Micromorphological Insight into the Cave Sediments of Cadaval Cave, Tomar, Portugal

Cadaval cave is located in a karstic canyon of the Nabão River, in the right margin of the Tagus River basin, municipality of Tomar, Centre of Portugal. The site encompasses a long stratigraphic sequence from present days to, at least, the Middle Palaeolithic. Major excavations were made during the 1980’s and restarted in 2019 under the scope of the FCT funded project - Moving tasks across shapes: the agro-pastoralists spread from and into the Alto Ribatejo (MTAS), (PTDC/EPH-ARQ/4356/2014).The Holocene sequence has three main sedimentary units: Layer E (without human occupation), Layer D (with Late early to Middle Neolithic necropolis) and Layer C (with a Late Neolithic necropolis). Because of the lack of detailed geoarchaeological studies, the process of deposition and modification of sedimentary layers remains in question, this being very important to better interpret natural vs human dynamics, including site formation processes. For instance, Layer E is supposed to correspond to an earlier Holocene stage (Greenlandian), a period in which other caves from the region have dwelling and funerary occupations. This can be related to the low demographic density at the time, but also to the roof collapse event, an idea reinforced by the presence of some Middle Neolithic burials on the top of some large slabs. Nevertheless, a better characterization of its formation and the degree of anthropic impact in the diagenetic process will allow for a clearer interpretation of this and other situations.The main objective of the first author`s ongoing PhD project is to characterize the Late Pleistocene and Holocene sedimentary processes and the site formation processes of the archaeological record in the basin of the Tagus River, namely assessing its anthropic component. For this, a detailed geoarchaeological investigation is being carried out in several sites, including Cadaval cave, giving particular emphasis to the use of micromorphology.Keywords: Micromorphology, Cave sediments, Neolithic, Stratigraphy, Holocene.