric cereal storage in the southern Caucasus
Morphometric analysis of phytoliths
Blame it on the goats? Desertification in the Near East during the Holocene
The degree to which desertification during the Holocene resulted from climatic deterioration or alternatively from overgrazing has puzzled Quaternary scientists in many arid regions of the world. In the research reported upon here, a multi-disciplinary investigation of a 5-m deep, ~11,000-year-old sediment column excavated in a dry lake bed in southern Jordan revealed an early interval in which proxies of plant cover and sheep/goat stocking rates…
Tracing microfossil residues of cereal processing in the archaeobotanical record
An ethnoarchaeological study of livestock dung fuels from cooking installations in northern Tunisia
Desert agricultural systems at EBA Jawa (Jordan)
Early Animal Management Strategies during the Neolithic of the Konya Plain, Central Anatolia
This paper examines the contribution of microscopic multi-proxy approaches to the study of early husbandry practices and animal diet by integrated micromorphological, phytolith, and calcitic dung spherulite analyses of midden deposits at the three neighbouring Neolithic sites of Boncuklu (9th–8th millennium cal BC), Pınarbaşı (7th millennium cal BC) and Çatalhöyük (8th–6th millennium cal BC) in the Konya Plain, Central Turkey.The results reveal c…
Advances in Morphometrics in Archaeobotany
Morphometric analysis offers an alternative or augmentation to traditional archaeobotanical methods to address differences within and between plant species and their remains, refining and enhancing taxonomic resolution. Morphometrics, the measurement of size and shape, and the multivariate statistical analysis of generated quantitative variables, have long played a major role in biological research, including plant taxonomy and systematics, altho…
Integrated Microscopy Approaches in Archaeobotany
Archaeobotany is the study of archaeological plant remains, which include macroremains, such as seeds and wood charcoal, and a range of associated microfossils, such as phytoliths, pollen, spores and starch grains. These papers showcase a range of microscopy approaches that can be applied to examine and interpret botanical and organic assemblages in the archaeological record, and to address a range of topical research themes and current debates i…
Animal penning and open area activity at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey
Numidian State Formation in the Tunisian High Tell
For many archaeologists this quote from Godelier encapsulates one of the main goals of our discipline. The formation of states and cities (one of the elements normally accompanying this form of societal organisation) cannot therefore be limited to the study of individual cases. Whatever the specific differences, these cases may, when interpreted under the light of well-founded hypothetical models, constitute a fundamental part in understanding th…
The Taphonomy of Plant and Livestock Dung Microfossils
This study examines the contribution of ethnoarchaeological and experimental research to interdisciplinary approaches on the identification and taphonomy of livestock dung. Ethnographic and experimental records provide comparative reference models on a range of taphonomic issues that are still understudied, such as variation in the type and preservation of plant and faecal microfossils that are excreted with dung and the effects of heating. The f…
Changing Plant-based Subsistence Practices among Early and Middle Holocene Communities in Eastern Maghreb
The eastern Maghreb is a key area for understanding environmental and cultural dynamics during the early and middle Holocene. Capsian populations from around 10000–7500 cal BP were among the last foragers in the region. Capsian sites are known as escargotières (land shell middens), and locally called rammadiyat (meaning ashy mound). As taphonomic conditions in Capsian open-air sites generally favour the preservation of resistant materials such as…
Wood, Seeds and Fruits, Phytoliths, Pollen and Non-pollen Palynomorphs of the Horse Burial of Fregerslev II
This work concerns multi-scalar archaeobotanical studies of a poorly preserved Viking-Age equestrian burial in Denmark, Fregerslev II, dated around the mid-10th century, where macrobotanical remains such as wood seeds and fruits, combined with phytoliths, pollen and non-pollen palynomorph records, revealed the nature of the grave goods and grave equipment of plant material. The microbotanical results point to the presence of bedding on the bottom…
Integrated Microscopy Approaches in Archaeobotany 2
The collection of papers in this special issue arose from the 2018 and 2019 workshops in Integrated Microscopy Approaches in Archaeobotany (henceforth IMAA), hosted by the University of Reading, UK. The IMAA has an interdisciplinary ethos and not only brings together students and specialists to facilitate cross-sector exchanges of a broad variety of skills, but also the discussions that take place there are driven by a practical microscopy elemen…
Ofrendas en el humedal
Damos a conocer el hallazgo de un santuario ibero, situado en la Loma de Úbeda (Jaén), en un punto clave de conexión entre los valles del Guadalquivir y del Guadalimar, definido como un espacio al aire libre, al que se asocia un depósito votivo del siglo III a. n. e. El interés de este estudio de caso radica en la aplicación de un protocolo fuertemente interdisciplinar, que parte de excavaciones arqueológicas, microprospecciones magnéticas sistem…
Lithic Technology and Chronology of Initial Upper Paleolithic Assemblages at Tor Fawaz, Southern Jordan
The Initial Upper Paleolithic (IUP) is a key chrono-cultural concept in our understanding of the cultural and population dynamics at the transition from the Middle Paleolithic to Upper Paleolithic period. This paper presents technological and chronological analyses of lithic assemblages from a rockshelter site at Tor Fawaz in the Jebel Qalkha area, southern Jordan, to provide accurate dating and detailed recognition of the IUP variability in the …
Holocene resource exploitation along the Nile
The subsistence practices of Holocene communities living in the Nile Valley of Central Sudan are comparatively little known. Recent excavations at Khor Shambat, Sudan, have yielded well-defined Mesolithic and Neolithic stratigraphy. Here, for the first time, archaeozoological, palaeobotanical, phytolith and dental calculus studies are combined with lipid residue analysis of around 100 pottery fragments and comparative analysis of faunal remains a…
Geography (35 obras) · Archaeology (34 obras) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (33 obras) · Biology (27 obras) · Ecology (20 obras) · Phytolith (19 obras) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (19 obras) · Archaeological and Geological Studies (16 obras) · Agriculture (12 obras) · Geology (12 obras)