The maximum length of the enclosure is around 60 metres. The only ditch is, on average, 1.5 metres wide and 1 metre deep. Both inside the ditch and in various excavated pits were fragments of ceramic containers (spherical and globular vases, carinated bowls and simple bowls with thickened rims), loom weights, carved stone tools (arrowheads, segments of retouched flint blades), polished stone utensils (axes) and countless fragments of manual millstone sleepers. The enclosure is on the flat top of a small hill with ample visibility over the landscape, with several small menhirs scattered outside. About 120 metres to the southwest are four pillars of a small proto-megalithic cist (Grave 1 of Torrão).

The most distinctive feature of the Torrão enclosure is its association with a small cromlech. In the current knowledge, we cannot determine whether the construction of both enclosures (the ditched and the menhir) is coeval or the megalithic one was previous. Given the ancient chronologies proposed for the Alentejo cromlechs, the latter seems likely. Thus, the small hill was already a monumentalised and meaningful place at the time of the enclosure’s construction. This situation evokes our knowledge of Perdigões, where a cromlech seems to have preceded the construction of the enclosures, and Outeiro Alto (southern route), where a sacralised space also drew the installation of the structure. These are examples of how the construction of enclosures relates to previous considerations on landscapes and places with powerful symbolism.

Archaeological excavations.

Lago, M.; Albergaria, J. (2001) – O Cabeço do Torrão (Elvas): contextos e interpretações prévias de um lugar do Neolítico alentejano, Era Arqueologia, 4: 39-62.