ABSTRACT
The Portuguese northwest covers a considerable area of the Atlantic façade of Portugal’s Centre and North, particularly the territory between the River Minho basin, to the North and, the Mondego River basin, to the South. It is an area rich in open-air rock art from the post-Paleolithic chronology, especially the so-called Atlantic Rock Art style, a style that is also distributed to other countries in the European West, namely Spain, France (Brittany), Ireland, England and Scotland.
Atlantic Art shares a number of common characteristics, from the imagery characterised by a mostly abstract/geometric grammar, where classic motifs are included as circular compositions connected by wavy grooves, spirals and cup marks, up to the physical context of implantation in the landscape. However, there are some particularities or regionalisms, namely in the Peninsular Northwest where figurative representations occur, including zoomorphic figures and weapons.
Throughout the XX century, there were several denominations and chronological proposals launched for Atlantic Art which demonstrates the fragmented character of the investigations. Eoin MacWhite, in 1951, was the first researcher to use the “Atlantic” term, based on previous studies by Obermaier. Other researchers followed until finally, a change of paradigm arises in the 90s with Richard Bradley, who started an interregional approach in his studies along with the premise of Landscape Archeology.
As for the issue of chronological attribution, Atlantic Art was the target of great controversies and despite its long historiography, with researchers defending a short duration and other supporters defending a long diachrony, the debate remains open. Currently, most researchers admit a chronology dilated in time, originating in the Middle/Final Neolithic (end of the 5th, beginning of the 4th millennium BC), although some authors continue to defend a more late genesis, in the early Bronze Age.
In summary, hundreds of sites with Atlantic Art are known in the Portuguese northwest and it should be noted that in recent years there has been an increase in work research and publication of unpublished sites, which will be considered in the present work.
