It is a small circular enclosure made up of two concentric ditches. Numerous magnetic anomalies (black dots on the magnetogram) correspond to pits dug into the rock and distributed inside and outside the enclosures. It stands preserved in an uncultivated space within an intensively farmed olive grove.

‘It has a maximum diameter of 45 metres. The inner ditch, with a linear layout and a diameter of 17 metres, delimits an area of 96m2. The outer enclosure has a winding ditch with eight well-patterned lobes. With a diameter of 45 metres, it covers an area of 328m2. The ditches have widths of around 2.2m and 2.5m, with estimated depths of between 1.5 and 2m.

The inner ditch has two entrances: one facing north and the other at 120º. The outer ditch has a single entrance, orientated at 120º and, along with one of the entrances to the inner enclosure, aligned with the winter solstice. The surface revealed limited materials: ceramic fragments from handmade containers, bludgeons, an anvil, and a hand grindstone.

This enclosure is in a flat area of the gentle slope on the left bank of Ribeira de Alcorrego, a tributary of Ribeira da Seda and already in the Tagus River basin. The site does not stand out in the landscape, which is open and flat, with Serra de S. Mamede on the horizon to the northeast.’

‘This enclosure is part of a group that establishes the northern limit of the Alentejo ditched enclosures (corresponding to the southern part of the Portalegre district) and includes other archaeologically excavated sites, such as Santa Vitória, Torrão, Monte da Contenda or Moreiros 2. Its dimensions, the number of ditches, the design of the external ditch with its winding pattern and the solstitial orientation of the entrance alignment connect it to another set with similar features concentrated further south in the Beja region (Xancra, Folha do Ouro 1, Monte da Laje or Outeiro Alto 2).
This group shows a meaningful architectural pattern that, obeying certain symbolic principles and prescriptions, highlights its ceremonial and monumental nature. In other words, these are places of assembly for holding certain ceremonies at specific moments in the annual cycle. However, in the vast territory between the southernmost group and Rouca 7 and Santa Vitória, representatives of this type of site in the far north, there are no known enclosures with these features.’

Surface prospecting and geophysical prospecting using magnetometry.

Valera, A.C.; Pereiro, T. do (2022) – Rouca 7 (Cano, Sousel): geofísica de um novo recinto de fossos pré-histórico. Apontamentos de Arqueologia e Património. 16: 15-20.

Magnetogram of Rouca 7

Magnetogram of Rouca 7
Annotated magnetogram

Annotated magnetogram
Plan made from the magnetogram

Plan made from the magnetogram
Geophysical prospecting

Geophysical prospecting

Administrative location
Herdade da Rouca, parish of Cano, municipality of Sousel, district of Portalegre.

Access
Access to the observation point by normal vehicle. It is in a preserved area (unfarmed) within an olive grove.

Site coordinates (centre)
38.978374, -7.758326 ou 38°58'42.2"N 7°45'30.2"W

Observation point
38.979029, -7.747106

Google Maps location
https://goo.gl/maps/B6MBCcu1xD7BMqqe7

Chronology
Copper Age, 3rd millennium BC.