<< Our Photo Pages >> Castro de Vila Nova de São Pedro - Castro or Chafurdão in Portugal in Lisboa
Submitted by Bak_teria on Monday, 10 August 2015 Page Views: 2638
Iron Age and Later PrehistorySite Name: Castro de Vila Nova de São Pedro Alternative Name: Castelo de Vila Nova de São Pedro, Alto do CasteloCountry: Portugal
NOTE: This site is 14.442 km away from the location you searched for.
Distrito: Lisboa Type: Castro or Chafurdão
Nearest Town: Azambuja Nearest Village: Vila Nova de São Pedro
Latitude: 39.219760N Longitude: 8.840293W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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Bak_teria visited on 23rd Jul 2015 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4
This castro is a fortified settlement built in the Chalcolithic era (3500 BC) and used until the end of the Bronze age (from 1000 to 700 BC). It is located in Vila Nova de São Pedro, from the Municipality of Azambuja, part of the Lisbon district and was originally discovered by Hipólito Raposo in 1936. This monument was classified as Portuguese MN – Monumento Nacional (National Monument) in 22nd of November, 1971. The access to it is free and there are signposts by the road that will lead you the site.
About the architecture
It has a triple network of defensive walls. The inner or central fortification wall have a diameter of about 40 meters and a thickness which can vary between 3.5 and 7 meters. The height, which is also variable, reaches from 1.60 meters to 3.6 meters, depending on the location. It should be noted that the second line of defense walls have turrets. This fortified settlement had various stages of occupation: The first phase was an open settlement and only in the second was built the first wall of the fortification. The third phase is charachterized by the re-building of a second defensive system and the fourth stage was the building of a new and more effective defensive system.
About the location and the economy
This castro is endowed with an excellent strategic location, which guaranteed it great protection conditions. The fortification dominates the valley of Almoster in a place which communicated with the Tagus river (Tejo), the main and most important means of communication for the inhabitants of this settlement. The estate exhumed during the various excavation campaigns confirms the roots of a growing economic activity in the area. From it, we mention the presence of hand mills, axes, adzes, gouges and flint blades, in addition to representative samples of wheat, barley and vegetables, it is certain that linen was also grown. A fact that by itself certify the development of another activity directly related to the agricultural practice, textiles, confirmed also by the discovery of several ceramic loom weights inside the settlement.
Along with agriculture, the cattle breeding occupied a central place in the daily life of these fortified settlements, although it still persisted some of the old Neolithic practices such as hunting, fishing and recollection. It is also very important to mention the discovery of thousands of arrowheads associated with the Chalcolithic period, also associated with Castro of Zambujal, near by the municipality of Torres Vedras. In excavations made back in 1952 it was also found a furnace for the manufacture of ceramics.
Links and other important information sources (texts written in Portuguese):
- DGPC
- Portal do Arqueólogo
- Wikipedia reference page
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