Repositório RCAAP

Engraved slate plaques from the Southwestern Iberian Peninsula are embedded into the funerary context of the Late Neolithic–Chalcolithic farming societies. They appear in the funerary structures, mainly megalithic, within archaeological deposits dated between 3500-2750 BC (calibrated age). Beyond its mere presence in these tombs, the symbolic and social role of this material culture is a historic dilemma widely discussed by archaeologists. Indeed, interpretations over these objects are numerous and diverse, but rarely have used methodological tools to test the hypotheses. This paper applies phylogenetic methods to check empirically one of the most recent hypotheses, that the plaques are ancient mnemonic devices that record genealogies of different lineages or clans. The results reported here come from four different samples representing the overall set of known and published plaques today, and they demonstrate that this hypothesis cannot be maintained. Finally, a discussion on the most plausible interpretative lines that should be tested in future studies is made.

Lapa da Galinha (literally «The chicken’s cave»…) is a typical small cave of the portuguese Estremadura. Located near Alcanena, it was excavated more than a century ago and, at the time, the numerous human remains therein identified have already been removed to the local cemetery and are not available for study and dating. A first note about this cave, very insufficient for the importance of the site, have been presented to the 1st National Congress of Archaeology (Moreira de Sá, 1959). Lapa da Galinha revealed, for the cultural milieu in which it is included, a considerable amount of engraved schist plaques and a rather peculiar «crosier», morphologically resembling an axe. If the «crosier» is so peculiar and unique, also the plaques form a very bizarre ensemble. Most of them are double faced, the motifs and decorative patterns are also peculiar and some present unusual shapes for the area of Estremadura – disclosing possible cultural influences of other regional areas. The «PLACA NOSTRA» Project shows, for the first time, drawings of all the available plaques and presents some new perspectives on the meaning of the «Lapa da Galinha connection»...

The remains collected by Hipólito Cabaço in the 1950s, following the exploration of the cave of Pedra Furada 1 are presented here. The review of the archaeological and osteological material, the later human and faunal, showed that the cave has been visited and used intermittently between the transition from the fourth and third millennia BC; in the middle and second half of the same millennium, as well as during the second millenium BC. Finaly a specific context was atributed to the Sixteenth Century. Of those periods, the first was associated to a collective funerary use, evidenced by radiocarbon dating of an individual’s bone, but it is plausible that the second period also have been mortuary. However the funerary practice in the second millennium BC is not as certain and might be associated with cavernous cults. And this doubt extends to the modern case. The anthropological study estimated globally a minimum of 34 individuals, 10 adults and 24 not adults of both sexes deposited in this cave.

In this article we present an individual grave found at the entrance of Ponte da Laje cave in 1958. The data discussion points out to the cultural meaning of the existence of an individual grave dated from early Chalcolithic, in the context of the collective graves of that period. The presence of two superimposed vessels, placed upside-down on the ground has a ritual meaning, which was valued and compared with other known examples.

In the sequence of a project designed to detect and characterize new ditched enclosures in Alentejo region (South Portugal) two new sites were identified through Google Earth and submitted to geophysics (magnetometry). The results revealed two ditched enclosures of different size and complexity. One, Montoito 2, with surface material from Chalcolithic, has a relatively simple plan with a larger double ditched enclosure with an elliptic layout and a small sinuous ditch inside. The other, Monte da Contenda, is an extraordinary complex system of ditched enclosures, with diverse dimensions, layouts and times of construction / use. It has a long chronology, from the Late Neolithic to the Chalcolithic. A first survey of one of the ditches provided two radiocarbon dates from the last third of the 4th millennium BC. Archaeological material and faunal remains are characterized for each site and their relation to other nearby enclosures is discussed, underlining the need for establishing the temporalities of these kind of sites in order to adequately approach the reconstruction of local settlement networks.

The Chalcolithic fortified settlement of Moita da Ladra is located on the top of a high volcanic chimney that dominates the Tagus estuary. The archaeological site was entirely excavated due to the exploitation prosecution of a basalt quarry. The identified archaeological structures are both defensive and residential. The remains of an ellipsoidal wall with 80 m length and 44 m width including two massive towers and na entrance facing the Tagus estuary on the southern side. This settlement’s builders wanted it to be easily seen from the river and at a long distance. Besides its defensive function this archaeological site is intended to be a landmark in this landscape. The implantation of this Chalcolithic settlement is related with the access control of the large inner basin of Loures lowland, related with Sizandro river basin flux in which Zambujal fortified settlement is located. The site has only one occupation phase with few but diversified archaeological remains characterized with both decorated ceramics of “folha de acacia/crucífera” group and bell beakers ceramics represented by maritime vases and vases with geometric decoration. Radiocarbon dating points out to the occupation of this site during the second half of the 3rd millennium BC, the same of other high fortified settlements of this region, such as Penha Verde (Sintra) or Leceia (Oeiras). The coexistence of both bell beakers ceramics and non beaker’s ceramics of “folha de acacia/crucífera” group has an important cultural meaning that is valued in this article.

A survey of Bell Beaker manifestations in the Portuguese territory is presented here. Main conclusions are highlighted: 1) Concerning absolute chronology, the most ancient beaker productions can be situated between 2800-2600 BC, either in the North region of the Douro river, or in the Estremadura; 2) Most part of archaeological sites present stratigraphic coexistence of different ceramic productions with decorative patterns and techniques. This is in contradiction with the traditional periodization of the Bell Beaker manifestations that are based upon those stylistic characteristics. On the other hand, in some regions we can observe the almost absolute dominance of diferente styles in some domestic sites that are synchronic, in spite of its spatial proximity, as in the case of eastern region of Alto Alentejo. 3) In the Estremadura, the typological differences observed between the productions from walled sites and open sites, both contemporaneous, suggest that the first ones are the local residence of emergent elites. Open sites were occupied by the segment of the community dedicated intensively and extensively to agro-pastoral activities. 4) Finally, the nature and characteristics of the Ferradeira Horizon and Montelavar Horizon, which corresponds to the transition to the Bronze Age, are discussed.

This article presents the study of a ceramic vessel of the “Bronze do Sudoeste” culture (Southwest Bronze Age Culture) recovered during archaeological excavations in a settlement in Lisbon’s historical center. This vessel is related with several other occurrences from burials and/or ritual depositions in Southern Estremadura region during the first half of the 2nd millennium BC. The most ancient of these productions coexist with the last beaker vessels both in this region as in Southwest Portugal, according to the available radiocarbon data.

This paper presents and discusses the results, some of them previously published, of two Late Bonze Age sites at the Sintra mountain range, Penha Verde and Castelo dos Mouros. The late was object of recent excavations witch results are preliminary published in the presente article, namely a recipient which decoration characteristics are unknown in the Portuguese territory until now, witch has affinities with the Western Mediterranean, and a ritual deposition of a vessel, intentionally fragmented, probably related to the sacred connotation of Sintra’s mountain range documented since the Chalcolithic.

Chões de Alpompé was recognized as an archaeological site only during the 50´s, the time from which it was extensively and intensively surveyed, in several times and in several contexts. The artifacts gathered during those fieldworks where frequently published, stating the existence of an important roman republican occupation which was early associated with Decimus Junius Brutus military campaign, in 138 BC. The same association also allowed its match to Strabo´s Moron, considering the existence of some artifacts that indicated an Orientalizing Iron Age affiliation. A collection of unpublished materials that remained deposited in Casa dos Patudos (Alpiarça) since the 70´s deserved a proper analyzes, enabling an overall characterization of the site that take into account the available data.  

Outurela I and II are to two small Iron Age settlements, located in low altitudes, separated by only 500 m, apparently focused in agricultural and husbandry activities. The archaeological fieldwork that took place during the 80's allowed the recovery of a significant set of artifacts, mostly ceramics. The thorough study of these materials and its comparative analyses with data available from other sites in the Tagus estuary, enable us to verify a strong connection among them (both with similar low altitude sites and with main riverside settlements as, for example, Lisbon). The existence of a considerable dense settlement network during the 5th and 4th centuries BC becomes evident, even if its origin may be related by links of either cooperation or subordination. On the other hand, the available data seems to indicate a relative antiquity of Outurela II in view of Outurela I, even if its contemporaneity is clear during the 5th century BC.

In this article we present a selection of the most relevant data that A. M. Cavaleiro Paixão presented in 1970 in his graduate thesis he defended at Faculdade de Letras de Lisboa (Lisbon Faculty of Letters) about his archaeological fieldwork at the Iron Age necropolis of Olival do Senhor dos Mártires. This text was never published and 45 years later the important scientific interest of these excavations and its results remains and is even higher, due to the fact that in the last decades there has been an increasing knowledge of the Iron Age necropolis in southern Iberian Peninsula. Although the necropolis area excavated between 1966 and 1968 was small, the importance of the identified incineration graves and the recovered archaeological remains, carefully registered and characterized give to this work a major importance to the study of Iron Age, both in the Portuguese territory, as in southern Iberian Peninsula. This necropolis was first excavated during late 19th century and can be dated from the 7th to the 4th century BC, with influences from hinterland and Mediterranean as Cavaleiro Paixão already mentioned in his graduate thesis.

Analysis of the word “pala” and derivative voices kept alive in Spanish and in Galaico-Portuguese language and in the place names of the Galician-Lusitanian region and of the provinces of León, Zamora and Salamanca (Spain). Its meaning as “rock” is confirmed, as its origin in the i.e. Lusitanian language. It thus provides an interesting example of survivals of longue durée in words of prehistoric origin preserved in the western lands of Iberia.

In this article we present a synthesis of the work of Abel Viana (1896-1964) in the Archaeology. We stress the existence of three phases in his career, corresponding to an increase and diversity of his scientific production: the initial phase, developed in his native region (Minho, Northern Portugal); the second phase, corresponding to the period he stayed in Faro, Algarve; and the last phase, when he lived in Beja (Baixo Alentejo), where he wrote his most important works.

Professor Virgínia Rau was an eminent Portuguese medieval historian, and an international renowned researcher in economic and social history, themes that she approached during her lectures at Faculdade de Letras de Lisboa (Lisbon’s Faculty of Letters) since the late forties of the 20th century until the end of her career as full professor and college’s dean. However, during the middle and late forties of the 20th century she published a few papers on Prehistory and did some field work on Early and Middle Palaeolithic. Her interest on these themes and the reasons why she maintained this interest alive until the end of the 1940 decade and then abandoned it remain unstudied until today. In this article we intend to unveil this still unknown and mysterious aspect of Professor Virgínia Rau’s brilliant career.

Apresentação do volume 20 da série "Estudos Arqueológicos de Oeiras", na Academia das Ciências de Lisboa.

434 páginas

After tracing the history of the emergence of Prehistory studies on a scientific basis in the second quarter of the nineteenth century, a synthesis of the archaeological research in Portugal is presented. These studies may be seen mainly as result of excavations carried out in caves and open air deposits, particularly in those of the Somme valley by Boucher de Perthes. In Portugal too the importance given to these findings was remarkable for the development of field research that in the near future, led to the first of scientific publications conducted by geologists of the 2nd Geological Commission Portugal (1857-1868). This remarkable boost in the investigation of the latest archaeological evidence continued for about 25 years, culminating in the holding in Lisbon of the 9th session of the International Congress of Anthropology and Prehistoric Archaeology in September 1880.

We present an unpublished manuscript of Carlos Ribeiro, with notes added by himself about the Quaternary deposits of the Portuguese territory from Tras-os-Montes (Northern Portugal) to Algarve (Southern Portugal). Most interesting are the observations he wrote on the raised beaches of the western atlantic coast and, above all, about the Holocene formations of the lower Tagus valley, in connection with the shellmiddens of Magos and Muge for the first time carefully described. This manuscript was written in 1867 and completes another one, written between 1867 and 1869, already published by us. This is a more detailed document, concerning especially the oldest deposits that Carlos Ribeiro attributed to the Quartenary (those from the Lower and Middle Group), but in fact belonging to the Miocene and Pliocene. However, this manuscript presents a more accurate description of the Upper Group, the only one that corresponds totally to the Quaternary. Finally we discuss the reasons why this manuscript, of great importance for the study and understanding of the History of Geology and Archaeology, was not published at the time.

The author presents a synthesis of the Neolithic chronological sequence in Estremadura, Portugal. In this region he has developed much of his research, directed archaeological excavations in several important sites and published the results obtained. The nature and characteristics of these sites and their artefacts, along with their absolute chronology, will therefore be the essential elements of this article, without prejudice to its correlation and discussion in a broader framework, based on the information available to other sites with comparative interest.