Citânia de Briteiros

The Citânia de Briteiros is a castro, one of the fortified hilltop settlements of the north-western Iberian Iron Age, occupied from around the second century BC into the Roman period and covering several hectares on a hill above the Ave. What survives is the plan: concentric defensive walls, paved streets with drainage channels running down them, and the foundations of well over a hundred round and oval stone houses, two of which Sarmento himself reconstructed with conical thatch to show how they stood. It was excavated from 1875 by Francisco Martins Sarmento, whose work here effectively began scientific archaeology in Portugal, and the finds - including carved granite pieces and the famous Pedra Formosa, a decorated slab from a bath structure - are in the museum named for him in Guimarães, which the same ticket covers.

History

The site was probably built between the first and second century BCE on a hill already used for Bronze Age rock engravings, and Roman settlers occupied it in the first century AD, leaving coins mostly of Augustus and Tiberius. Francisco Martins Sarmento began excavating here in 1875 and reconstructed two of the houses, and the site became a National Monument in 1910 (Wikipedia, Citânia de Briteiros).

What to look for

• The paved streets - stone roads with drainage running through the settlement.
• The round houses - foundations of over a hundred, with two reconstructed by Sarmento.
• The walls - concentric defensive circuits around the hilltop.
• The Sarmento excavation - the 1875 work that founded Portuguese archaeology.

When to go

April to October. Two hours on site, plus the Guimarães museum on the same ticket. Wet weather makes the stone streets slippery.

What to expect

Exposed hilltop with no shade and frequent wind. Uneven stone throughout - awkward footing. The best finds are in Guimarães, not on site. Interpretation on the hill is limited without the museum.

Nearby

Guimarães and the Martins Sarmento museum are south; Braga is west.

Key facts