A multidisciplinary approach to an old burial site reveals new secrets in the human past. The article, by Peyroteo Stjerna et al. (2022) were published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports
Highlights
- We discovered one individual of West African origin buried 400 years ago in a Portuguese Mesolithic shell midden.
- We employed a multidisciplinary approach integrating archaeology, historical records, genetics, radiocarbon dating and stable isotope analysis to investigate the biogeographic origins of this individual and burial circumstances.
- We could determine that this was a man of West African origin, probably from Senegambia, arriving in Portugal via the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.
- Our study provides new insights into aspects of the life and death of a first-generation African individual in Portugal during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade period and highlights the power of multidisciplinary research to unravel unwritten history.