Abstract:

This contribution is part of a larger work developed since 2014 on Zambujal’s flaked stone mainly focusing on siliceous resources’ petrographic characterization, strategies of management and procurement. The enclosure of Zambujal distinguishes itself, in the Portuguese Estremadura, by the larger number of flint artefacts recovered within a chronological context. As well, the Sizandro’s valley was recently studied through a geoarchaeological approach - Holocene floodplain evolution of the Sizandro valley (Portugal) - in which it was proposed a calcolithic territory model. So the enclosure of Zambujal is privileged for being a case study. Although if compared to other Chalcolithic settlements, have a high number of arrowheads (1037) stands out in absolute contrast, as in proportion with the remained lithic tools available. This particular issue, moreover connected to the fact of having been removed inside the barbican of the hillfort (between first and second lines of defence), is a very important element that suggests the possibility of armed conflicts among these populations over Chalcolithic (3rd millennium BCE). The present paper proposes to test the hypothesis of the evidences of war in Chalcolithic, based on functional and petrographic analysis of Zambujal´s arrowheads.

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