Revisiting the study of the loom weights from Castelo Velho de Freixo e Numão. The depositions as as an antology of existences

Abstract

This text reviews a previous study about the loom weights from Castelo Velho de Freixo de Numão (Gomes 2003). By analyzing how the contextual analysis was developed and how it was focused on the identification of deposition contexts/practices, it is discussed how the importance of such contexts is then diminished regarding a hegemonic discourse on the architecture of the enclosure. Indeed, the study suspends the interpretation of depositions on a contextual scale, moving up to the scale of the site within which depositions practices are interpreted as part of intra and inter-community relationships associated to the construction of the enclosures. Moreover, this orientation of the interpretation also seems to ignore that within the deposition practices – as practices of consigning different elements – emerged new entities forged by the assembling and mixing of different elements. These new entities would have participated in the social scene of prehistoric communities, however in the construction of the archaeological narrative they are overshowed regarding a main actor: the enclosure. In view of this, it is argued that it is necessary to reorient the analysis and narrative schemas in order to create a place for these new entities; to create a point of view on their existence.