The estuary and mouth of the Arade River will once again host an underwater archeology campaign from Sunday to September 11th.
Four years later, the researchers will resume a project started in 2012 and will start by re-evaluating the already identified archaeosites, in order to plan the fieldwork that will be needed.
According to the Municipality of Portimão, with this new venture, it is intended to «gain new breath in the recovery of archaeological research in the Arade river estuary and in the dissemination of its underwater cultural heritage, with the identification, characterization and enhancement of its scientific potential, educational and touristic”.
In these two weeks of work, the researchers will carry out visual prospecting, recording and surveying the archaeological sites Ponta do Altar A and B, GEO 5 and Arade B, «which correspond to contexts of shipwreck and anchorage, whose chronology ranges from the Roman period to the to the contemporary period». That is, they will check if the archaeological sites already identified at the bottom of the Arade are in good health and in the same places, after years without monitoring.
The campaign is part of the research project “Between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic: an approach to the underwater cultural heritage of the Arade River estuary”, coordinated by the archaeologists Christopher Fonseca and José Bettencourt and promoted by the Centro de História d'Aquém and d'Além-Mar (CHAM), an inter-university research unit of the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa. The scientists' logistical support base is the Museu de Portimão, the project's main local partner, whose divers also participate in the underwater work.
«The intervention area corresponds to a privileged area of connection between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, which has always presented favorable characteristics for navigation. The mouth of the Arade river is a natural harbor that serves the various urban centers, namely Portimão, and is an important means of navigation, communication and penetration into the interior of the Barlavento Algarvio. This reality is widely documented by written sources and by various archaeological remains identified in recent decades», according to the Portimão Town Council.
Since this archaeological potential was identified, in the 70s of the XNUMXth century, different interventions have been carried out, which allowed the recovery of pieces, some of which can be seen today in the Portimão Museum.
The project has not only the support of the Museum of Portimão and the City Council, but also of various national and regional entities, including the Parish Council of Portimão, the Clube Naval de Portimão, the Archaeological Association of the Algarve, the Grupo de Friends of the Museum of Portimão, the company Archeosfera, the Underwater Diving Club Portisub, the Captaincy of the Port of Portimão, the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and the National Center for Nautical and Underwater Archeology.
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