An astoundingly rare 24,000-year-old stone carving will be on display in Vila do Bispo at the council’s interpretation centre in the old municipal market.
"Origins of the Prehistoric Kingdom of the Algarve" is open to the public until October 28th as a retrospective of the archaeological knowledge of the Algarve region, resulting from nearly 150 years of research.
‘The archaeological materials shared with the public include artifacts made of stone and ceramics, as well as examples of mineral and animal resources exploited by our ancestors.’
The focus of this exhibition is Paleolithic, about 24,000 years old, discovered at the archaeological site of Vale Boi in Budens, Vila do Bispo on which several animal figures are evident.
One such carving is of an aurochs, a type of large ox, which was discovered practically intact in 2005 (see image below).
Identified in 1998 by a team from the University of the Algarve, the Vale Boi site has been the subject of archaeological investigation ever since, alongside a project to reconstruct the site as it might have looked 20,000 ago.
Excavations have unearthed thousands of traces of our ancestors, especially hewn stone, some of which are arrowheads.
Investigations show that the first inhabitants of the Algarve fed on seafood, made engravings on stone and crafted ornaments with small shells.
The exhibition also "shows an overview of the prehistory of the Algarve, which extends from the lower Paleolithic (500,000 years ago) to the first age of metals, known as the Chalcolithic period (around 5000 years ago)" according to the University of Algarve team coordinating excavations at the site.
The exhibition can be visited from Monday to Friday, from 09:00 to 15:30.
patrimonio.historico@cm-viladobispo.pt
