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4th/3rd - 1st century BC

Castro of Chibanes

The site of Chibanes was occupied during the 3rd millennium BC, in the second Iron Age and the Roman Republic period. The three fortification were erected with nearly coincidental layouts, taking advantage of natural conditions of defence.
The Roman Republican era fortification appears to have been built as part of the military campaigns of Roman conquest of the Hispanic West. The architecture of this occupation is overlapping and juxtaposed to the Iron Age wall and organized as two small forts located in town's opposite entrances. To the north, these structures are connected by a wall delimiting the inhabited enclosure (about 2.5 acres). To the south, the site is defended by a sharp natural slope. In the first phase of the late Republican occupation, the military character is more evident than later, when there was a more domestic use of the space.
The material culture (
amphora
, metallic artefacts, italic black varnish ceramics) dates the late Republican occupation of Chibanes to between the late 2nd and mid-1st century BC. The archaeological information can be articulated with the classic sources. Chibanes may correspond to the ptolemaic Caepiana.
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Chibanes. Areas excavated by the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography of the District of Setúbal (MAEDS) between 1996 and 2017. © MAEDS
Chibanes. Western area of deposit with representation of areas intervened in the archaeological campaigns between 2012 and 2017:Sectors I-II (Tower T7) and Sectors IV-V-VI (Loci/Compartments R14, T16, B20, D3, A11, D14, F17, G20, J17 and C10).© MAEDS
Chibanes. Roman Republic structures. Western area of deposit. © Eduardo Costa, 1998
Chibanes. 1 - exterior of northern wall of western Roman Republican fort; 2 - wall from second Iron Age; 3 - Chalcolithic wall. © Antónia Coelho-Soares, 2015
Chibanes. Phase IIIA (Roman Republican Period). Northwest corner of western fort. © Antónia Coelho-Soares, 2006
Chibanes. Subphase IIIA (Roman Republican Period). Layout of C.3B from Building B (Loci R14, T16, A11, D14 and C10). © MAEDS
Chibanes. Subphase IIIA (Roman Republican Period). Layout of C.3B from Building C (Loci B20, D3, F17, G20 e J17). © MAEDS
Chibanes. Locus R14. Fireplace coated in clay that covered ceramics laid horizontally (Estr. T13-14) identified in C.3B (Building B). © Antónia Coelho-Soares, 2015
Chibanes. Layer 3B, from Locus T16 com base (Estr. A18), Building B. © MAEDS, 2013
Chibanes. Locus F17 with pavement (C.3B) from Subphase IIIA (Roman Republican Period), with outcropping of base of possible pillar (indicated with *). © Antónia Coelho-Soares, 2016
Chibanes. Locus J17. In the foreground, the combustion structure J17(1) from Subphase IIIA (Roman Republican Period), cut by m.19 (2) (Subphase IIIB) and partially cut by pavement from C.2B (3). © MAEDS, 2017
Chibanes. Subphase IIIB (Roman Republican Period). Layout of C.2B from Building B. © MAEDS
Chibanes. Subphase IIIB (Roman Republican Period). Layout of C.2B from Buildings C1 (compartments B20 and F17) and C2 (compartments D3 and G20). © MAEDS
Chibanes. Wall 22 (1), preserved remains of stone masonry (Subphase IIIB, Roman Republican Period) and Wall 18 (2), built in Subphase IIIA. Photo taken from the north. © MAEDS, 2017
Chibanes. Layout of Tower T7 (Roman Republican Period). © MAEDS
Chibanes. Italic black varnish ceramic from Locus L12 (C.3). © Vicenzo Soria
Chibanes. Italic black varnish ceramic from Locus L12 (C.2). © Vicenzo Soria
Chibanes. Oil lamp akin to Ricci type G. © Antónia Coelho-Soares, 2014
Chibanes. Weapons associated with military / militarized occupation. © Teresa Rita Pereira
Chibanes. Ornaments. © Teresa Rita Pereira
Chibanes. Fishing instruments. © Teresa Rita Pereira
Chibanes. Agricultural and carpentry instruments. © Teresa Rita Pereira

Typology

Camp

Archeological interventions

1996; 1997; 1998; 1999; 2001; 2002; 2012; 2013; 2015; 2016-2017

Suggested reading

Soares, J.; Tavares da Silva, C. (2014) - O Projecto de Investigação Arqueológica "CIB" e a campanha de escavações Chibanes/2012. Musa. Museus, Arqueologia e Outros Patrimónios. 4, pp. 75-98.

Soares, J.; Tavares da Silva, C.; Duarte, S.; Pereira, T. R.; Soria, V. (2019) - Aspectos da presença militar romano-republicana no castro de Chibanes (Palmela). Revista Portuguesa de Arqueologia. Vol. 22, pp. 79-93.

Tavares da Silva, C.; Soares, J. (1997) - Chibanes revisitado. Primeiros resultados da campanha de escavações de 1996. Estudos Orientais. 6, pp. 33-66.

Tavares da Silva, C.; Soares, J. (2012) - Castro de Chibanes (Palmela). Do III milénio ao séc. I a.C. In Palmela arqueológica no contexto da região interestuarina Sado-Tejo. Palmela: Município de Palmela, pp. 67-87.

Tavares da Silva, C.; Soares, J.; Duarte, S.; Pereira, T. R.; Coelho-Soares, A.; Sorìa, V. (2019) - Castro de Chibanes (Palmela): Trabalhos arqueológicos de 2012 a 2017. In Soares, J., Pinto, I., Tavares da Silva, C. (coord.) - Actas do IX Encontro de Arqueologia do Sudoeste Peninsular: Do Paleolítico ao período Romano Republicano (Setúbal Arqueológica, 18). Museu de Arqueologia e Etnografia do Distrito de Setúbal/Associação de Municípios da Região de Setúbal, pp.215-246.

Address

Chibanes, Serra do Louro, Palmela

Useful links

Municipal Museum of Palmela - https://www.cm-palmela.pt/frontoffice/pages/1414

Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography of the District of Setúbal - http://maeds.amrs.pt/maeds.html

Identification code​

LxR1508001

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