Contributo para o conhecimento do povoamento rural romano no concelho de Montemor-o-Novo: caso da barragem dos minutos

O concelho de Montemor-o-Novo é rico em vestígios arqueológicos de várias cronologias, pelo que a época romana não é excepção. Durante muito tempo pouco se conhecia deste período cronológico, particularmente a forma do seu povoamento. Durante os anos 60 do século XX, foram identificadas e escavadas algumas estruturas deste período, nomeadamente a Fonte do Prior, o Curral dos Cães e o Cabeço do Ceivo. No entanto, foi durante as obras da Barragem dos Minutos que começamos a ter uma nova perceção de como seria o povoamento romano neste território. Sítios como estes têm vindo, ao longo do tempo, a ser colocados de parte quando se falava sobre a romanização dos campos por se considerar que essa ocupação era exclusiva das luxuosas villae e por se pensar que estes sítios fariam parte das villae. Neste trabalho iremos ver o resultado das intervenções realizados na Barragem dos Minutos, bem como as realizadas no regolfo da Barragem de Alqueva com o objectivo de tentar perceber estas novas realidades do povoamento romano; Abstract: The Montemor-o-Novo municipality is rich in archaeological remains of various chronologies, so the Roman era is no exception. But for a long time little was known of this chronological period and especially the shape of your settlement. During the 60s of the twentieth century, they have been identified and excavated some structures of this period, namely the Fonte do Prior, the Curral dos Cães and the Cabeço Ceivo. But it was during the construction of the dam of Minutos we started to have a new perception of how would the Roman settlement in this territory. Sites like these have been, over time, to be put aside when talking about the romanization of the fields in Roman times as it was considered that this occupation was exclusive of villae luxurious and think that these sites would be part of the villae. In this work we will see the result of the work done at the dam of the Minutos, as well as the work carried out in the surroundings of the Alqueva Dam and try to understand these new realities of the Roman settlement.

SEDIMENT BIOTURBATION POTENTIAL of UCA RAPAX and UCA URUGUAYENSIS AS A RESULT of THEIR FEEDING ACTIVITY

Bioturbation of mangrove sediments by Uca uruguayensis (Nobili, 1901) and U. rapax (Smith, 1870) was compared based on the grain-size composition and organic content in surface sediment around the burrow and feeding pellets in two mangrove zones of the Sao Vicente Estuary, state of São Paulo, Brazil. For each species, 25 burrows with active crabs were selected. All pellets within a 15-cm radius of each burrow were carefully collected; samples of substrate were taken; and the crab occupant was excavated, sexed, and measured for carapace width (CW). The number of spoon-tipped setae on the second maxilliped of each species was estimated; U. uruguayensis showed more of these setae than U. rapax. For both species, the sediment post-processed by feeding activity (feeding pellets) showed a similar increase of coarser fractions and a smaller organic content. However. U. uruguayensis was more efficient in removing organic matter (88.1%) from the sediment than U. rapax (37.5%). These results suggest that different numbers of spoon-tipped setae on the second maxillipeds of the fiddler crabs do not affect the potential for grain-size selection, but result in differing abilities to remove organic matter from the sediment.

Root behavior of savanna species in Brazil's Pantanal wetland.

The objective of this study was to determine the maximum depth, structure, diameter and biomass of the roots of common woody species in two savanna physiognomies (savanna woodland and open woody savanna) in Brazil's Pantanal wetland. The root systems of 37 trees and 34 shrubs of 15 savanna species were excavated to measure their length and depth and estimate the total root biomass through allometric relationships with stem diameter at ground level. In general, statistical regression models between root weight and stem diameter at ground level showed a significance of P < 0.05 and R2 values close to or above 0.8. The average depths of the root system in wetland savanna woodland and open woody savanna are 0.8 ± 0.3 m and 0.7 ± 0.2 m, respectively, and differ from the root systems of savanna woody species in non-flooding areas, whose depth usually ranges from 3 to 19 m.Weattribute this difference to the adaptation of woody plant to the shallow water table, particularly during the wet season. This singularity of woody species in wetland savannas is important when considering biomass and carbon stocks for national and global carbon inventories.

The Architecture of the Persian Period in the Levant

The earliest scholars were not concerned about preparing extensive investigations linking the Persian-period building remains excavated in the entire Levant together. Moreover, the research interests of scholars caused some impediments to the study of this period viz in the last decades; the Achaemenid period has been neglected by the scholars who -in turn- focused on the earlier and later periods for religious reasons. Too, while some regions have been studied abundantly, but it was not the case in other areas, which makes our knowledge is incomplete. From the explanation side, some scholars try to interpret the architectural remains from an ethnic perspective or unsubstantiated personal fancies, so their arguments were utterly lacking any objectivity. This thesis explores what are the Persian architectural and ornamental impacts on the Levantine architecture and the relations between Persian-period sites in Syria-Palestine region. Too, the architectural remains and their contents benefited us to clarify the settlement patterns in the regions being discussed. The author analyzed the ground plans of the buildings and their architectural features and ornamental motifs by conducting a descriptive, analytical, and interpretative study. He also conducted comparisons with similar buildings outside the Levant, especially in Fars to obtain a more comprehensive and systematic study, and then extracting any direct or indirect Persian influences. This has given us a better understanding of the nature of the social, political, and religious life in the entire Levant and the knowledge gap has been bridged to a satisfying extent. This study has demonstrated a few of the Achaemenid impacts, especially on the northern coastline of the Levant.