At the pit grave inside the inner enclosure of Bela
Vista 5 there was a Palmela arrow head that was part of the funerary
assemblage. That arrow was deposited over a hank of strings. Part of the
strings were preserved attached to the arrow’s surface due to its oxidation.
Palmela point with strings attached to it (photo by António Valera)
Analysis show that the strings were made of hemp. This was an interesting finding. Hemp is originally from
Asia, but it seems to have spread over Eastern and Central Europe during Neolithic
and Chalcolithic. In Iberia there was a context from Late Chalcolithic that
provide a textile made of hemp at Abrigo de los Carboneros, but the context
have some problems.
Now, at the Bela Vista 5 enclosure hemp appears in a
well preserved and excavated context, with a radiocarbon date from the last
quarter of the 3rd millennium BC.
Bela Vista 5 funerary context (image published in Valera, 2013)
It is the most western context with hemp in
European Recent Prehistory, and might be a confirmation of Sherrat’s ideas
about the quick spread of hemp associated to Bell Beaker (Bela Vista 5 grave is
a late Bell Beaker context, associated to what is traditionally designated in
South Portugal by “Horizonte de Ferradeira”).
The publication of this context will be done in a
monographic study that will come out shortly, edited by Nia-Era..
References
Valera,
A.C. (2013), “Recintos de fossos da Pré-História Recente em Portugal. Investigação, discursos, salvaguarda e
divulgação”, Almadan, Segunda Série, 18, p.93-110.
