Segunda fase del proyecto «Actividad minero-metalúrgica del III milenio a.n.e. en el sur de Portugal prospección geoarqueológica»un nuevo marco de evaluación empírica territorial : resultados preliminares

Abstract

In this paper the preliminary results of a research program aims to identify and explain social and technological contexts of prehistoric metallurgy in southern Portugal are presented. For its first level of evaluation (Phase 1), we selected an area located in the Upper East Algarve (Portugal), in the centre of the main Portuguese mining district, the Iberian Pyrite Belt. In this sense, we have developed a methodology based on the archaeological survey in order to identify, from a diachronic perspective, the processes of production and distribution of copper objects (Geoarchaeology). The second level (Phase 2) was developed in a new territorial framework next to the largest mining district in the region (massive sulphides of São Domingos), allowing to explore a new area that had historically managed the circulation of mining resources: the Guadiana river. The results allowed us to identify sites with prehistoric mining evidences, prehistoric artifacts associated to minning activities (hand axes), a complex settlement network linked to its management, as well as elements associated to their territorial demarcation (standing stones, megalithic tombs, etc.).