Early Atlantic Navigation: Pre-Portuguese Presence in the Azores Islands

Abstract

We present here evidence of pre-Portuguese presence in the Azores Islands, Portugal, found near the site of Grota do Medo (Posto Santo), discovered by Rodrigues (2013) in Terceira Island, Azores. This evidence was dated by Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, and indicates the presence of human activity in Terceira Island before or during the XI th century. The evidence consisted in a man-made rock basin, which was found in a site that contains also striking similarities with many other aspects from ancient cultures, including other man-made rock basins, arrangements of large stones which resemble megalithic constructions, and inscriptions in stones which resemble ancient petroglyphs. Although the dating of this evidence is highly suggestive of the presence of human activity in the Azores Islands long before the arrival of the Portuguese navigators of the XV th century, there is no clear evidence which enables us to identify which specific culture may have existed in the Azores before the Portuguese arrival.

Malta and Lanzarote (Canary Islands, Spain) cart-ruts and rock prehistoric calendar at Zonzamas, Lanzarote -"Quesera"/Cheeseboard

“…In fact, megalithism use and construction in all manifestations: Menhir, (Bonnici, 2007) is missing cart-ruts extant in the Atlantic Ocean, i.e. : Lanzarote (present paper) and Azores (Ribeiro et al, 2015;Ribeiro et al, 2017;Rodrigues et al, 2015).…”

The moon: in prehistoric lunisolar rock calendar “quesera” cheeseboard- at Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain

“…Pyramids have also been found in Canary Islands and Azores. Other prehistoric artifacts and constructions have been found also in Madeira, showing that Macaronesia Islands where inhabited in prehistoric times, including possibly in Megalithic Epoch (Ribeiro et al, , 2017Rodrigues et al, 2015) A particular mention to the unexplained phenomenon of "cart-ruts" must be made. They are present in Malta, Azores (Trump, 2002;Ribeiro et al, 2015Ribeiro et al, , 2017Rodrigues et al, 2015;Rodrigues communication), Iberia, Turkey and other parts of the World.…”

“…Other prehistoric artifacts and constructions have been found also in Madeira, showing that Macaronesia Islands where inhabited in prehistoric times, including possibly in Megalithic Epoch (Ribeiro et al, , 2017Rodrigues et al, 2015) A particular mention to the unexplained phenomenon of "cart-ruts" must be made. They are present in Malta, Azores (Trump, 2002;Ribeiro et al, 2015Ribeiro et al, , 2017Rodrigues et al, 2015;Rodrigues communication), Iberia, Turkey and other parts of the World. "Cart-ruts" have been assigned to Megalithic culture/Pyramid culture in Malta with and age between 5,000-3,000 years BC which may be different depending on the analyzed place (Trump, 2002), they are carved rock strips and crests that cover many places of Malta archipelago.…”

Dating the Cart-Ruts of Terceira Island, Azores, Portugal

“…The evidence of such human activity includes deforestation, the cultivation of various cereals, animal husbandry and the use of fire, although human impact on the island was more limited before the Portuguese arrival than after. Analysis of a man-made bowl in Terceira Island, which inside sediments was dated through Accelerator Mass Spectrometry at Beta Analytic, Miami, is highly suggestive of human presence in the island at least during the 11 th century, if not before (Rodrigues et al, 2015).…”

“…The studies mentioned above were led by six entirely different groups of researchers, most of whom were not concerned with finding evidence of pre-Portuguese presence in the Azores Islands or Madeira Islands, and obtained such evidence as a by-product of the investigations they were conducting, be it genetic studies on rodents, the study of natural and anthropogenic dynamics in (Rodrigues, 2013;Pimenta et al, 2013;Rodrigues, 2015;Rodrigues et al, 2015;Ribeiro et al, 2017) are still in their infancy, so there is no clear archaeological context that enables solid inferences as to which specific human culture may have existed in the Azores Islands before Portuguese arrival.…”