‘The internal ditch has a sub-circular plan with an internal diameter of 6/7 metres. It has a single entrance generally aligned with sunrise on the summer solstice. Inside is a single pit where the burial of a woman took place. The outer ditch has an oval plan and a meandering layout, measuring around 32 metres along its longest axis. The ditch consists of segments that vary in size, with depths of between 0.30m and 1.20m and widths of between 1.30m and 2.40m, and each segment seems built after the filling of the previous one. It has two entrances: one coincides with the alignment of the inner enclosure with the summer solstice, and the other is at 270º, i.e. aligned with sunset on the equinoxes. It is a ceremonial enclosure that embodies cosmological concepts expressed by the entrances’ alignment with a solstice and equinoxes. The ditches and pits mainly contained fragments of ceramic containers and the remains of animals (pigs, sheep, cattle, deer, horses and hares) likely consumed in the ceremonies that occurred there. It sits on a flat surface that is part of the gently undulating landscape of the Beja region and does not reveal any concern of a defensive nature or visual control over the surrounding territory.’

Bela Vista 5 is the most late-built enclosure in Alentejo, representing the twilight of the construction of ditched enclosures and the Neolithic worldview that explained them. It appears to be an enclosure built around the grave of a woman, corresponding to the only pit inside a small central enclosure. The burial of this female individual revealed the handling of the body after its initial deposition (remobilised bones). Along with it were three ceramic vessels, a copper punch and a copper arrowhead, to which segments of hemp thread were attached. The association of the metal arrowhead with a female burial reveals the distinctive status of this woman, showing that weapons were not an exclusively male instrument at the end of the millennium when profound social changes were taking place.

Archaeological excavations were carried out as part of the construction of the Sines – Beja motorway.

Valera, A.C. Coord. (2014), Bela Vista 5. Um recinto do Final do 3º milénio a.n.e. (Mombeja, Beja), Era Monográfica, 2, Lisboa, Nia-Era.