Centuries-old food storage silos discovered in Portugal Algarve

The Algarve is a region beloved by tourists. The massive cliffs in shades of brown and orange, the blue Atlantic Ocean, and the wide, sandy beaches make travelers eager to visit. A group of archaeologists from ERA Arqueologia came across an extraordinary find in this region. It was beneath one of the streets near the main church of Portimão, Igreja Matriz. They discovered three underground clay silos, which functioned like modern refrigerators for food storage.

Inside the underground silos, one of which has a cracked cover, remnants of oysters and shellfish were discovered, suggesting they were used for storing food products.

According to scientists, the clay silos might have been used by the residents of Portimão from the 16th to the 18th century. Archaeologists now plan to conduct detailed research to precisely determine the age of the silos and understand their functional evolution over the centuries. They do not rule out the possibility that these "clay containers" could have served various roles in different historical periods, and the site of their discovery still holds many mysteries.

However, the analysis of the artifacts found is complicated due to the numerous earthquakes that have hit this area, particularly the catastrophic disaster of 1755, which significantly destroyed the region and everything in it.

The research coordinator, Vera Teixeira de Freitas, states that there are indications suggesting that this area may have been inhabited as early as Roman times. The Romans arrived on the Iberian Peninsula in 218 B.C., which opened up prospects for further significant archaeological discoveries.