Roman Dam of Fonte Coberta (Barragem Romana da Fonte Coberta) is an archeologic site of a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

dam in the parish of São Sebastião, municipality of

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

, in the

Algarve The Algarve (, , ; from ) is the southernmost NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities ( ''concelhos'' or ''municípios'' in Portuguese). The region has it ...

region of southern Portugal. The

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, a ...

was constructed during the

Romanization of Hispania The Romanization of Hispania is the process by which Roman or Latin culture was introduced into the Iberian Peninsula during the period of Roman rule. Throughout the centuries of Roman rule over the provinces of Hispania, Roman customs, religion, la ...

Structure

The wall is about 70 meters long, and between 2.6 and 2.7 meters thick. From the typological point of view, it is a wall of straight, rectangular section, consisting of homogeneous stone blocks mortared in

opus caementicium Roman concrete, also called , is a material that was used in construction in ancient Rome. Roman concrete was based on a hydraulic-setting cement. It is durable due to its incorporation of pozzolanic ash, which prevents cracks from spreading. B ...

. It is situated in an open valley, which is relatively open, develops in the direction of the river Ribeira de Bensafrim. It is built where the valley begins to narrow, about 1.3 km west of Ribeira de Bensafrim. Barragem Romana da Fonte Coberta may have served to irrigate cultivated fields, or as part of a water supply system for the town of

Lacobriga ''Lacobriga'' (Laccobriga or Lacóbriga (Lacobrica in Latin)) was an ancient town of Celtic origin, usually identified as the predecessor of the current city of Lagos in Portugal. The nearby Archaeological Site of Monte Molião is also known as L ...

, which was situated on Monte Molião, on the east bank of Ribeira of Bensafrim. In the areas that preserve the face of this structure it is possible to identify some negatives of what appear to be horizontally arranged boards, which would probably form part of the frame work system assembled for its construction.

History

Its identification was initially made by

Estácio da Veiga Sebastião Phillipes Martins Estácio da Veiga (6 May 1828 in Tavira – 7 December 1891 in Lisbon), was a Portuguese archeologist and writer, known for having discovered several important archaeological sites in the Algarve and having made adv ...

in the second half of the 19th century.

Protection

It is classified by the Institute of Management of Architectural and Archaeological Heritage as Property of Public Interest, according to Decree-Law 26-A / 92, DR 126 of June 1, 1992.

References

*Santos, Maria Luísa Estácio da Veiga Affonso dos (1972). ''Roman Archeology of the Algarve''. Lisbon: Association of Portuguese Archaeologists.
Patrimonio Cultural Portugal
Ancient Roman buildings and structures in Portugal Lagos, Portugal