With each archaeological campaign, the Castelo de Alferce, in the municipality of Monchique, reveals itself a little more, but there is still a lot to discover. If, this summer, the excavations focused on the north entrance of the upper fortified enclosure and in an area of the wall, in 2020, the cistern concentrated a good part of the work.
On this structure, «a living space», it was discovered, for example, that, on the walls, there are inscriptions, graffiti, but that there is also a wall with an opening, a tunnel, whose purpose is not known.
After last year's campaign, the cistern was covered again and this was one of several questions that remained unanswered.
For this answer to be found, funding is needed and good news came this week from the Directorate-General for Cultural Heritage (DGPC): an extraordinary financial support line for Multiannual Research Projects in Archeology (PIPA), like the one being developed at Alferce.
Fábio Capela, the archeologist at the Monchique Chamber and coordinator of the works, hopes that the 10 euros that this support line provides for each of the supported projects will arrive, even because, as he explained to Sul Informação, «the Alferce castle project is fully promoted and financed by the City Council. We do not have any other financial support. We have logistical support, but we only have money from the Municipality. So far, the municipality has supported it, but in the future it could be more complicated. That's why when I heard this news I was hopeful».
With the 10 euros, reveals Fábio Capela, “I could do several dates, which cost around 500 euros. Regarding the cistern, the 10 thousand euros would arrive and would be left over to consolidate and restore the western wall of the cistern and, thus, not only allow the monument to be valued, but also to continue the archaeological investigation».
This investigation may explain “why is that tunnel there. But to excavate it, we have to dig up the cistern and consolidate the structure. For all these reasons, it is attractive to think about this value».
It would be attractive for scientific reasons, but it would also be attractive for future visitors to that space that is about to be acquired by the Municipality of Monchique.
“The cistern is that emblematic place, the place of life. Where those people had the water. But here we have an even more special place. It is a cistern that, at some point, was deactivated, and which is full of graffiti, inscriptions and symbols. Some were carried out during the drying of the coating mortar, others at a later stage. Therefore, I think it will be an ex-libris of Castelo de Alferce», considers the archaeologist.
Even because, he explains, «the idea of the future is to create conditions so that people can visit the space, visualize these inscriptions and graffiti», concludes Fábio Capela.
The research project at Cerro do Castelo de Alferce is promoted by the Municipality of Monchique, in partnership with the University of Algarve, the University of Évora and the Archaeological Field of Mértola, with the support of several entities, namely the Parish Council of Alferce.
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