Paper short abstract:

Along the coastal zone of Esposende a huge quantity of artefacts remains (especially amphorae) was found, pointing to the existence of natural anchorage conditions of the area and its importance for Atlantic trade during the transition of 1st BC and AD millennia.

Paper long abstract:

During the transition from 1st BC to 1st AD millennia the Atlantic coastal landscape would be very different from nowadays. The Northwest coastline was characterized by headlands and small lagoons (or estuaries), protected by barriers located westwards and probably connected with the sea, at least intermittently. This is suggested by the characteristics of the sedimentary deposits outcropping on present beaches. The lagoons could have worked as natural anchorage places providing perfect conditions for sea-trade.

These geographical conditions would explain the large quantity of amphorae remains from Baetica dated from the 1st century AD, transported in boats that demanded that coast, and wrecked. The first shipwreck load, mainly composed of Haltern 70 amphorae, was discovered in Rio de Moinhos beach (Esposende), in 2005. We believe that this shipwreck occurred in the vicinity of a probable small anchorage place, located in the vicinity of the settling of S. Lourenço, Vila Chã, at the cliff top facing Esposende. In fact, N-S lined wood stakes discovered in the same beach a year before, are interpreted as remains of a palafitte quay. One of the stakes was radiocarbon dated of 1960±60 yr BP (2 sigma calibrated: 106 cal BC - 180 cal AD).

But there are more remains in another beach, north of Rio de Moinhos. Storms occurred from October 2013 till February 2014, exhumed more pieces, mostly composed by gaditan fish amphorae Dressel 7-11 dated from the mid-1st century AD, that are attributed to another shipwreck.

Paper short abstract:

Sines is not refered in the Portuguese historiographical literature on the Expansion. However, new archaeological remains in the churchyard of S Salvador, in Sines, corroborated by archival documentation, can change this vision.

Paper long abstract:

The archaeological work carried out under the Urban Regeneration program of the Municipality of Sines revealed archaeological remains that indicate the town as a relevant and strategic point in the commerce and navigation of the Atlantic.

We identified some burials that open new investigation queries, such as its African origins. The archaeological data will be the object of a research project that aims to analyze the anthropological data. The investigation contemplates a historical and documentary investigation that recommends the analysis of documents in national and Spanish archives.

The archaeological structures identified on Vasco da Gama Avenue indicate that there were a number of infrastructures related to maritime and port activity, which are not documented. On the other hand, in the Early Modern age they are multiple references to the participation of people from Sines on the Route of the West Indies. It was the moment to begin a never concluded oceanic harbor en Sines and in Porto Covo. Furthermore, the archival documentation proves the presence of slaves in the county since the 16th century.

In the XVII-XIX centuries, the port of Sines was the point of entry and exit of goods from the Alentejo's region, and the port infrastructures built by the Municipal Council of Sines and private individuals date from this period.

This new perspective has paved the way to study the role of Sines in the transatlantic context and its participation in the route of the Indies and in the slave trade.

Paper short abstract:

The Oceans and its musical heritage: on board of the portuguese ships of 16th-17th centuries, devotions and religious customs were accompanied by a surprising polyphonic musical practice and musical instruments. Evangelization had another missionary order: sacred music in "floating cathedrals".

Paper long abstract:

This communication concerns the religious observance and music on board of 16th/17th-century portuguese ships that sailed to Brazil and India, aiming to draw attention to a stimulating theme which is still of little known of academic public. The crew of a ship included, besides the elements connected directly to navigation, many other travelers who ventured to a new life in the new discovered lands. The religious service of this small maritime society was assured by the priests and missionaries who accompanied them in their ardor of evangelization. It is through the jesuits epistolary, chronicles, and other documents, that is revealed a surprising polyphonic musical practice during mass, devotions and processions, accompanied by many other musical instruments.

Paper short abstract:

In this presentation we intent to make an assessment regarding Lisbon waterfront archaeology during the Early-Modern period, including the formation processes of the archaeological record, their chronology and relationship with the construction of the waterfront and port operation.

Paper long abstract:

Since the 1990s that construction works in Lisbon’s riverfront have demonstrated the buried archaeological potential of the city associated with maritime activities: ship remains, shipwrecks and nautical structures, covering a large period of waterfront development, from the 16th to the 20th centuries.

In this presentation we intent to make an assessment regarding these findings, focusing on several issues including the formation processes of those archaeological, their chronology and relationship with the construction of the waterfront and port operation in the Early-Modern period. Aspects related to the shipbuilding and the context of the several ships will also be focused.

Paper short abstract:

American territories had been explored by several European nations. Taking both Portuguese and British cases, Charleston and Baía, the aim of this communication is to compare the emergence of two continental port cities of two Modern maritime empires in the context of European expansion.

Paper long abstract:

The increase of maritime empires in the Early Modern Age was supported, in a first stage, by the navigation capacity but also by support given by the port-cities, responsible for the connection between the metropolis and the new territories. Centering on the Atlantic world during the 16th-17th centuries, the main goal of this study is to understand the first experiences of settlement and port-city positioning in the American territory using as case studies Charleston in America and Salvador da Baía in Brasil. These two examples will reflect different imperial policies, Portuguese and British, not very often compared. The objective is to analyze geographical features, structures and functions adapted to both European referents and interests and how settlers and royal agents implemented port models. To guarantee new ports functioning for crowns expansion purposes, Portuguese and British, had to choose, based on empirical observation, the best position for a port and for the settlement. The natural characteristics were the principal referent for that choice both in land and on aquatic space. With this assumption a port, as it was understand by the time, was a place good for having ships safely, well anchored and protected from dominant winds and storms. Having some historical descriptions of the first experiences of the port functioning, geographical and cartographic and archaeological elements as principal data, the proposal for this presentation is to analyze these two case studies of Charleston and Salvador da Baia as port-cities of the New World.

Paper short abstract:

This presentation is about understanding how Bilbao, a city by the estuary of the Nervión-Ibaizabal river, became the most important port town in the Basque Country from the Middle Ages due to its constant need to conquer and adapt such river.

Paper long abstract:

In 1300 Bilbao was officially establish as a harbour town. Before that time, people were using the river which suggests a variety of maritime activities (shipbuilding, trading…). Due to its location at the bottom of a valley, with middle height hills, the only way for Bilbao to grew was to reclaim parts of the river, adapting the waterfront, and enlarging downwards to the sea. This was done with a lot of effort, altering the course of the river, creating island which were later closed for enlarging the port space for loading and unloading goods and raw material. Archaeological work carried out in the recent years has allowed to record many of this events by joining the archaeological results, photographs, blueprints, painting and historical records. This allows to understand why the current port of Bilbao has been built at the mouth of the river, making it a superport on the sea.

Archaeology provide us with a window into the past to understand how a city develops through time. It is still surprising that a city so industrialized as Bilbao still have elements of its maritime activites: from jetties to bollards, from fishing weirs to docking areas, from cranes to remains of bargues in the intertidal zone.

This presentation will show our current work in an attempt to record all these features before the ongoing transformation of the waterfront in Bilbao destroy them. Should not be recorded properly, they will only be remembered in pictures.

Paper short abstract:

In this presentation, I intend to discuss some results achieved by the project ‘Harbour Archaeology in Sergipe’, developed in the Federal University of Sergipe. We will highlight mainly the remnants and structures identified along the Sergipe/ Cotinguiba Rivers, in the state of Sergipe, Brazil.

Paper long abstract:

I intend to discuss some results achieved by the project 'Harbour Archaeology in Sergipe: inventory and contextualization of structures', developed in the Federal University of Sergipe (UFS). We will highlight the remnants and structures identified along the Sergipe/ Cotinguiba Rivers, mainly in Aracaju area, the Capital of the state, as well as shipwrecks that have been found in Real and in São Francisco Rivers, both bordering the state of Sergipe, Brazil.

The main goal of this project is to stablish the foundations for the development of a systematic program of Harbour Archaeology in the state of Sergipe, comprehending the location, inventory, mapping, and contextualization of portuary goods, be they structures, buildings or equipment, mobile or real state, in use or abandoned.

That project has already yielded a significant amount of information on the port activities in the 19th and 20th centuries in Sergipe and neighboring states, despite having not yet carried out invasive fieldwork (excavation and gathering of material).

An exception to this was the research done in the archaeological site Ruínas do Teatro, in Laranjeiras, city of the Archaeology course in the UFS.

As a consequence, there have been a number of methodologies proposed for the study of the port landscapes in Sergipe, which might contribute soon to the consolidation of the Harbour Archaeology in Brazil.