The Bioarchaeology of Individuals

9. The “African Queen”: A Portuguese Mystery

9  d The “African Queen” A Portuguese Mystery Mary Lucas Powell, Della Collins Cook, Maia M. Langley, Susan Dale Spencer, Jennifer Raff, and Frederika Kaestle Individual Profile Site: Torre de Palma Location: 5 km northwest of the town of Monforte, Alto Alentejo, Portugal; geographic coordinates: Lisbon datum 07° 24’50”.070, 38° 57’43”.441 Cultural Affiliation: Medieval Portugal Date: A.D. 1469–1648 (radiocarbon date calibrated for eastern Portugal) Feature: Unknown; Museu Nacional de Arqueologia catalog number 4769 v.2 Location of Grave: Exact location unknown, but the word“Capela,”written on the right parietal, indicates that the individual was buried inside the church precinct Burial and Grave Type: Unknown Associated Materials: None reported Preservation and Completeness: This individual is represented only by the cranium and mandible, first and second cervical vertebrae, and two hand phalanges Age at Death and Basis of Estimate: 30–40 years, based on dental eruption and wear and ectocranial suture closure Sex and Basis of Determination: Female, based on cranial morphology Conditions Observed: Marked maxillary and mandibular prognathism; long, low cranial vault (cranial index 70.4); guttering at nasal inferior margin; missing right and left maxillary incisors suggesting deliberate avulsion; no skeletal pathology observed Specialized Analysis: Radiocarbon dating, aDNA analysis, stable carbon isotope analysis Excavated: 1950s–1960s, excavations directed by Manuel Heleno, Museu Etnológico, Lisbon Archaeological Report: Heleno 1962; Maloney and Hale 1996 Current Disposition: Curated at the Museu Nacional de Arqueologia (series #0241), Lisbon 127 128 · M. Powell, D. Cook, M. Langley, S. Spencer, J. Raff, and F. Kaestle In the spring of 1947 a young farmer named Joaquim Inocêncio Militão began plowing a field on a large agricultural estate, the Herdade de Torre de Palma, located 5 km northwest of the town of Monforte in the Alto Alentejo, eastern Portugal. His plow struck the granite base of a column in an open area south of the Monte, the venerable estate farmhouse whose central fortified tower dates from the medieval era (figure 9.1). This happy accident led to the discovery of the largest Roman villa identified so far in Portugal, the center of a large agricultural estate devoted, in part, to the breeding of horses for the Roman racing circuit. One of the mosaic floors in the villa features full-length portraits of five horses, each one identified by name with a palm tree branch attached to his bridle, such as were awarded to victorious athletes. The name of “Palma,” associated with this estate since ancient times, may preserve the memory of this tradition. Some 150 m northwest of the villa and 750 m south of the Monte lay the remains of one of the earliest Christian churches in the Iberian Peninsula (Langley et al. 2007), distinguished by its unusual pair of double-apsed basilicas placed end to end. The eastern basilica was constructed in the mid-fifth century A.D., with the adjacent western basilica added during the following century. The site was evidently abandoned during the late eighth century, probably as part of the movement of rural populations into nearby fortified towns such as Monforte, 5 km to the east, during the first period of Moorish occupation of the southern Figure 9.1. The Monte. Note the medieval-era fortified central tower. (Photograph by Mary Lucas Powell.) half of the Iberian Peninsula. Some time during the eleventh or twelfth century , the eastern apse of the western basilica was rebuilt, and over the following three centuries numerous burials of young children were placed underneath its elevated floor. The lower part of the stone apse wall remained visible above ground long after the rest of the structure had collapsed and was still known locally as the Ermidas de São Domingos (Hermitage of Saint Dominic) in 1947 (Maloney and Hale 1996). The initial excavations at Torre de Palma were conducted from 1947 until 1964 under the direction of Manuel Heleno and again by Fernando de Almeida in 1971—both former directors/archaeologists of the Museu Nacional de Ethnol ógico (now called the Museu Nacional de Arqueologia, or MNA), Lisbon. In 1984 Stephanie Maloney (project director) and John R. Hale (field director) of the University of Louisville, Kentucky, initiated a second series of excavations focusing initially on the church (called the “Capela” by the original Portuguese excavators but renamed the “Basilica” by the Maloney-Hale project) and then moving on to refine the construction sequences and chronologies of...