Castro de St.º Estevão
Ponte de Lima
On one of the most southern hilltops of Castelo Hill is situated the chester of St. Estevão da Facha.
Despite the excavated area is relatively small, taking into account its full extension, several elements were discovered, adding a number of testimonies that we consider very important for the knowledge of the Chester problematic since its beginning to its miscegenation with the Roman culture.
Despite the early stage of its research works, Castro de St . Estevão da Facha, is nowadays a classical element of scientific interest.
The hilltop settlement dates back from the 7th century B.C., as suggested by some materials of the Mediterranean area and other of the “Hallstatt” culture, as the carinated bowls, "Alpiarça” type. It is an horizon that excels in the absence of stony buildings, all leading to believe that the rooms were made with plant species reinforced with clay.
The first stony houses belong to Horizon IIIA, that is, the earliest stage of chester settlements if we consider Carlos A. Ferreira de Almeida, who refers that we can only really talk about “Chester Culture”, from the moment the houses made of stone and defensive systems appear. Before it is the embryonic period, the “pre-castrejo”.
These rooms with a structure made of small stones, broken by impact or natural fissure and linked by clay, show no sign of the use of the pickaxe. They have compact clay floors that extend out of the houses and fireplaces, some decorated and others burnt.
Proto-História e Romanização da Bacia Interior do Lima -1990
Carlos A. Brochado de Almeida