LA EXHIBICIÓN DEL PODER EN EL MEGALITISMO DEL SUROESTE PENINSULAR: TRES CASOS DE ESTUDIO EN EL EXTREMO SUR DE PORTUGAL

Abstract

Based on our own experience of the Alcalar Project, and assuming our theoretical framework within Social Archaeology, we present the human groups living around the Lagos bay in the 3rd. Millennium cal BC, comparing them with their contemporary communities from the Cacela area and from the peripheral highlands, with copper ores, of the Eastern Algarve. Empirical evidence —specifically the settlements spatial organisation, as the funerary and ceremonial architecture— allows us to evaluate the emergence of a Primitive Class Society, an historical process which stressed hierarchies, social differences and the centralization of power.