Parque Arqueológico do Vale do Côa

The former Rock Art National Centre (now integrated in the Archaeological Park of the Côa Valley) has studied several rock art sites located in the western part of the Iberian Central Chain of Mountains, an orographic feature that divides the Iberian Peninsula in two. As several researchers defend, in this zone of Central Portugal, the routes were extremely important, particularly after the introduction of bronze league in the social and economic life of prehistoric communities. In fact, if copper is common in the south, tin can be found to the north of this chain of mountains. Taking this into account, it is possible to argue that the control of routes linking the Iberian northwest with the south should be as important as the control over the sources of thin and copper (e.g. Vilaça 1995). In this paper, we will try to show that the engraving of some of these rocks can be explained in the context of this process. On the other hand, some of the sites that we will present can be earlier in date. These should be integrated in the artistic cycle of the rock art from Beira Alta.

In Penascosa and Quinta da Barca, among the rocks with Palaeolithic engravings it is possible to recognise those with a Gravettian-Solutrean chronology and those dated from the Magdalenian period. Based on the differences between these two groups in terms of location and techniques employed, we discuss the ways they could be “used” in its original context. Furthermore, we shall discuss the ways in which access to and experience of rock art during the two periods mentioned, was socially relevant.
Key-words: Gravettian; Solutrean; Magdalenian; rock art; scenographies

Both the districts of Guarda and Viseu are part of Beira Alta’s region. Viseu’s district has some geographic and cultural traits of Atlantic kind. On the contrary, the geographic and cultural features of Guarda’s district are more of a continental type. Accordingly, Guarda’s district can be better defined as Beira Interior, forming a unity with Castelo Branco’s. This geographic and administrative dichotomy is also a reflection of what we find in the archaeological record. In Viseu’s district we find a lot more of megalithic tombs and other burial mounds. On the other hand, Viseu’s district has a very special “package” of rock art. In here we can distinguish two different traditions - an Atlantic one and second one corresponding to an engraved variant of the painted schematic art that we find in Portugal’s border and in all the Spanish country eastward. We’ve been collecting, since 1997, in Beira Alta, evidence showing us that this kind of engravings can be even older than those of Atlantic tradition. In synthesis, it is possible to define 4 artistic cycles in Beira Alta: one that corresponds to an engraved variant of schematic art dated from the end of the IV – beginning of the III millennium BC; a second one integrated in the Atlantic tradition that should be dated from Early Bronze Age; a third from Late Bronze Age characterized by footprints, horseshoes, phallic motifs and other figures; a fourth dated from Iron Age characterized by the use of incision.

This text aims to analyse a new-found statue/menhir from "Ataúdes" (Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo, Guarda). Although found outside its context, it is most probable that its original location was near by, namely right over the alluvium zone of the valley.
The menhir is a roughly finished block of rectangular shape and curved profile: it is 2,96 m high and 0,79 m wide, maximum. Its head is missing. The block has high relief and engraving motives on the upper part. On one of the sides, there is a subtrapezoidal figure with its larger sides clearly concave. This figure, which is also present in other archtypes, has been largely identified as a sign of power and used to be added to the attire of the personage or part of the attire itself. On the referred side of the monument, there are also a series of horizontal grooves, which interpretation is quite controversy. On the centre of the opposite side, can be seen a sheated sword held by straps.
This monument dates from the Early / Middle Bronze Age (1st to 2nd quarter of the second millenium b. C.). It represents a personage with power (or powers) socially superior to those in the community. Its function could have been a sign-mark or a reference of some kind or for someone.

Caramêlo - Mazugueira is a prehistoric necropolis from Beira Alta. In here, we can observe, at least, eight mounds of very different sizes. Most probably, we must ascend the number to eleven. If two of them, more monumental, are clearly Neolithic, the others (very small in high, between the 0,20 m and 0,5 m) are certainly later in date. Parallels from other sites of the region bring us to accept a Late Bronze Age dating for these smaller mounds. Two of them contain a cist, each. The internal structure of the others is not visible. The results of other works taking place in Beira Alta point us to the probability of not all the mounds in this site were used for burial ends, constituting this places, locales of other ceremonial rites besides funerary practices. In this sense, it is highly interesting the reused of a space where already exists older monuments.

This book presents the monographic study of the rock art site of Fial (Tondela, Viseu). Seventy-nine decorated rocks are spread through 5 groups. Relations of visibility exist between the second and the third, between the third and the fourth and between the fourth and the fifth. A megalithic mound is located between the first and the second group, being that monument visible from both the first and the second groups. As will be argued, we propose three different phases of engraving on the site: the first is dated from a period between the IV and the III millennium BC; the second goes back to Late Bronze Age and the third has a medieval or modern chronology.
Two main purposes guide us through our work: to reach a better understanding of the rock art phenomenon in Beira Alta and to understand the relevance of Fial in the context of the prehistoric periods, during which the site was used.
These purposes conditioned the theoretical approach underlying our work. The theoretical approach was hermeneutical because the site was understood as a place that could be read as a text; and it was phenomenological because we understand as meaningful the relations between our bodily experience, the site itself and the context where it lies. The approach was phenomenological and hermeneutical also because, following Heidegger, we understand the world(s) as a system of intelligibility where the Being is thrown of.
The structure of our study is obviously conditioned by this approach. We start by throwing our attentions to the former works on the subject of rock art in Beira Alta. Then, our theoretical approach is discussed. A chapter on the methodology closes the first part of our text. In the second part both the geographic and cultural contexts are exposed. The description of the site and its decorated rocks, as well as the discussion regarding the chronology of the engravings, is made in this section. In the third part, we discuss the structure underlying the organization of the site. Then we expose our view of how this structure can be explained in the context of the prehistoric periods during which the site was used. In the fourth part, we try to argue how the study of the site has contributed to a more clear view of the rock art phenomenon in Beira Alta. Then we evaluate the pertinence of the site in prehistoric times.
The study of the site and the data from other rock art emplacements in Beira Alta, lead us to the conclusion that engravings in the region were made along four main periods: the first one can be dated from the transition of the IV to the III millennium BC; the second corresponds to a period between the III and the II millennium BC; the third is dated from Late Bronze Age/I Iron Age; the fourth can be traced back to the II Iron Age.
Regarding the interpretation of the site, we argue that Fial was used as an emplacement related with initiation rituals during the transition between the IV and the III millennium BC. We argue that the increasing labour’s social division has provoked a need to strongly define the identities of people inside communities and, one way of achieving that, is through ceremonial practices. Regarding the engraving of new motifs – like the foot-like motifs - in Late Bronze Age, we argue that theses actions can be understood as a way of appropriation of earlier and highly symbolic places by the elites of the time.

Based on the known data from the county of Fundão, attributable to the I millennium b. C. available on the bibliography, part of which has been confirmed "in loco", the authors are attempting an approach to the spatial organization on the protohistorical communities. The nature and origin of the information obtained – always as a result of casual findings without archaeological excavations and/or out of context – has conditioned the work so far done but, at the same time, it was sufficient for us to recognize and demonstrate the archaeological riches of this county, as well as to be able to confirm the strategic importance of this region during the period now being studied.