Pedro Baptista

The south-western Iberian stelae from the Final Bronze Age (FBA) and Early Iron Age (EIA) have long been the centre of archaeological interest. These monuments show representations of human and animal figures, objects such as weapons, ornaments and chariots. Moreover, they provide insights into prehistoric stone working and sculpting techniques. On the downside, petrological studies of the rocks and consequent reflections on suitable tools are still the exception. Due to the lack of analysis and technological studies, this research will put emphasis on a multidisciplinary approach involving petrographic and metallurgic analyses, complemented by experimental archaeology.

Firstly, an accurate lithological determination of stelae from Capilla (Spain) has been established with petrographic methods. According to the results, two slabs for replications of stelae were obtained from the identified mono-mineral quartz-sandstone (“quartzite”) outcrop. The experiment involved the trial of chisels made from all expedient materials that were available in the FBA-EIA by a professional stonemason. Considering that such extremely hard rocks require robust tools for carving, a long ignored iron chisel from the FBA site of Rocha do Vigio (Portugal) was studied with metallography and exposed heterogeneous, however surprisingly high-carbon steel. The analysed rocks are amongst the hardest that can be used for sculpting, and in the course of the experiment, bronze and lithic tools could be discarded. The only tool that showed an effect was the replication of the steel chisel from Rocha do Vigio with a hardened edge. The distinct work traces were compared to the original monuments. We hypothesize that the production of carbon steel as well as its hardening were possibly already known at the FBA-EIA transition in Iberia. Hence, only the access to iron technology allowed for the making of stelae from the lithotypes that were frequently used in the Zújar basin around the municipality of Capilla.

This memorandum documents the actions carried out under the Mesopotamos projects “Settlement from the 5th to the 1st millennium BC between the Tagus and the Zêzere in the present Beira Baixa”, approved in 2015 by the DGPC as PIPA (Multiannual Research Project in Archeology), and LTDM “Defensive Line of Talhadas-Moradal” mainly having, mainly the Proença-a-Nova (CAPN) Archaeological Field (International) as operational framework. Mesopotamos was in effect between 1 July 2017 and 30 June 2018.

Mobility is key to human nature, as it is present on all spheres
of its action and experience, encompassing multiple scales and forms
of expression. Many are the viewpoints and methods to approach
its problematics, all necessary and complementary in one way or
another. And if the understanding of the dynamics of past human
actions is conditioned by the nature and quality of available data,
its full potential depends on a holistic, interdisciplinary, multiscalar,
diachronic, transverse and comparative framework.
Throughout this text, the nature of which is essentially theoretical
and methodological, we will reflect on some of these aspects which,
in practical terms, verse three main research axis. On one hand, the
study of goods, organic and inorganic, crude, transformed or prepared,
raw materials and objects, everyday or exceptional. On the other, the
analysis of their projection in space, edified or not, but appropriated and
practiced upon, implying movement, communication, and action. Lastly,
the comprehension of landscapes, territories, and places as significant
entities in the social, economic, symbolic and identitary spheres, creating
and recreating themselves in continuum, through human action and
mobility. Some case studies from pre and proto-historic communities will be brought up to substantiate our considerations, illustrating the
diversity and richness this theme encases.

A construção da nova fábrica de papel Tissue, da empresa Paper Prime, S.A., em Vila Velha de Ródão, levou à identifcação e escavação do sítio arqueológico Revelada 2. O sítio foi escavado até ao substrato geológico numa área superior a 170m2, tendo-se individualizado dezenas de unidades estratigráfcas. Do espólio arqueológico recolhido constam mais de 40000 artefactos entre indústria lítica, termoclastos e cerâmica pré-histórica, parte dele aparentemente associado a possíveis estruturas de combustão e buracos de poste. A seriação preliminar do acervo permite apontar para a presença de uma sequência de ocupações pré-históricas constituída por, pelo menos, Neolítico,
Epipaleolítico e Paleolítico Médio. Porém, diversos fenómenos de formação de sítio, nomeadamente dinâmicas de vertente e agricultura, afectaram de forma assimétrica diversos contextos em área, profundidade ou intensidade. Neste artigo pretende-se fazer a apresentação de Revelada 2, dos trabalhos, metodologias, resultados e da sua interpretação preliminar, deixando em aberto a revisão da mesma em trabalhos futuros.

The funerary megalithism of Proença-a-Nova had its first substantive disclosure with Georg and Vera Leisner. The results of the reconnaissance campaign carried out in that territory in 1945 were only published postmortem in 1998. From the last quarter of the 20th century the field recognitions promoted by the Alto Tejo Studies Association (AEAT in portuguese) motivated the inclusion, by the Municipality of Proença-a-Nova, of three megalithic graves in a walking path called "História na Paisagem". The shared interest between the association and the municipality in studying and didactically enhancing these monuments gave rise, in 2012, to the Proença-a-Nova Archaeological Field Camp (CAPN in portuguese) and, later, to the research project Mesopotamos-Settlements from the 5th to the 1st millennium BC between the Tagus and the Zêzere rivers in the current Beira Baixa. Among the tombs investigated so far, Cabeço da Anta, a large structure, in good condition, of prime importance in the area of the current Beira Baixa Intermunicipal Community and a repository of knowledge on megalithic architecture, deserves special mention.

Mobility appears to be a fundamental process in the development of human experience and, consequently, in its understanding. In its complexity, it takes place in a singular game between Man, Space and Time, the latter only materialized in the first two. That is why the analysis of routes in a territory like Beira Baixa is of great importance, always based on a holistic and long-term perspective. It is with these guidelines that in the present colloquium the routes are approached as marks of past and present mobility, accumulating the choices and experiences of the communities that travelled through the territories they had as their own. Ultimately, recognizing them as a crucial part of our history, irreparably truncated without their study and due appreciation.