The Muge Shellmiddens Project: a new portal for the last hunter-gatherers of the Tagus Valley, Portugal focuses on the requalification and valorization of the archaeological and paleoanthropological heritage of the Mesolithic complex of Muge (Tagus Valley, Portugal), classified as National Monument since 2011. Through a multidisciplinary and innovative strategy involving the development of cybernetic infrastructures and e-science initiatives namely: (1) systematization of the archaeological data collected over the last 150 years in Muge, implementing an online database; (2) creation of interactive didactic and dissemination contents based on augmented and virtual reality technologies. With these approaches, the project intends to promote a new path of scientific and cultural access to the Muge shellmiddens, transporting the Mesolithic to the present in a vibrant, as well as informative way.
About the project
LITERATURE REVIEW
Since the second half of the 19th century extraordinary archaeological finds at the Mesolithic Muge Shellmiddens complex (Tagus valley) had put Portugal on to the archaeological map of Europe. Discovered in 1863 by Carlos Ribeiro and his team from the Portuguese National Geological Services, the Muge shellmiddens have promoted research on the latest Holocene hunter-gatherers in Portugal and contributed to the development of Archaeology (both theoretical and methodological), having a prominent role in European Prehistory.
RESEARCH PLAN AND METHODS
The main goal of this project is to contribute to the requalification and valorization of the archaeological and paleoanthropological heritage of the Mesolithic complex of Muge (Tagus Valley, Portugal), classified as a National Monument since 2011.