– El Castillo de Alferce (Monchique, Portugal): una fortificación califal del Garb al-Andalus

Abstract

The archaeological site of Cerro do Castelo de Alferce has been the subject of systematic archaeological interventions since 2020, framed within the research project “From Recent Prehistory to Islamic Medieval: ancient human occupations in Cerro do Castelo de Alferce”. The fieldwork has focused particularly on the summit of the site, where two fortified enclosures from the Umayyad period are located. One of them corresponds to the upper redoubt, a fortification from the Caliphal period, erected in the late 10th or early 11th century. This arose after the deactivation of a fortified settlement from the Emirate period, possibly related to Munt Šāqir of the kūra of Ocsonoba. Recent archaeological interventions have allowed for the identification of new architectural and defensive elements of the Caliphal fortification, some of which result from the utilization of earlier structures.