Pedra do Ouro
Coordinates: 39 ° 2 ′ 11 " N , 9 ° 2 ′ 15" W
Pedra do Ouro near Alenquer is a Copper Age settlement about 45 km northeast of Lisbon in Portugal .
The settlement is located north of the town of Pedra do Ouro , it was discovered by the local researcher Hipólito Cabaco (Museu de Hipólito Cabaco, in Alenquer), who carried out excavations before 1940, but only sparse information is available about them. In 1965 a follow-up examination and inventory took place, a contour plan of the spur was drawn up and the still visible remains of the wall were measured. Cabago has reported that he has uncovered house floor plans inside, but these were not found during these recordings.
The Pedra do Ouro soil monument is located on a plateau, 200 m above sea level. The associated field name is "as Eiras" (the threshing floors). The plateau ends with a spur that slopes down on three sides.
To the west, three walls staggered one behind the other form a barrier. The walls are built using the two-shell technique. The south-eastern (outer) wall I is about 58 m away from the middle wall II, and this is about 35 m away from the north-western wall III.
- "Wall I" is about 10 m long, its width constantly increasing from the northeast end (1.5 m) to the southwest end (2.3 m). In front of the southwest half of the wall, the remains of other constructions can be seen, including a tower. Between walls I and II, a small section of wall has been preserved above the northeastern steep drop.
- "Wall II" runs parallel to Wall I, is 10.4 m long and, in reverse to Wall I, takes from the southwest end (1.8 m width) to the northeast (2.8 m width), where it is also better preserved. constantly to. It probably ended in the southwest in a large hollow tower with an entrance in the east, only up to a third of which has been preserved. In the northeast, the wall probably met another, smaller tower, which could have stood on a foundation, of which a curved front can still be seen about 4 to 5 m from the end of the wall.
- "Wall III" is located about 40 m north of Wall II, its exposed remains were significantly thinner than the two other walls (only 1.0 to 1.2 m wide).
The finds from the early and late Copper Age are in the Alenquer Museum . They show that copper was processed in Pedra do Ouro .
literature
- V. Leisner , H. Schubart: The Copper Age Fortification Pedra do Ouro . In: Madrider Mitteilungen 7, 1966, ISSN 0418-9744 , pp. 9-60.