Archeology, and Underwater Heritage Conservation Laboratory

Project MaVis

MaVis
Making Visible the Invisible Histories of the Nabon Valley, Portugal
Year: 2025, approved by DGPC, the competent heritage authority, for the year 2025.
Funded by the University of Iowa and the Direção?Geral do Património Cultural (Portuguese Directorate?General for Cultural Heritage).

Direction
Coordination: Prof. Katina T. Lillios, University of Iowa.
Co?coordination: Alexandra Figueiredo and Cláudio Monteiro, for IPT and DGPC.

Other team members
Mary De La Garza, Director of Research Technology, specialist in drones, lidar, thermography, and GIS, OSA, UI.
Angela R. Collins, Research archaeologist, specialist in ceramics, pXRF, GIS, and aerial thermography, OSA, UI.
Riley Pacer, graduate student in Geographical and Sustainability Sciences, providing support in GIS and remote sensing.
Shannon Casey, graduate student in Anthropology, providing field support and studying medieval ceramics from Agroal.
Tomás Cordero, archaeologist, specialist in the Middle Ages and lidar, NOVA FCSH / IEM.

Partner institutions
University of Iowa, Office of the State Archaeologist and Department of Anthropology.
Instituto Politécnico de Tomar (IPT).
CAA Portugal – Association for New Technologies Applied to Conservation and Archaeology.
NOVA University of Lisbon / Institute for Medieval Studies (IEM).
Municipality of Ourém, Municipal Museum of Ourém and Agroal Nature Park.

Objectives
To use remote?sensing technologies, lidar and thermography, to make visible archaeological structures hidden by vegetation in the Nabão Valley, especially at the site of Agroal and in the megalithic area of Ourém.
To map the extent of settlement at Agroal during the Bronze Age and deepen knowledge about how communities reorganized after the 4.2 kya climatic event.
To identify and map medieval architecture and structures at Agroal, linked to rural communities associated with the Knights Templar.
To locate and study previously unknown megalithic monuments in the municipality of Ourém, contributing to the understanding of Neolithic funerary and ritual practices.
To strengthen international research networks between the USA and Portugal, train students in advanced digital?archaeology techniques, and support local strategies for eco?cultural tourism and sustainable development.

Results

The results show that the 2025 work identified several new built remains at Agroal, from both medieval/early modern times and probably the Bronze Age.

Identification of around 10 new stone structures and walls, as well as additional parts of the already known 15th–16th?century house.
Recognition of an agricultural field with plough marks visible in the lidar images, although the dating of this field still depends on excavation and radiocarbon dating.
Some of the new alignments appear to be medieval or early modern in form, while others are considered likely Bronze Age structures due to their association with artifacts from that period.

The lidar survey made it possible to define 12 target areas with archaeological potential, all georeferenced and assessed in terms of confidence level.
These targets include new walls, platforms, and possible building foundations, which will be priorities for future ground?truthing and possible excavation.

Thermography identified 4 main targets; two of them (TT?2 and TT?4) were confirmed during surface reconnaissance as stone accumulations associated with built structures.