0442 - A timber circle in the centre of Perdigões ditched enclosure.

 With significant repercussion in the media, the recent confirmation of a timber circle in the centre of Perdigões enclosure is, in fact, a major finding in Iberian archaeology, namely in the context of enclosure phenomena. Right in the centre of the large ditched enclosure of Perdigões (that has 450m diameter) there is this 20m diameter timber circle with several concentric rows of palisades and post alignments, with an apparent entrance aligned with the summer solstice (in the third part that has been exposed so far). The external rows have been dated between 2800-2600 BC.

It is the first monumental structure of this kind found in Iberia and its closest parallels are in central Europe or in YK. Which brings immediately the question of what does this find means: something unique or just a point of an unsuspected iceberg?

Independently of that, this structure confirms some earlier findings that indicate that in Iberia there was also and important prehistoric architecture in wood (and not just in stone and earth), some of them were already presented in this blog (see Outeiro Alto 2 or Estácio 6). It also reaffirms the ceremonial status of Perdigões enclosures and the significance of the centre of that natural amphitheatre, that present a recurrent with ceremonial architectures and practices during the 3^rd millennium BC.

In the left, the third exposed of the timber circle; in the right, the projection of that third to have a glimpse over the dimension of the structure.

A first partial interpretative proposal.

0212 – A wood henge at Outeiro Alto

A concentration of pits in a very small area was excavated at Outeiro Alto 2. The concentration was generically circular (Figure 1). 

Figure 1

The pits were all almost empty of archaeological material. In the periphery there were three Late Neolithic hypogea and a grave pit (Figure 2).

Figure 2

To try to understand the concentration of pits in this small area, with no overlaps and surrounded by tombs, a study of the morphology and volumes of the pits was done. It was possible to cluster the pits in three groups of sizes and deepness (Figure 3).

Figure 3

When those clusters were plotted in the plan, a pattern emerged (Figure 4): the deepest pits formed a circle with a square in the centre and two pits towards north; then surrounded by the smallest pits; and the intermediate pits scattered in the SW area. 

Figure 4

The distribution, the size of the central pits and the absence of archaeological material inside them (just two or three small shards of pottery) clearly suggest a circular wooden structure of henge type surrounded by the tombs.

This context is published here: Valera & Filipe,2012. 

0211 - Wood constructions

 I have been suggesting that we have several evidences of wood constructions in portuguese prehistory that could be similar to some wood henges or palisades of Europe. One of those evidences is the area C of Outeiro Alto 2 (Valera e Filipe, 2012 pdf). I will talk here about that in the next post.

Today I present the strange case under excavation (by Omniknos/Era): 145 pits, with no archaeological material inside, very close to each other, but with no overlaps, producing several aligned rows. They are clearly for large posts (trunks) and do not define a circle, but an elongated area, partially curved. In the outside curved row an interruption is visible and might correspond to a passage.

This is a very strange context. If it is prehistoric (there are several prehistoric contexts nearby), it reinforces the idea that many pits are post holes and that we have to have notion of their spatial distribution to detect the kind of structures they belong to (as it happened at Outeiro Alto 2).

Detail of the outside curved row of pits

0049 – The first wood henges in Iberia?

Well known in Europe, wood heges seem to be missing in Iberia. But just like ditched enclosures some years ago, I believe this is just a problem of research rather than a real circumstance.

A couple of years ago I came across with a context in Beira Alta (Central Portugal) in the Quinta da Assentada site that had a sequence of post holes and small ditches with several directions, sometimes cutting each other. This was overlapped by another sequence of alignments of rectangular pits. Unfortunately, the extent of the excavations didn´t allow a full comprehension of the plans suggested by those structures, but an essay of the eventual type of super structures was attempted.



Quinta da Assentada. View of the several small ditches and post holes, inclusively inside the ditches, and possible reconstitution (Valera, 2007)

More recently, the geophysical research done in several ditched enclosures and the reinterpretation of a excavated context, seem to reveal the presence of circular timber henges. This can be seen at Moreiros 2 and Outeiro Alto 2. In the later a possible wood henge was surrounded by three funerary hypogea and a pit grave. This context and interpretation will soon be published.



Circle of large post holes of a possible henge. The pits are equal to the ones that can be seen in the alignment of a possible palisade at the left, in Moreiros 2 (Becker, Valera & Boaventura, in print).

In fact, more situations like those will exist, but they can only be detected with open area excavation or good geophysics (and, of course, with a mind open to this possibility).

References:

Becker, H., Valera, A.C. and Boaventura, R. (in print), “Moreiros 2 (Arronches, Évora): magnetometry of a complex ditch and palisade enclosure”, poster to be presented at the IXIberian Congress of Archaeometry, Lisbon, 2011.

Valera, António Carlos (2007), Dinâmicas locais de identidade: estruturação de um espaço de tradição no 3º milenio AC (Fornos de Algodres, Guarda), Braga, CMFA/TA.