RCAAP Repository

.

In 1998, when this article was achieved, few Modern Times glassware − the more impressive group of these finds − had been recovered yet from Portuguese archaeological urban sites. The finds from Évora date from Roman times (1st-century to late Empire) till the 20th-century (pressed glass). Hence the interest of this publication, especially in what concerns the drinking glasses and the pharmaceutical devices of the 16th-and 17th-centuries.

This text analyses the castelology produced over the times in Portugal, which reflects several different views relating to the medieval fortifications. Therefore, the castelologic studies published in Portugal are contextualized with the Portuguese historiography at different levels (artistic, military, economic, sociocultural, etc.), being also compared briefly with what happened in other countries.

Complement to the article, which was published in this magazine last issue, on the beeswax chandler occupation and installation of beeswax presses in Penafiel district. This additional information shows new data about the owners of the production center in Ribas (Lagares). Genealogical appendix of the holding family (by Eduardo Vasconcelos).

.

We present the results concerning the archaeological work carried on on Monument 2, in Chão Redondo (Sever do Vouga, Aveiro, Portugal), by the responsibility of ARQUEOHOJE company. The foregoing mentioned dolmen, presents quite conventional (classical) characteristics, with chamber and hall way different in layout and hoist. Engravings can be seen on some of their orthostats. This recent intervention is quite important, firstly because it was possible to define, in a satisfactory way, the whole set of processes and techniques used for the erecting and subsequent sealing off of this tomb. Secondly, a frontier-limit of the monument was settled, with areas for the rituals and accesses to its interior, imbued with a symbolic meaning rather than a functional one. Concerning the most recent data and studies, the rock engravings on the orthostats, which are part of the chamber and hallway of the monument, are re-visited.

The article discusses Roman walls of ancient Oporto town, settled on Cathedral hill from Late Bronze Age, according to archaeological data produced during latest decades, mainly as a result of the continuous rescue and field evaluation policy Town Hall has developed through its former Urban Archaeology Unit. Due to this work, near a dozen of a defensive wall sections were already recognized, dating from the end of Iron Age, till 1st/2nd and 3rd/4th centuries, which suggests several building or rebuilding phases on the same wall.

This article aims to define the cultural context of a set of Visigothic metallic elements recovered from Patalou. Patalou is a site located in the county of Nisa, but it has not as yet been excavated. The artefacts of adornment, produced in bronze, and used over costume, are: three pieces of belt buckles, a simple buckle and an isolated component of a buckle. The analysis and interpretation developed in this text attempt to sort the artefacts according to a typology, in order to discuss their artistic, political, religious and chronological context. In doing so, I will compare the artefacts to those from well known Visigoth sites, namely burial sites located in the Iberian Peninsula.

After a short description of physical landscapes of lower Douro valley and its main routes, the settlement pattern and organization at the time of the Asturian kingdom is analyzed, taking out on both documentary and material sources. Having seen how the land taking and the settlement pattern based on the civitates served to the purposes of the Asturian monarchy to incorporate the Douro valley under its ruling sphere, we try to skim over the socio-economic and politic-military changes brought to light from the end of the first millennium AD. These changes would drive the territorial organization into another settlement pattern.

Written in 1987 and revised in 1990, the present study, dedicated to the rock-hewn tombs of the Entre Douro e Minho, brings a contextualized perspective of these medieval archaeological remains. It was, in this perspective, a pioneer study in Portugal. First we analyze the earliest historical references for this kind of graves and the various chronological proposals suggested by the different authors. Then we develop the theory of Alberto del Castillo, and his chronological and typological proposals. We also discuss the contributions of recent authors and the problematic related with these graves. Finally, we present an overview of these graves evolution in the Entre Douro e Minho and an archaeological inventory for the three districts of this region (Viana do Castelo, Braga and Porto)

We report a vernacular beeswax press, which was identified at Cancelos (Sebolido, Penafiel), as well as the occupation of beeswax chandler during the Modern and Contemporary Eras. These professional chandlers held an essential role in collecting the combs from small farms, in purifying its wax and in subsequently marketing the beeswax both in bulk and processed into candles and ex-votos over the local and interregional trade channels.

This text discusses the process of construction-use-closure of decorated dolmens in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. The “decoration” is perceived as one of the aspects of collective social negotiation underlying the construction of the monument. In fact, the construction and decoration reflect the maintenance, recreation and alteration of specific memories, identities and ideologies in the Neolithic communities of the region. Each monument contains a specific inner scenography that is anchored in the scenographic, mythographic and ideological traditions of the wider region.

This paper aims to reflect upon the architectonic devices present in the archaeological site of Castanheiro do Vento. In this way two particular structures will be considered as paradigmatic examples (after Agamben, 2000), and two concepts will be highlighted: immersion and movement.

In 1976, Philine Kalb drew attention to three bronze artefacts from central Portugal. She interpreted these correctly as tranchets, and pointed out a typological detail of the haft area, namely the spaces on the tangs, as found in Huelva-type swords. The present study deals with these tools again, now on the basis of about twenty pieces of the same type, all from the western Iberian Peninsula, some unpublished. Descriptive and typological analyses of each piece are followed by discussion of the main differences; reference is made to results of the metallurgical analyses of some of the pieces. The contexts of the tranchets are discussed. The use of these tools has aroused some controversy; the author follows Kalb’s theory that they were knives for cutting hides.

The text presented here is the monographic study of the carved rocks of Outeiro da Botelhinha, Pegarinhos (Alijó, Trás-os-Montes). At the same time some interpretations are advanced for Outeiro as “a Place” and for the timelines and temporalities of the creation and use of that place during the regional Chalcolithic period (3 mil. BC). However, some of the carved motifs show us that also in later times (Medieval Age, Modern Age...) Outeiro da Botelhinha continued to enjoy great political/symbolic and socio-economic importance in the region of Trás-os-Montes (NW Iberian Peninsula).

The Iron Age sauna uncovered in 1990 at the Eiras hillfort added new evidence for the understanding of these interesting and somewhat rare structures. The bath structure bears an unusual large size and profuse decoration of its granite-composing elements. It is a prestige utility within a large urban site built under Roman guidance, although its typology is indigenous. The craftsmanship and decorative typologies involved suggest the existence of specialized itinerant masons.

A particular roman ceramic of white fabric was found at Monte Mozinho, which is a romanized Northern Portuguese iron age hillfort, occupied from Ist to Vth centuries AD. This particular fabric was characterized and isolated from a large sample of white fabric pottery, and both macroscopic and chemical analyses were done in order to establish the origin of this pottery. However some questions remain unanswered, one was able to ascertain the chronology of this pottery production – end of Ist century BC to mid Ist century AD – as well as its area of production: somewhere in the south of Iberian Peninsula.

A VIIth century tremissis struck in Emerita during the sole reign of Egica (c. 687-698) is reported. The coin was found in 2007 during an archaeological excavation in the city of Chaves (Vila Real, Portugal). The author also refers other coins issued by this king with known geographical provenience.

Four medieval spurs are described in the present paper. These spurs were found at the Monastery of Vilar de Frades (Barcelos) excavations during 1999 and are presumably from the 13th-15th centuries.

The author analyses the medieval evolution of a vast area in the east frontier of Portugal, between Miranda do Douro and Sabugal, from the Early Middle Age to the beginning of the 16th century. Although the main attention is centered in the evolution of military structures, other testimonies of the medieval occupation are also mentioned in this paper.