Freemaps

The ruins of the Roman village of Montinho das Laranjeiras, near Alcoutim, were exposed after a great flood in the Guadiana River, in 1876. In March of the following year, the archaeologist Estácio da Veiga carried out the first excavation at the site, having concluded that he was before the remains of a Roman villa.

Some 100 years later, further excavations and investigations revealed that the ruins include three distinct areas; pars fructuaria, from Roman times; Visigothic ecclesia; Islamic buyouts. It was thus proved that the site had a long occupation, from the 1st century BC to the 12th century AD.

The first construction dates from the 1st century BC and was dedicated to trade between merchants who navigated the river up to Mértola, in Alentejo.

At the end of the 6th century, during the Ravennaic-Byzantine rule, an ecclesia was built that imitated the mausoleum of Gala Placidia.

The Islamic houses (buyut) would have belonged to Arab families and from the pottery found on the site, it is thought that the last phase of occupation took place in the Almohad period (12th – 13th centuries). Due to its extensive size, there is a possibility that a guesthouse (funduq) could have operated on the site, which could have served to house traders who moved along the Guadiana.