Old Castle of Freixo de Numão

Freixo de Numão, Portugal, Portugal

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The Old Castle of Freixo de Numão is a prehistoric Chalcolithic settlement atop a schist spur overlooking the Douro and Côa river valleys in Freixo de Numão, Portugal, dating back to the third millennium BC with initial structures from the early Chalcolithic through the late Bronze Age.

Its most monumental phase around 2900-2000 BC featured an elliptical walled enclosure with a central tower-like structure, surrounding buildings, courtyards, ramps, and platforms up to 3 meters high, possibly serving as a fortified village, storage site, or ritual center before partial abandonment and stoning around 1300 BC.

Discovered in 1980 by archaeologist António Sá Coixão and excavated from 1989-2003 by Susana Oliveira Jorge, the site was musealized and opened to visitors in 2007, preserving stone bases amid later medieval activity nearby but no true castle phase.