{"id":27141,"date":"2019-07-21T10:32:38","date_gmt":"2019-07-21T09:32:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/visitboticas.pt\/?p=27141"},"modified":"2025-12-07T09:04:41","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T09:04:41","slug":"povoados-fortificados-da-idade-do-ferro-de-boticas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/terracallaeci.pt\/en\/2019\/07\/povoados-fortificados-da-idade-do-ferro-de-boticas\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hillforts of Boticas"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the area corresponding to the present-day municipality of Boticas, created as part of the administrative-territorial reform of 1836, there is archaeological documentation of a dense occupation associated with the Iron Age, materialised in 21 fortified settlements, all with vestiges of walls, ruins of buildings on the inner platforms and ceramic remains. Some are from a previous foundation, perhaps from the Bronze Age, as evidenced by some hand made ceramics and the finding of bronze pieces (Hillfort of Brejo), and others have known an occupation that seems to have lasted until the time of the Suevi-Visigothic dominion.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

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Hillfort of Sapelos. Photo TR\/TC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Although they are spread over almost the entire territory of the current municipality, a close analysis of their distribution reveals two distinct groups.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Although they are spread over almost the entire territory of the current municipality of Boticas, a careful analysis of their distribution reveals two distinct groups: one in the north and east, linked to the initial basin of the River Terva, and another in the central and western areas, in the basin of the River Be\u00e7a.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

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Hillfort of Carvalhelhos. Photo TR\/TC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The first group integrates eleven settlements, of different sizes but generally located on hillocks on the upper slope or promontories on the lower slope; nine of them are no more than 4 km away from the nearest one; four of them line up on the right bank of the river, at the foot of the eastern slope of the Leiranco massif, within a short distance of 5 km.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second group is formed by ten settlements, also of different sizes, spread throughout a larger area and more distant from each other, with diversified implantation solutions, either exposed on the summits, such as the C\u00f4to dos Corvos settlement, or sheltered at the bottom of dug valleys, on spurs overlooking water courses, such as Ervas Ruivas or Poio. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

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\"castro-do-co\u0302to-dos-corvos\"
Hillfort of C\u00f4to dos Corvos. Photo TR\/TC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The concentration of fortified settlements in the first 10 km of the Terva river course is remarkable. Apart from the more favourable conditions, it is assumed that the settlement of populations in this initial section of the basin is especially related to the mining of Po\u00e7o das Freitas and Batocas.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Po\u00e7o das Freitas. Photo TR\/TC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In some of the settlements of the second group, traces of metallurgical activity can also be identified and the existence of mining areas is recorded.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Some of the villages preserve monumental remains, which are not very common.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Tanto no primeiro conjunto como no segundo, alguns dos povoados conservam restos construtivos com uma monumentalidade pouco frequente neste tipo de s\u00edtios arqueol\u00f3gicos. Pelo seu tamanho, pela impon\u00eancia das muralhas que conservam e pelo seu posicionamento geo-estrat\u00e9gico, destacam-se os castros de Muro de Cunhas<\/a>, de Carvalhelhos<\/a> e de Lavradas, de Giestosa, de Cabe\u00e7o<\/a> e, entre todos, os imponentes povoados fortificados de Nogueira<\/a> e do Lesenho<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

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\"castro-de-nogueira\"
Hillfort of Nogueira. Photo TR\/TC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Dominating the main natural communication routes and encompassing in their surroundings the fertile veins and alveolus of the basins of the rivers Terva and Be\u00e7a, some of these settlements would have been central places in the protohistoric settlement of the region, to which various indigenous populi are referred. One of these central places was, unequivocally, the Lesenho settlement, from where four statues of Galician-Roman warriors are found.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

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Galician-Roman warriors. Photo DR<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The fortified settlements of Boticas are a group of high heritage value and of great scientific interest, offering wide possibilities for enhancement. Their protection, conservation and enhancement have been a priority of the municipality, namely through the integration of some of them in the Rede de Castros do Noroeste (Hillforts Network of the Northwest), such as the Lesenho and Sapelos, the latter still under appreciation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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PUB<\/div>
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No espa\u00e7o correspondente ao atual concelho de Boticas, criado no \u00e2mbito da reforma administrativo-territorial de 1836, documenta-se arqueologicamente uma densa ocupa\u00e7\u00e3o associ\u00e1vel \u00e0 Idade do Ferro, materializada em 21 povoados fortificados, todos com vest\u00edgios de muralhas, ru\u00ednas de edifica\u00e7\u00f5es nas plataformas interiores e esp\u00f3lio cer\u00e2mico. Alguns ser\u00e3o de funda\u00e7\u00e3o anterior, talvez da Idade do Bronze, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":24517,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,15,3684],"tags":[7027,5096,3795],"class_list":{"0":"post-27141","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-patrimonio","8":"category-sobre","9":"category-sugestoes-de-leitura","10":"tag-barroso","11":"tag-boticas","12":"tag-castros"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/terracallaeci.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/terracallaeci.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/terracallaeci.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terracallaeci.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terracallaeci.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/terracallaeci.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terracallaeci.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/terracallaeci.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terracallaeci.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terracallaeci.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}