Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of human activity dating back more than 300,000 years at Vale do Forno in central Portugal.
The site is located near Alpiarça in the Santarém district, where archaeological investigations have revealed more than 200 stone artefacts estimated to be between 300,000 and 350,000 years old.
According to João Ribeiro of the Centre for Archaeology at the University of Lisbon, research conducted since 2024 indicates that Vale do Forno represents the earliest known evidence of sustained human activity in the western Iberian Peninsula.
The discoveries also suggest that the Alpiarça region may have been among the earliest areas of present-day Portugal to experience prolonged human occupation.
Stone tools preserved in their original context
Stone artefacts were first identified in the area during the 1990s, although archaeologists did not initially recognise the extent of the surviving archaeological deposits.
More recent investigations have demonstrated that the site contains a substantial assemblage of prehistoric stone tools, with their state of preservation providing researchers with an unusually intact archaeological context.
Carlos Ferreira, an archaeologist from the University of Lisbon involved in the research, explained that the preservation of the artefacts distinguishes Vale do Forno from many other Palaeolithic sites known from Portugal and Spain.
“When I talk about our find, I really mean the original context, which means that the stone tools were found exactly where prehistoric man left them,” said Ferreira.
Finding artefacts in their original depositional context is particularly important for archaeologists, as it allows the spatial relationships between objects and surrounding deposits to be studied without the disruption caused by later movement or geological processes.
Evidence of early human activity
The age of the Vale do Forno assemblage places the occupation within the Middle Pleistocene, a period associated with significant developments in hominin populations and stone-tool technologies across Europe.
However, the researchers have not yet identified which hominin population was responsible for the activity at Vale do Forno.
Further analysis will focus on the stone artefacts and associated archaeological deposits, with researchers also hoping to recover genetic material from ancient animal remains.
Such evidence could help reconstruct the environment inhabited by the prehistoric population and identify animal species living in central Portugal during the period of occupation.
“We hope to recover them to understand which species accompanied prehistoric humans in what is now Portugal,” Ferreira said.
Continued investigation of Vale do Forno could therefore provide important evidence for understanding the chronology and character of early human occupation along the western edge of the Iberian Peninsula.
Sources : PAP