ABSTRACT
A t the beginning o f this chapter it was stated that the concepts of continuity and change are relative and depend upon the available evidence, or variables, that can be used to read the cultural processes. Two questions can thus be asked. What significant changes can be observed when considering long periods of time? What significance can be attributed to them? If we look at the archaeological record of the last millennium BC in northwest Portugal we can identify changes in artefact morphology (pottery, metalwork, jewellery). Overall, some of these changes are difficult to date either in archaeological time or in the social time of the communities which used them. In fact, changes can only be detected once they are present. The amount of time lost in trial and error, in the process of learning, or in the process of innovation and experimentation, which may give rise to new objects and socio-economic structures, wi l l always remain unknown. But what value can be placed upon artefacts when dealing with the analysis of the dynamics of change? Considering that they do not always change in connection with economic, social or ideological transformations, their value can only be gauged by reference to other cultural aspects. The emphasis on other indicators, such as settlement patterns, mobility and the strategies of exploitation of territory, makes it clear that social changes occur at a different rhythm to that of portable artefacts. The former change more slowly, as they respond to the stabilization of the communities in space, the exploitation of the available resources, and ideological constraints.
