The Zooarchaeology of ancient whaling practices in Portugal: A review and a new Roman Republican contribution at Castelo Velho de Safara

The identification of archaeological cetacean specimens to the species level often presents challenges, primarily due to the frequent fragmentation of their remains. This limitation hampers our ability to comprehensively understand the spatiotemporal distributions of cetaceans in the past and constrains our knowledge of early whaling activities. To address this issue, a systematic zooarchaeological review was conducted, encompassing published literature and reports that compile available data related to cetaceans retrieved from archaeological contexts in Portugal, spanning from the Middle Palaeolithic to the 18th century. Furthermore, this study introduces a new discovery of a cetacean specimen from the Roman Republican levels at Castelo Velho de Safara, which has been incorporated into the aforementioned dataset. The taxonomic identification of this specimen was accomplished using Zooarchaeology by Mass-Spectrometry (ZooMS). The study confirms that cetacean remains have been present in Portuguese waters since the Middle Palaeolithic, with higher concentrations in the southern and central regions of the country. ZooMS analysis confirmed the presence of the North Atlantic right whale at the inland site of Castelo Velho de Safara, which supports whale product trading during the Roman Republican period in Portugal. Evidence of cetacean exploitation continues to the Medieval and Modern periods, reflecting a strong cultural link between Portuguese ancient culture and whaling practices.