Zambujal Chalcolithic settlement

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Identified by the local researcher Leonel Trindade in 1932, and about 3 km SW of the city of Torres Vedras, Castro do Zambujal is one of the most emblematic Portuguese archaeological sites, being essential for the knowledge of the 1^st Chalcolithic agrimetallurgical societies in Iberian Peninsula. In fact, its inhabitants were engaged in activities related to the copper exploration, mining and metallurgy, maintaining trade relations with the whole Europe.

Strategically chosen by Aegean merchants, who have settled in the coastal strip of the Iberian Peninsula for extraction and commercialization of minerals to supply the metallurgical centers of the eastern Mediterranean, this site presents 3 favorable points to the establishment of the village:

- stone was available for construction;

- easy to defend, thanks to cliffs that made access difficult; and

- it is near the river, a way of communication and trade.

Its fortifications have great patrimonial value (national and international), since they present an excellent state of conservation in height, being particularly representative of the early defensive constructions built in Portuguese territory. At the hill top were identified 4 lines of wall, built during the 3^rd millennium b. C., registering 5 phases of construction. The estimated area indicates that Castro do Zambujal corresponds to one of the most extensive Chalcolithic settlements of Estremadura.