O sítio do Monte do Guedelha (Pias, Serpa): contributos para uma melhor caracterização do bronze final do sudoeste

Résumé

Archaeological excavations carried out at a Southwestern Late Bronze Age settlement located in the Portuguese left bank of the Guadiana river allowed the identification of four contemporary loci. The material culture recovered consists of a large quantity of ceramics, in addition to some lithic and bronze artefacts. Based on about two hundred ceramic vessels from which it was possible to reconstruct their shapes, a typological framework was built that could serve as a basis for future studies and comparisons of coeval ceramic collections. ln addition to the undecorated pottery, several pattern-burnished ceramics were recorded, most of them with the decoration on the external surface of the vases, as is usual in the Portuguese southwest. Of the four loci identified, one of them stands out on a small hill, unlike the others located on the plain. Most of the ceramics with pattern-burnished decoration were registered in this locus, which indicates that it will correspond to an area where the habitat of people of high social status would be located. These facts indicate that in these settlements without any defence conditions there would already be a hierarchy in the community.