Sunday, January 13, 2013

0143 - Paraíso enclosure

Location: Elvas municipality, Portalegre district, Alentejo, South Portugal)
Chronology: Late Neolithic (?), Chalcolithic
Bibliographic references: Mataloto & Costeira, 2008.

The ditched enclosure of Paraíso was discovered in the context of Rescue Archaeology, related with the construction of an urban zone in the periphery of Elvas city. In the rescue excavations pit and ditch structures were identified, but no general plan of the site is available. Still without absolute chronologies, it was considered to be dating from the first half of the third millennium BC (Chalcolithic), but with the possibility of a start in the late fourth millennium (Late Neolithic).

Although no general plan is available, surface material suggest a large site, spreading to the two banks of a small stream. According to that information, the site seems to occupy a topography that makes a slight amphitheatre open to East, a topographical situations similar to Perdigões. Once again the lower areas and smooth slopes, with visibility restricted to a specific orientation (East), are chosen. Here are the profiles that show that location.

 

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