António Batarda Fernandes

Independent Researcher

Inaugurated in 2010, the Coa Museum is the entryway to the Coa Valley Archaeological Park. A visit to Coa’s rock art sites is an authentic, irreplaceable experience that, beyond a captivating guide delivering science-based knowledge to visitors on the art and its natural and cultural context, does not need ‘artifices’ to be enjoyed. The Museum’s ex...

A noção de que ao longo da evolução humana determinados conjuntos de símbolos integrantes de tradições diversas de arte rupestre foram usados com o objetivo de auxiliar na imposição de uma ordem ‘imaginada’ é central para o presente escrito. A imagética rupestre materializa a necessidade de recorrer a símbolos visuais para auxiliar a manutenção da...

The Metro Mondego project has been unfolding since the beginning of the 21st century, leading to profound urban changes in the city of Coimbra, namely in its downtown area. On the other hand, the project involved several interventions that undoubtedly contributed to better characterize the evolution of the city of Coimbra over time, namely in its H...

No âmbito do projeto de investigação LandCRAFT, apresentamos as estratégias para a proteção e conservação de um conjunto de abrigos com pinturas rupestres pertencentes à tradição de Arte Esquemática no vale do Côa.

This Chapter discusses ethical and policy-making issues related to the conservation of rock art, especially of that located in the open-air. Towards that end, a short review of present trends in the conservation of open-air rock art sites will be carried out. This review will set the background on the discussion of what are the intervention options...

Global Perspectives for the Conservation and Management of Open-Air Rock Art Sites responds to the growth in known rock art sites across the globe and addresses the need to investigate natural and human-originated threats to them as well as propose solutions to mitigate resulting deterioration. Bringing together perspectives of international resea...

In 2007, the Portuguese government approved a national plan for dams with high hydroelectric potential. Within this framework, the construction of the Lower Sabor hydroelectric power station began in 2009, resulting in the submersion of over 3,000 ha of a river valley along 60 km. The area, located in Northwestern Iberia, is in the vicinity of the...

Cultural and natural heritage conservation often pursue similar objectives and can together enhance the outcome of any given project endeavouring to preserve important values in both dimensions. Considering the case of Serranopólis (Goiás, Brazil) archaeological complex, rich in prehistoric rock art occupation sites and located in a region where th...

O artigo diz respeito à terceira intervenção arqueológica do Projecto de Investigação denominado „Uma investigação sobre a Pré-história Recente do Vale do Côa. Dinâmicas de uso e ocupação do território“, que tem como objectivo principal o estudo das dinâmicas de povoamento da pré-história recente no Vale do Côa. O trabalho de campo foi realizado n...

Lichen mosaics on different-textured schists located in the Coa Valley (Portugal) and Siega Verde (Spain) archaeological sites were cleaned using different chemicals, namely ethanol (50% v/v in distilled water), ben-zalkonium chloride (3% v/v) or Biotin T® (3% v/v), and different Nd:YAG laser wavelengths (1064 nm or 266 nm). The surfaces were evalu...

The Coa Museum, open in 2010, is the entryway to the Coa Valley Archaeological Park. The visit to the rock art sites at the Coa is an authentic, irreplaceable experience that does not need ‘artifices’ to be enjoyed beyond a captivating guide delivering scientifically approved knowledge to visitors on the art and its natural and cultural context. Th...

Fruto do grande interesse das autoridades georgianas, nomeadamente da Agência Nacional de Preservação do Património Cultural da Geórgia no estudo detalhado de Trialeti (Gantiadi, Tsalka, Geórgia) (Figuras 1 e 2), bem como na sua valorização turística, económica e social, através da presença oficial deste país no Conselho da Europa, um projecto de i...

This article intends to disclose the archaeological intervention carried out in late 2019, in Pedreira do Poio, as part of the Research Project “An investigation on the Late Prehistory of the Côa Valley. Dynamics of use and occupation of the territory”. The site was identified by archaeologists from the Côa Park Foundation. It is located in the mid...

Emmanuel Guy. Ce que l'art préhistorique dit de nos origines (Paris: Éditions Flammarion, 2017, 340pp., 23 colour illustr., pbk, ISBN 978-2-0814-1245-3) - Volume 21 Issue 4 - António Batarda Fernandes

Bringing together apparently opposing modern and post-modern approaches to interpretation is one of the challenges that lie ahead for rock-art studies. This endeavour may help to surmount ‘no interpretation is possible’ stances (see Bednarik, 2014) and to value rock-art as a diverse and complex phenomenon where precise significance is concealed wit...

This paper aims to give an account of the online activities and strategies developed and carried out by the Côa Valley Museum and Archaeological Park with the goal of reaching different audiences. Emphasis will be given to more recent efforts on social media networks, namely Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and TripAdvisor. How can these be used to reac...

Na literatura especializada de arte rupestre encontram‑se várias referências ao papel que diferentes factores, em contextos crono‑espaciais diversos, poderão ter desempenhado na escolha de superfícies a pintar e/ou gravar. Tom, proeminência ou localização topográfica das superfícies pétreas, encontram‑se entre os mais frequentemente mencionados. O...

This paper considers the established phenomenon of the integration of pre-existing natural features into Western European Upper Palaeolithic parietal imagery, aiming to present a preliminary inventory of such cases in the Côa Valley and Siega Verde rock-art sites. Attention is also given to other cases at these sites from which it can be inferred t...

This paper considers the established phenomenon of the integration of pre-existing natural features into Western European Upper Palaeolithic parietal imagery, aiming to present a preliminary inventory of such cases in the Côa Valley and Siega Verde rock-art sites. Attention is also given to other cases at these sites from which it can be inferred t...

Paul G. Bahn . Images of the Ice Age (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016, third revised edition, xxiv and 480pp., 267 colour and 48 b/w figs, 4 maps, hbk, ISBN 978-0-19968-600-1) - Volume 20 Issue 2 - António P. Batarda Fernandes

Resumo Este artigo apresenta muito sucintamente dados preliminares sobre os padrões microclimáticos registados pelas quatro estações meteorológicas localizadas no Parque Arqueológico Vale do Côa. A investigação aqui apresentada faz parte de um doutoramento, submetido à School of Applied Sciences, Bournemouth University, sob orientação do Professor...

http://estudospre-historicos.weebly.com/volume-18.html

While much has been achieved in understanding and managing weather effects and erosion phenomena affecting ancient imagery within the relatively protected environments of caves and rock-shelters, the same cannot be said of rock-art panels situated in the open-air. Despite the fact that the number of known sites has risen dramatically in recent deca...

Open-air rock-art forms one of the most widely distributed categories of prehistoric culture with examples recognized across the Old and New Worlds. It is also one of the most threatened features of human heritage and is susceptible to accelerated decay as a result of natural processes. Considering the specific case of the Côa Valley rock-art compl...

The Côa Valley Archaeological Park (PAVC) reaches its 13th birthday in August 2009. Although the relationship between the Park and the local community has not always been unproblematic, the last few years have witnessed a major shift in the situation. While some misunderstandings still exist, recent efforts made by the PAVC, specifi cally enhancing...

The Côa Valley Archaeological Park (PAVC) is home to an impressive assembly of prehistoric open-air rock art. To evaluate the possibilities of carrying out conservation work in the rock art panels, experimental interventions in non-engraved schist outcrops were commissioned in 2003 to three different Portuguese stone conservation companies. Togethe...

Drawing on recent conservation tests carried out in the Côa Valley, we will discuss the aesthetic and ethical limits of rock art conservation work that are reasonable. The whole outcrop, which exists in a certain context that evolves according to a natural and social timetable, is the object to be considered and conserved. This fact should lead roc...

This paper outlines the methodology for the conservation of Côa Valley rock art, as carried out by the Côa Valley Archaeological Park Conservation Programme. It examines the overall conservation environment that has determined this approach, which aims at an understanding of all the factors affecting the survival of the Côa Valley heritage. We stre...

Although Nelson Rebanda—the archaeologist working for the electricity company (EDP) that was building a dam in the Côa river—probably discovered the first Côa Valley engraved surface with Palaeolithic motifs (the now well-known Rock 1 of Canada do Inferno) in November 1991, the find was only revealed to the public in November 1994 (Jorge 1995; Reba...

Cave art is a subject of perennial interest among archaeologists. Until recently it was assumed that it was largely restricted to southern France and northern Iberia, although in recent years new discoveries have demonstrated that it originally had a much wider distribution. The discovery in 2003 of the UK's first examples of cave art, in two caves...

: The Côa Valley rock art constitutes one of the most significant archaeological sites in Portugal and Europe as its inscription in the UNESCO's World Heritage List illustrates. Therefore, the Côa Valley Archaeological Park, as the state body responsible for the preservation and management of the Côa rock art, created a Conservation Program that ai...

Since the opening in 1996 of the Parque Arqueológico Vale do Côa (Côa Valley Archaeological Park, PAVC) the visitation scheme implemented has come under intense scrutiny and criticism, mostly from Portuguese archaeologists and the local community. Considering these criticisms and some examples of different management strategies employed in other Op...

The goal of the paper is that of presenting the Côa Valley Archaeological Park (PAVC) Conservation Program, also providing an analysis of the weathering dynamics that influence the endurance of the Côa rock art heritage, inscribed by UNESCO in the World Heritage List. These dynamics decisively shaped the management and conservation strategies imple...

Desde a sua abertura em 1996, o Parque Arqueológico Vale do Côa (PACV) tem estado debaixo de intensa análise e crítica, por parte, na sua maioria, de arqueólogos portugueses e da comunidade local, nomeadamente no que concerne ao sistema de visita implantado no Côa, objecto de discussão neste artigo. Tendo em conta estas críticas e alguns exemplos d...