Entre o Atlântico e o Maciço Calcário Estremenho: a arte rupestre da Estremadura

Resumo

This article intends to make a systematization of the several archaeological sites with rock art known in the territory between the Atlantic and the Maciço Calcário Estremenho, that is, in the Portuguese Extremadura. Analyzing the dispersion of the sites, it is clear that the geological characteristics totally condition the existence of sites with rock art, being notable its absence for example in alluvial regions, as well as the type of limestone in the region of Lisbon and the West that make it impossible the preservation of paintings or engravings. Although there are three references in the region of Lisbon (Magoito, Anta da Pedra dos Mouros and Laje das Insculturas), only when we move to the north we find archaeological sites in the Macico Calcario Estremenho (Lapa dos Coelhos, Vale do Lapedo and Gruta da Moeda), and continue to the region of the Macico Hesperico where there are numerous rock art sites (Pego da Rainha, Vale do Tejo, Ocreza and Erges).

We emphasize the chronological uniformity of the studied archaeological sites, essentially framed in the recent Prehistory, with few contexts with paleolithic art, which corresponds to different strategies of symbolic anthropization of the territory.