A new approach of the recovered artefacts during Leite de Vasconcelos archaeological excavations in “Castro” of Praganaça (Cadaval, Portugal). Evidences of a First Iron Age occupation

Abstract

In this article the authors present a set of several Iron Age artifacts, mostly unpublished, from Pragança settlement. Since the late nineteenth century, this collection has been part of the National Archaeological Museum and the artefacts were recovered during archaeological excavations conducted by the founder of the National Archaeological Museum, José Leite de Vasconcelos in this archaeological site.

This site is very often associated with the fortified Chalcolitic settlements of Estremadura, but there is evidence of later occupations, as J. Leite de Vasconcelos had already pointed out. The authors present an important set of materials from the Iron Age, framing them in a regional perspective and circulation of goods, integrating this archaeological site in a network of contacts with the orientalizing and sideric world, that this set of artefacts demonstrate.