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Arco de Baúlhe · archaeological interpretation
Before the railway, a hillfort
During Romanisation, the region’s settlements did not all follow the same path. The Archaeological Map suggests that the small hillfort at Arco de Baúlhe may have lost inhabitants while Chacim became more central. It also mentions the expansion of agricultural occupation onto lower land. This interpretation helps us imagine a changing territory, but gives no certain date for the abandonment of Arco’s hillfort. The Map places these changes within a process beginning in the second half of the 1st century BC. Transformation extended beyond houses: relationships among settlements, fields and centres of power changed too. Chacim appears as a focus for population and renewed spaces, while Arco is presented as a possible example of depopulation. Material from Mó de Cima, in Chacim, is used to support the agricultural occupation of lower land. Later, the text highlights open farmstead-type settlements such as Abadim. Read together, these clues show a change in territorial organisation; they do not allow a single movement of inhabitants between two points to be traced, or every change to be dated to the same year.
Vamos experimentar?
- Draw two villages and fields among them.
- Use arrow keys to represent the hypothesis of population change; do not draw a historical route as if it were proven.
- Compare the history of the Arch with that of the agricultural couple of Abadim.
A paper proposal to explore history at your own pace.
Open a história e os seus recursos →Sources of this proposal
- Archaeological Letter of Cabeceiras de Basto — Protohistory and RomanizationConsultation/revision: 2026-11-07
My findings
An idea, a drawing or a question to go on.

