The completion of the archaeological work on the Cerro do Castelinho dos Mouros (Alcoutim), with the fifth and final excavation campaign, allowed to define the grandeur of the building, which extends over an area of more than 600 square meters, announced today the City Council. Alcoutim.
The objects found, in greater numbers in this campaign, confirmed the chronology already established and corresponding to the Roman Republican Period.
Therefore, these are the oldest Roman monuments in Portuguese territory, having been occupied for nearly 100 years, for four generations.
Among the objects found in the excavations, archaeologists highlight the identification of the upper part of an amphora of Punic tradition, produced in the area of Cádiz, which was reused. Subsequently, analyzes will be performed to clarify the function of this amphora.
In this international archaeological campaign, which once again united the Municipality of Alcoutim and the University of Innsbruck, in Austria, the research area was extended to the southern limit, where municipal road 507 destroyed the outer wall, causing its downfall and partial destruction of the buildings in this functional area, located outside the main building.
The intervention concluded that the central building, which had three floors in Roman times, consisted of a ground floor (the only one that remains), consisting of areas for circulation and access to the upper floors, and two upper floors, which were intended to to the living space, with the outside of the building, where areas of fireplaces were detected, being reserved for the functional area.
The works, which counted, as in previous years, with the collaboration of young volunteers from the University of Algarve and volunteers from the Association of Archeologists of the Algarve, contributed with data that will deepen the scientific knowledge of this type of little-known Roman monument.
The investigation, which will follow in the coming months, will make it possible to publicly disclose the XNUMXth century Roman building. II/I a. C., which would rise majestic and overlooking the Guadiana, imposing its ten meters high from the top of a schist hill, protected by imposing walls.
In the future, the municipality of Alcoutim intends to «protect, enhance and make visitable what is one of the oldest Roman monuments in the country».
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