Abstract
- Since 2005, we have conducted a multidisciplinary archaeological survey and testing program to study flexibility in human adaptation to changing coastal and pericoastal landscapes in the Late Pleistocene of Portuguese Estremadura. Variations in coastal productivity affected resource availability through space and time and survival of prehistoric populations living in these areas would have necessitated flexible adaptations. We use a multiscalar landscape perspective for integrating regional and site data to interpret Paleolithic settlement patterns because geological and archaeological processes operate at many different temporal and spatial scales. Our results indicate that late prehistoric and historic land use has significantly impacted the archaeological record. Artifact concentrations dated to MIS 3 and 2 are associated with raised beaches, overwash mud deposits, tidal mud flats preserved in the coastal cliffs, eolian sand deposits in the diapiric valley and Cretaceous flint deposits in the uplands.