Chalcolithic Pottery, Escoural Cave, Portugal

It was during the Chalcolithic, or Copper Age, that new communities headed to Escoural and settled in a fortified settlement at the top of the hill where the cave was enclosed and unsuspected. They were communities that presented a complex and varied economy, which added the extraction of ore to agriculture and pastoralism. A village of the sort situated on the top of a hill made up of white marble would be an extraordinary landmark in the landscape. Associated with this village, about 900 meters away, there is also a collective burial monument consisting of a circular chamber and a rectangular corridor built in stone – the Tholos of Escoural. This is a pottery piece of small dimensions with some similarities in the form to the shapes found inside the cave, belonging to the neolithic period. Inv. CSD0601