‘The enclosure is located on the bank of the stream (which it does not surpass) and extends to the top of the northern slope. Most of the site, namely its centre, is located on the south-facing slope, cut off by the rural path that leads to the Monte da Contenda houses. Lacking any strategies or concerns of a defensive nature or visual oversight, it provides limited visibility over the landscape, merely to the valley of the said stream. Its position on a steep slope is precisely one of its peculiarities compared to other large Alentejo enclosures.

Geophysical prospecting works have revealed at least 19 ditches. Numerous overlaps and intersections show the successive nature of this intense construction activity, making it possible to distinguish two large groups: the first, with larger dimensions, is made up of the linear ditches that establish lengthier enclosures on the slope; the second corresponds to the group of enclosures that occupy the central area, which have a more circular and concentric tendency and some winding ditches. The road that crosses the site cuts through several ditches, so it was possible to survey one of these ditches in a cut in the road slope, revealing a late Neolithic chronology.

It is one of the great complexes of the Alentejo ditched enclosures (like Perdigões, in Reguengos de Monsaraz, Porto Torrrão, in Ferreira do Alentejo, or Salvada and Monte das Cabeceiras, near Beja), with a long diachrony of more than 1000 years of continuous enclosure construction.’

A specific feature of these large, long-lasting ditched enclosures is their intense occupation, which usually translates into numerous archaeological materials. Here, at the surface, there are thousands of them, especially in the central area. Using the pattern provided by the consistent alignment of the planted trees, an intensive prospecting work collected materials in seven (of the 31) rows of almond trees that (merely) cover the centremost circular enclosures (such work requires administrative authorisation). No less than 33,283 ceramic fragments were collected, among many other materials (limestone and ceramic idols, decorated schist plaques, polished stone axes and hoes, arrowheads, blades, loom weights, bell-shaped ceramics, adornment objects and faunal remains). The quantity of materials gathered from just seven rows of trees reveals the high density of occupation, allowing us to determine a chronology up to the end of the Copper Age for this innermost area. There is less information on the other enclosures, which cover a wider area, as the surface materials are scarce or non-existent.

Archaeological survey, surface prospecting and geophysical prospecting by magnetometry in two phases.

Valera, A.C.; Becker, H. Costa, C. (2014), “Os recintos de fossos Pré-Históricos de Monte da Contenda (Arronches) e Montoito 2 (Redondo)”, Estudos Arqueológicos de Oeiras, 21, CMO, 195-216. / Ribeiro, A.; Rinne, C.; Valera, A.C. (2019), Geomagnetic investigations at Monte da Contenda, Arronches, Portugal – Results from the 2018 campaign, Journal of Neolithic Archaeology, 6 December 2019: 61-73, doi 10.12766/jna.2019.3 / Valera, A.C.; Basílio, A.C.; Gorga, A.; Almeida, N.; Ferraz, J. (2022) – O grande complexo de recintos de fossos pré-histórico do Monte da Contenda (Arronches): abordagem a partir de distribuições de superfície. Apontamentos de Arqueologia e Património.16: 21-31.