Respecting the ancestors? Iron age life and 4th/3rd millennia BCE rock art within hillfort of Briteiros, NW of Portugal

Abstract

There has been in recent years much interest in the Iron Age hillfort of Briteiros, near Guimaraes, NW of Portugal. The site was extensively excavated in the late 19th century, in the beginning and in the 70s of the 20th century and more recently in the 21st century. Recent research has focused on the substantial rock art assemblage that is scattered over much of the site (the highest slopes and the summit of the hill of the settlement). This rock art assemblage comprises mainly of abstract motifs within the Atlantic Rock Art (Neo-Calcolithic); however there are several panels that display later imagery dating fiom Bronze Age, Iron Age and/or Romanization. In this paper we pose several questions including: was there an understanding, either as ancestral markers or as socio-political devices between the Iron Age inhabitants and the prehistoric rock art? There are around 2500 years separating the rock art from the Iron Age activity on the hill. Furthermore, we are interested in discussing the implication of the ideology behind the concept of respecting the rock art by a later group of inhabitants of the hill.