Gravuras rupestres da Bouça da Cova da Moura (Ardegães, Maia, Norte de Portugal), no contexto da Pré-história Recente da bacia do Leça

Abstract

Este texto pretende dar a conhecer o conjunto de gravuras rupestres da Bouça da Cova da Moura. A análise efetuada ao conjunto de signos permitiu denotar, a presença de composições gráficas pertencentes à tradição artística que se convencionou denominar de arte atlântica, representações de cariz mais esquemático e motivos de época histórica. Na envolvência dos afloramentos gravados descobriram-se monumentos megalíticos, áreas de dispersão de materiais cerâmicos datáveis do Calcolítico, uma ocupação da Idade do Bronze, além de materiais dispersos deste período genérico, relevantes para a análise da biografia deste lugar numa pequena escala de análise. A inserção deste locus numa escala mais ampla de análise, ou seja, os Montes do Leandro, pequeno contraforte da serra do Bougado, permite admitir que este complexo de gravuras rupestres faria parte de um vasto território de ampla significação simbólica durante a Pré-história Recente. Neste sentido as diferentes materialidades seriam, resultado de um processo aditivo que resulta da frequência do planalto, da sua da reutilização e reinterpretação, num templo cíclico.

The aim of this paper is to offer an overview of the rock art assemblage at Bouça da Cova da Moura in its local and regional contexts. The site is located in Ardegães, parish of Águas Santas, municipality of Maia, district of Porto, in north-western Portugal. Fieldwork carried out in the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, resulted in the discovery of new carved surfaces in the place where the well-known ‘pedra partida de Ardegães’ had been found; it was not only possible to unveil aspects related to its topographical context but also to discover other materialities which are spatially related to the rock carvings. Stylistic analysis undertaken to the set of carvings allow us to consider that we are beyond an assemblage which is partly constituted of rock art compositions belonging to the prehistoric art tradition conventionally called atlantic art, there is one schematic human figure and other motifs that belong to historical periods. In the vicinities of the carved outcrops there are megalithic monuments dated to the Neolithic, scatters of pottery fragments probably dated to the Copper Age, evidence for a Bronze Age occupation site, as well as clusters of surface finds from the same period. Overall, the field data recovered so far is extremely relevant for the analysis of the biography of this place at a small scale of analysis. The integration of this locus in a wider spatial scale, i.e. in the plateau that cuts across the territory in the north-south direction linking it to the Bougado hills, allow us to admit that this rock art complex would be part of a vast territory of symbolic significance in Late Prehistory. Thus, the distinct archaeological remains may be the materialisation of the importance of this geomorphological unit in the cognitive map and ideological universe of the prehistoric communities who dwelled, over a long period of time, along the middle basin of the River Neiva. These different materialities would result from a process of addition in the occupation of the plateau, of its reuse and reinterpretation in a cyclical time.