Research support – collaboration with Campo Arqueológico and the Universities of Évora and Frankfurt
The Museu de Mértola Cláudio Torres supported the activities carried out as part of the partnership between the Campo Arqueológico de Mértola, the University of Évora’s History Department and the Institute or Archaeological Science – Dept. of Near Eastern Archaeology da Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Universitat Frankfurt am Main, which included researchers, professors and young students.
This action is part of the multi-year research project ‘Mértola and its territory: Archaeology, History and Heritage – Mertolater 2024′ which aims to study the relationship between the town of Mértola and its territory. It is a question of defining the space dependent on the town and its evolution over time, determining the nature of the relationship between the town and the surrounding settlement as well as the evolution of the landscape that has sustained its populations over time.
The activities arising from this line of research are based on the continuous updating of Mértola’s Archaeological Map and the detailed study of some of the sites already registered, using a non-destructive methodology centred on surface archaeological prospection and the recording of the collected information.
In this context, CAM and the Universities of Évora and Frankfurt carried out an archaeological exploration campaign between 8 and 16 April 2024, aimed at better understanding the settlement of the Islamic period in the municipality of Mértola, prioritising the areas to the north of the town and the left bank of the Guadiana. During their stay there were ceramics workshops and visits to the museum centres of the Museu de Mértola and to archaeological sites located in the town of Mértola and elsewhere in the municipality.