Carrazeda de Ansiães

Carrazeda de Ansiães is a municipality in the district of Bragança in northern Portugal. The population in 2011 was 6,373, in an area of 279.24 km².HistoryThe territory began its historical journey, from ancient vestiges discovered, during the Neolithic period, from dolmens from Zedes and Vilarinho da Castanheira. This structures were both monumental and served to support the hunter-gathering cultures. The local dolmen were discovered with paintings, consisting of circular and spiral patterns, in addition to ceramics with undulating painted lines. Vilarinho da Castanheira also shows evidence of the areas importance as a graveyard and burial site: bodies were buried here, surrounded by large rock monuments and objects of the local religion. In Cachão da Rapa, in the shadow of the Douro river, there are similar paintings of dark red and blues, that include anthropomorphic stylized human beings. The discovery of archeological artifacts, namely lithic flakes of quartz, fragments of metamorphic schist implements, rounded pebbles and machetes, support the belief that indigenous peoples used the space. There are also lithic remnants scattered throughout the municipality with many symbols (arcs, circles or semi-circles). In the Chalcolithic and Iron Age, settlements were common in the region of Carrazed de Ansiães: places such as Castro, Lapa, Serro and Castelo Fontoura, indicate the exists of organized settlement during these periods.