Título: Novos dados sobre a paisagem urbana da Santarém medieval (séculos V-XII): a necrópole visigoda e islâmica de Alporão.

No abstract

This study explores whether child growth has signalled periods of social change between the Medieval Islamic and post‐Islamic Christian Periods in Santarém, Portugal. The social change is associated with the Christian conquest of Iberia and the fall of the Islamic Empire in Europe, which ceased the regional influence of the Golden Age of Islam. This may have caused a deterioration in living conditions brought by the Christian conquest, compared with the social improvements brought by the Medieval Islamic Empire. Forty‐two juvenile skeletons were taken from three Medieval Islamic and three Late Medieval Christian sites excavated in the city of Santarém, Portugal. Age was estimated from tooth length. Linear growth for all long bones and appositional growth of the femur midshaft were compared with expected growth from the Denver Growth Study, using z scores. Significant growth deficit was found throughout the Medieval Islamic and Christian Periods in Santarém, as well as a deficit in apposition of cortical bone. Although children in the post‐Islamic Christian period showed a trend towards greater linear and appositional growth deficits, these differences were not statistically significant. Children in Medieval Islamic and Late Medieval Christian Periods show significant growth disruption, suggesting that in Santarém, the post‐Islamic Medieval Christian period may not have witnessed a decrease in living conditions after the fall of Islamic rule in the territory. Further studies that incorporate more samples from the Islamic and Post‐Islamic Periods as well as pre‐Islamic population samples are needed to explore the possibility that the Islamic Period was more favourable for child growth.

Combining historical, archaeological and experimental data, traditional and archaeological ceramics, from the Santarém district, with different chronology and functions have been studied. Our aim is to understand ancient pottery technology and to evaluate whether ceramic production followed similar principles in the Middle Ages (from the Islamic to the Christian domination) and Modern times. Moreover, traditional ceramics, knowing the productive process, have been used as a tool to interpret ancient pottery technology. We considered different utilitarian ceramic groups, namely fire, table and food-liquid container wares. Through the combination of optical microscopy (OM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) with physical and mechanical tests, it has been possible to collect valuable information regarding pottery manufacturing, considering the age and the object function. Moreover, it is also considered the effect of raw materials mixing and ceramic paste preparation on ceramics final characteristics. Our results indicate that both during the Middle Ages and in Modern times, technical expertise played, and still play, a fundamental role in the creation of a specific object. In this specific case, behavioural and socio-cultural factor drove ceramists' decision when selecting between different technological solutions, and every decision or technical choice is/was taken depending on the functional and performance characteristics desired for a specific artefact. This happened during the Middle Ages, and is still happening nowadays for the production of traditional ceramics in the district of Santarém, Portugal.