Entre muralhas e templos. A intervenção arqueológica no Largo de Santa Maria da Graça, Lagos (2004-2005)

Abstract

In this edited monograph we publish the results of the archaeological intervention undertaken in the Largo de Santa Maria de Graça, situated in the historical centre of the city of Lagos (Algarve, Portugal). E. Morán and I directed the excavation and interdisciplinary research of the site, which entailed the archaeological examination and socio-historical interpretation of varied remains illustrating the recent biography of the city and its inhabitants (two co-authored chapters). These remains included the city-walls located in this sector of the city and a Late Medieval-Early Modern-Contemporary cemetery, which afforded the osteological remains of 155 individuals that were studied by a team of four bioarchaeologists of the University of Évora. The main contributions of this monograph are: a) The publication of the detailed excavation, mapping and analysis of the graves and other related contexts, which revealed interesting spatial patterns in the use of this burial ground through time; b) The cross-cutting of this contextual information with the results, concerning age and gender determination, of the anthropological study of the skeletons, which provided fruitful insights regarding gender, age, social norms and burial practices during this period; c) The documentation of deep fissures in the bed-rock caused by the 1755 earthquake, which were filled in with rests of the destroyed church and the sector of the cemetery affected, providing new high quality archaeological data for the assessment of the impact of the 1755 earthquake