Medieval fisheries in Almada (Portugal): New data for the 13th century in West Iberia

The former occurrence of the North Atlantic right whale Eubalaena glacialis on the Portuguese coast may be inferred from the historical range of that species in Europe and in NW Africa. It is generally accepted that it was the main prey of coastal whaling in the Middle Ages and in the pre-modern period, but this assumption still needs firming up based on biological and archaeological evidence. We describe the skeletal remains of right whales excavated at Peniche in 2001–2002, in association with archaeological artefacts. The whale bones were covered by sandy sediments on the old seashore and they have been tentatively dated around the 16th to 17th centuries. This study contributes material evidence to the former occurrence of E. glacialis in Portugal (West Iberia). Some whale bones show unequivocal man-made scars. These are associated to wounds from instruments with a sharp-cutting blade. This evidence for past human interaction may suggest that whaling for that species was active at Peniche around the early 17th century.

CR Climate Research Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsSpecials CR 53:205-227 (2012) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/cr01095 Wintertime circulation types over the Iberian Peninsula: long-term variability and relationships with weather extremes S. Fernández-Montes1*, S. Seubert2, F. S. Rodrigo1, E. Hertig2 1Department of Applied Physics, University of Almería, La Cañada de San Urbano, s/n, 04120 Almería, Spain 2Institute of Geography, University of Augsburg. Universitätsstrasse 10, 86135 Augsburg, Germany *Email: soniafm@ual.es ABSTRACT: This paper analyses atmospheric surface circulation and climatic extremes in the Iberian Peninsula in winter (December–February). Sea level pressure grids (1850–2003) are classified through a simulated annealing clustering into 7 characteristic circulation types (CTs). Daily series of temperature (29 stations) and precipitation (44 stations) started between 1905 and 1950. We investigate which CTs are conducive to extremes at each station by means of their contribution to extreme days compared to non-extremes days, with significance based on a Monte Carlo resampling. Regional features arise in the relationship between CTs and extremes and, taking them into account, some trends in extreme indices from 1950–2003 (period shared by all stations) agree with trends in the frequency of the CTs. Thus, increases in warm days in northern and central stations are consistent with a positive trend in Anticyclone over North Iberia/France; and negative trends in extreme precipitation in the East Cantabrian coast are consistent with a negative trend in the north-westerly flow. Furthermore, low-frequency temporal analyses reveal large (small) changes in extreme temperature (precipitation) days within the CTs. From the mid-1940s onwards, the extreme cold character of the northerly and north-easterly flows diminished, i.e. the frequency of cold nights within these CTs decreased from ~25 to ~15%, whereas from the 1920s to mid-1940s an opposite behaviour occurred (towards a higher frequency of cold nights). Throughout the 20th century, the frequency of warm days within the CTs has increased, especially for the south-westerly and westerly flows from the 1920s to 1950s and since the mid-1970s. Westerly flow was less frequent in the 1980s and 1990s but connected with a higher percentage of extreme precipitation days in West Iberia. This changing frequency of extremes within the CTs indicates that, apart from circulation types, other physical forcings have influenced the occurrence of extremes. KEY WORDS: Winter circulation types · Iberian Peninsula · Daily extremes · Temperature · Precipitation · Within-type changes Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: Fernández-Montes S, Seubert S, Rodrigo FS, Hertig E (2012) Wintertime circulation types over the Iberian Peninsula: long-term variability and relationships with weather extremes. Clim Res 53:205-227. https://doi.org/10.3354/cr01095 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in CR Vol. 53, No. 3. Online publication date: July 19, 2012 Print ISSN: 0936-577X; Online ISSN: 1616-1572 Copyright © 2012 Inter-Research.

The Antequera Slate is a striking scripted finding in the Roman “Villa de la Estacion” (Railway Station Villa) archaeological site which was in use in its Roman known period approximately between 100 years BC and 450 AD. Some of the slate incised signs were familiar to us because they were similar to the so-called pre-Iberian-Tartessian scripted incise or picketed signs found in a Megalithic context or not in rocks and stones in Iberia, Canary Islands and Algerian Sahara. The antiquity of these signs may vary depending the place but some may have been done thousands of years BC. We have put forward that these Antequera Slate signs may be pre-Iberian-Tartessian that had remained in Iberian autochthonous rural or aristocratic people during centuries, but a firm conclusion is premature. Otherwise, the scripts are not done in Roman or any other standard writing. Visigoth scripted slates were started to be performed in Central West Iberia when Visigoths appeared in Iberia, together with Suebi, Vandals and Alans. The Antequera Slate incise signs may have been originated by these new cultures, but no Visigoth tables signs have been found with similar signs to Antequera Slate signs. Taking into account that we do not now either the language/symbols or writing of many Visigothic slates (5th- 8th century AD) nor the Antequera Slate, we also agree with other scholars that this is an important enigma which does not fit with archaeology, anthropology and history of Iberian Peninsula and that all these disciplines should be revised in the context detailed in this and others work.