Archaeology in Portugal

Portuguese archaeology reads the land as an archive spanning more than half a million years — from the first Palaeolithic communities to Roman urbanisation, by way of the great megalithic constructions of the Neolithic and the fortified settlements of the Iron Age. This section organises that journey by periods, cultures and the sites where it can best be recognised.

Layers of a territory

From the Côa rock art — a World Heritage Site — to the cities of Lusitania, archaeology shows that no single layer wholly erased the one before it. Alentejo megalithism, the Castro culture of the North and Romanisation overlap in a palimpsest that excavation is slowly deciphering.

This section embraces both the major visitable sites and the cross-cutting themes — rock art, megalithism, the Castro world, Roman Portugal, Islamic, nautical and mining archaeology.