LATE BRONZE AGE SETTLEMENTS

IN THE BEIRA INTERIOR REGION (CENTRAL PORTUGAL)

This study should be considered a first thorough balance of the Late Bronze Age in the Beira Interior region of central Portugal, which it is hoped will be as precise and complete as possible.

The work evolves in 4 general parts.

Part I assembles the chapters which deal with the principal basic guide-lines for the whole study.

It begins with a history of the research in the Beira Interior. Amongst the several contributions, the role played by Francisco Tavares Proença Júnior at the beginning of this century should be especially noted. This archaeologist not only brought to light many archaeological sites but also united countless materials which were to become the basis of the museum named after him at Castelo Branco.

This is followed by a short chapter which defines the principal basic aims and the specific problematics of the region. Perceiving the domestic spaces as actual spaces of agglutination of sociocultural practice and reprodution, that is social spaces, it was aimed to tackle and discuss the problematics of their functioning and the role which they played within the regional system of settlement in which they were inserted, through the variability which the archaeological record permitted to be detected. Through it, an attempt is made to define the profile of the communities of this area and its mode of socio-economic organization at the end of the 2nd and the beginning of the 1st millenium B.C.

Chapter 4 presents and discusses general questions of methodology and terminology. Although it is regional, this study cannot be understood in essence without a more global analysis. Therefore, special attention is given to the many questions of a terminological nature, both conceptual and chronological which, being general to the Late Iberian and European Bronze Age, equally pertain to the specific case of the Beira Interior.

The following chapter recalls that also in the past, man was never alone. The natural ambient which is defined and characterized, from the geographic, geological and ecological point of view will help to understand how far the functioning of the communities studied were conditioned by a region with a peculiar situation and position. (fig. 1) In this region several communication routes intersect, with 'natural corridors', which not only brougt and carried, but also concentrated considerable riches, particulary minerals (tin, copper, lead and gold), which permitted the populations to settle and flourish.

The 2nd part brings together the available and studied archaeological documentation. It is divided into two sections, basically by virtue of the way in which the information was collected.

Section A is the inventory of the archaeological remains, independent of their importance, their value or their credit. 62 sites and their finds were catalogued.

On the contrary, there was a total control concerning the obtention of the documentation united in section B with the respective records. This section deals, simultaneously, with a type of information which is insubstitutable and attempts to provide answers to certain omissions in which Section A shows itself to be cleary insufficient. Therefore, the four chapters of this section relate in detail the reports of the excavations carried out in Castelejo (fig. 2), Monte do Frade, Alegrios and Moreirinha (fig. 3). Each one of these reports deals in detail with the geographic localization and topographic implantation of the settlements, registering the stratigraphy observed, noting the structures identified, including those of a defensive nature (which, however, are only recognised in Castelejo), and accounting for and classifying the exhumed material. Charcoal was amoung the ecofacts of significance recuperated as it can be subjected to anthracological analysis and to absolute dating. Animal remains of domestic species clarify one of the components of the alimentary diet of these communities.

One of the regular factors observed occurs with regard to topographic position of the settlements in that all of them are characterized by a difficult means of acess. Another concerns the excellent control and visual command of the immediate and distant space. (fig.4)

Considering the internal organization in each settlement and, notwithstanding certain peculiarities, the fragility, the rusticity and frugality of the domestic strutures stand out on the one hand and, on the other hand, a rudimentary division of domestic space as far as concerns the habitation units. Huts, post-holes, floors, walls, stone pavings, cess-pits and hearths were identified. (fig. 5 e 6)

In terms of the area potentially occupied, the modest dimension of these settlements is also well known. Monte do Frade stands out as an example of an extremely small settlement which could not have had more than one or two families in a wide sense.

Calculations based on indexes proposed by NARROLL (1962) and HASSAN (1981) and on the observations of FORGE (1972) and his comparasion with the conclusions concerning the capacity of sustention of the respective territories, permitted an approximate estimation of the number of inhabitants of these settlements. Castelejo could have had a population of 150, Alegrios almost 235 and Moreirinha perhaps had 285.

One of the sub-chapters of this part deals, in considerable detail, with the study of pottery based on the observation of almost 18 685 fragments. Three types of fabric are recognised - fine, medium and coarse - which are, in general, of domestic production. (fig. 8 and 9)

Another chapter analyses and discusses stone materials - elements for grinding, loom-weights and moulds and elements of adorn, amongst others - and their respective raw materials. Two amber beads and another in glass should be specially mentioned. The analysis of the amber by means of the spectroscopic method carried out in the Amber Research Laboratory (USA) pointed to a Baltic origin (BECK & VILAÇA, 1995).

This is followed by the examination of the metal pieces. The great variety in the typology and morphology of these artefacts is of immediate prominence. (fig. 10 and 11).

The presence, in the heart of these indigenous communities, of the first iron artefacts of obvious exterior origin is surprising and questionable. Equally surprising are the results of the metalgraphic analyses to which almost all the pieces were subjected. The absurdly exaggerated values of the percentage of tin - which almost justifies referring to a 'Tin Age' - revealed by the analyses should now be understood, given the results of another type of analysis (VILAÇA & MERIDITH, in publication), as a problem of method. In fact, with one or two exceptions - pieces of an ornamental nature - the bronzes of the Beira Interior are of excellent manufacture, with values of tin oscillating between 6-12%.

The Beira Interior has other kinds of finds apart from the settlements excavated. The majority correspond to metal artefacts, particulary axes. Jewelry is represented by only six pieces; perhaps a modest number considering that the entire region was rich in gold. (fig. 12)

The stelae of the region are also re-analysed contextually and chronologically. A prudent and necessary interpretative open mind is recommended for these type of evidences, of which more than 60 have been registered, which surpasses the funerary monolitism which has traditionally been attributed to them.(fig. 13)

Chapter 1.6.2. deals with the study of places and routes. We recognised the difficulty in identifying an unmistakable hierarchial network of populations and would rather propose a linear pattern, of a polycentric nature, based on visibility and inter-visibility at distance.

The final chapter is dedicted to the interesting and problematic question of the circulation of goods, namely metals. The opinions expressed are rather considerations and reflections than certainties. It appears, however, that neither the proposals made by Childe nor those of Rowlands concerning this matter are adaptable to the reality perceived in the Beira Interior.

The scarcity of weapons or their symbolic representation, the absence of defensive walls and the growth of exchange, as well as the apparent lack of critical situations concerning basic resources in the Beira Interior, transmits the idea that the times were peaceful. The chiefs, or those who retained a superior social status, even if they armed themselves, did not have an army in these times of 'armed peace' and ambiguity.

* Institut of Achaeology; Faculty of Arts; University of Coimbra, Portugal

Bibliography

BECK, C. & VILAÇA, R. (1995), "The Provenience of Portuguese Archaeological Amber Artefacts - A case study from Moreirinha (Beira Baixa)", Trabalhos de Antropologia e Etnologia, vol.35 (4), 209-219.

FORGE, A. (1972), "Normative factors in the settlement size of Neolithic cultivators (New Guinea)", in UCKO et alii (eds.), Man, settlement and urbanism, 363-376.

HASSAN, F. A. (1981), Demographic Archaeology, London, Academic Press, Studies in Archaeology.

UCKO, P. J., TRINGHAM, R. e DIMBLEBY, G. W. (eds.) (1972), Man, settlement and urbanism, London, Duckworth.

VILAÇA, R. (1995), Aspectos do Povoamento da Beira Interior (Centro e Sul) nos Finais da Idade do Bronze, "Trabalhos de Arqueologia", 9, IPPAR, Lisboa, 2 vols.

Ficha Técnica

Autor: Raquel Vilaça

Tradução: Joana Lamas

Título: Late Bronze Age Settlements in the Beira Interior Region (Central Portugal)

Revista: Cyberarqueólogo Português

Endereço: http//www.ci.uc.pt/aia/beira.html

Data de edição: Janeiro 1997

Local de edição: Coimbra, Portugal

Html e Grafismo: António J. M. Silva