2016 - Dec : Nuno Bicho - Stone Age Archaeological investigations in Mozambique
Located between modern-day South Africa and Tanzania, both of which have well-known and extensive Stone Age records, Mozambique and its Stone Age sequence remained largely unknown in the broader context of African Pleistocene prehistory. This is in spite of the country’s critical position linking southern and eastern Africa, and of its clear potential to inform various models about recent human evolution, since the geography of Mozambique makes it a natural area of interest to evaluate the success and diffusion of Homo sapiens outside of southern Africa.
Based on the early maps from Santos Júnior (1950) and more recent data acquired through various projects, we were able to produce a series of maps for the Stone Age prehistory of Mozambique. The maps were also based on a critical evaluation of the sites and a review of some of the materials that are presently curated at the IICT (Instituto de Investigação Científica e Tropical) in Lisbon, Portugal.
Up to 2013, there were a total of 258 referenced Stone Age sites for all of Mozambique, located in all 10 districts, but concentrated mostly in the Maputo, Sofala and Tete regions. We were able to list the geographic locations of 141 sites, of which only 70 are precisely located.
In this event, Prof Bicho will present the first results of field survey in various regions of Mozambique (Niassa lake region, in northern Mozambique, the Elephant river and the Maputa land regions in the south), that took place between 2011 and 2016. The team was able to locate close to 200 new sites dating to Early Stone Age up to more recent times. In addition, data on the natural wild life and the survey and living conditions of the team while in the field will be presented.
Nuno Ferreira Bicho is the Director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and the Evolution of Human Behavior (ICArEHB) and he is an Associate Professor of Archaeology at the University of Algarve. Nuno Bicho holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas. He is presently the Director of the Ph.D. Program in Archaeology at the University of Algarve. He was Dean between 1998 and 2001 and 2005-2007.
He specializes in Paleolithic ecodynamics and his research focus on prehistoric costal hunter-gatherers of southern Iberia. More recently he has also developed research on the Mesolithic of the Tagus Valley and on Middle Stone Age of Mozambique.
Based on the early maps from Santos Júnior (1950) and more recent data acquired through various projects, we were able to produce a series of maps for the Stone Age prehistory of Mozambique. The maps were also based on a critical evaluation of the sites and a review of some of the materials that are presently curated at the IICT (Instituto de Investigação Científica e Tropical) in Lisbon, Portugal.
Up to 2013, there were a total of 258 referenced Stone Age sites for all of Mozambique, located in all 10 districts, but concentrated mostly in the Maputo, Sofala and Tete regions. We were able to list the geographic locations of 141 sites, of which only 70 are precisely located.
In this event, Prof Bicho will present the first results of field survey in various regions of Mozambique (Niassa lake region, in northern Mozambique, the Elephant river and the Maputa land regions in the south), that took place between 2011 and 2016. The team was able to locate close to 200 new sites dating to Early Stone Age up to more recent times. In addition, data on the natural wild life and the survey and living conditions of the team while in the field will be presented.
Nuno Ferreira Bicho is the Director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and the Evolution of Human Behavior (ICArEHB) and he is an Associate Professor of Archaeology at the University of Algarve. Nuno Bicho holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas. He is presently the Director of the Ph.D. Program in Archaeology at the University of Algarve. He was Dean between 1998 and 2001 and 2005-2007.
He specializes in Paleolithic ecodynamics and his research focus on prehistoric costal hunter-gatherers of southern Iberia. More recently he has also developed research on the Mesolithic of the Tagus Valley and on Middle Stone Age of Mozambique.
