In the heart of Vilamoura lay the ruins of a 1st century Roman settlement where, for the last 60 years, excavation has revealed thousands of artefacts and objects.
Behind closed doors, in the research centre of the Cerro da Vila museum, crates upon crates are stacked high, in storage rooms and against available walls. Each perforated plastic container holds numerous items, from animal bone fragments and pottery shards, to metal implements and coins. It is an abundant amount of material discovered on the site since the early 1960s.
Resident archaeologists Ana Pratas and Filipe Henriques have been methodically sifting through the items for over 20 years. It’s a laborious process and must be completed for each individual item.
“Archaeology provides clues into the mysteries of human history. Examining shards, tools, food remains, bones and dwellings gives us a glimpse into how cultures have changed through time.”
Ana and Filipe’s work begins with carefully washing and drying the object and then assigning a catalogue number. The item is categorized by time period, such as Roman or Islamic, and then, subcategorized by material, form and characteristics among many other designations. Of course, a photo is taken; and, in a lot of cases, a technical drawing is made to provide greater context to the digital image. All aspects of the item are measured before an identification number is affixed. Finally, all of the data is registered into a proprietary database.
The artefacts on display in the museum are a direct result from Ana and Filipe’s work. Items from everyday life, such as drinking vessels, jewellery and hair accessories, a carved grave marker, and even dice made from shark bone, offer a glimpse into life during the Byzantine , Roman and Islamic periods of Vilamoura. The vast number of items in storage means there’s still plenty more to examine and exhibit.
Roman archaeology has been a passion of Filipe’s since he was 15 years old. He studied archaeology at university and has taken part in excavations across Portugal. Filipe has a particular fondness for amphoras, the cylindrical clay vessels with a pointy bottom and narrow neck, used to store and carry solid and liquid food products. So, for Filipe, the hundreds of thousands of clay shards in the collection create a substantial opportunity to examine the structure, source and purpose of these important objects of everyday life in early Vilamoura.
“Most of the amphoras we see here carried fish products and olive oil,” suggests Filipe. “We can tell by the clay that most were produced in or near Cadiz in Andalucia, but some were made in Italy and brought by trade ships.”
The more difficult task, and one that Filipe relishes, is piecing the shards together, like a 3D puzzle, to reconstruct amphoras as closely as possible to their original form.
With a degree in art history and a background in Egyptian and Roman cultures, Ana has now become interested in zooarchaeology. This relatively new field of study examines animal remains. The abundance of animal bones found on the site gives her plenty of research material. “You can tell a lot about a society by the animals found alongside it,“ Ana explains. “You can see which animals were hunted and eaten, and which ones were domesticated.” She has already identified horses, goats, pigs and chickens by the tiny bones discovered.
One item that intrigues her is a skull from an Egyptian Mongoose found in the bottom of a silo on the site. “We are still trying to determine the age of this skull. Islamic society used mongoose to eradicate rodents,” she says. “But if it is as old as the Roman period, then we have to reexamine the introduction of this specifies to Portugal.”.
Every item in storage at the museum reveals another clue into the understanding of the many cultures that inhabited early Vilamoura. At Cerro da Vila, there are still so many items to study…and stories to tell.
To learn more, visit the Cerro da Vila website.
Cerro da Vila Museum and Archaeological Site
(Between the Vilamoura Post office & The Lake Resort)
Avenida Cerro da Vila
Vilamoura
Phone: + 351 289 312 153
E-mail: cerrodavila@vilamouraworld.com
Entrance:
Adults – € 4.00
Seniors & Students – €2.00
Children under 13 Years – Free
Hours:
Monday to Friday – 9:30 to 12:30 and 14:00 to 18:00
Saturday and Sunday – Closed