Португалиядағы Шалаколиттік кезеңнің қамал-қонысы: Вила-Нова-де-Сан-Педро қамалы

The Castro of Vila Nova de São Pedro is a Chalcolithic archaeological site in the civil parish of Vila Nova de São Pedro, municipality of Azambuja, in the Portuguese Estremadura area of Lezíria do Tejo. It is important for the discovery of thousands of arrowheads within its fortified settlement, associated with the Chalcolithic period of human settlement. associated with the long lived fortified town, or castro, of Zambujal, near the municipality of Torres Vedras. The period of "urban" settlement lasted from 2600 to 1300 BCE, and was a contemporary of the southeastern Spanish settlements of Los Millares and El Argar.

The rural site, is located on a small hilltop dominated by the ruins of a castle, and intersected in the north, east and west by the Ribeira de Alcoentre, Ribeira do Carrascal and Ribeira do Massuca (respectively).

It has been determined that early inhabitants in this region began building fortifications around 2700 BCE, with the Dolmen of Herdade de Zambujal being the more central, with a very complex plan and up to six reconstructions in its lifetime. These cultures left behind many traces of their culture: stylized cups, crescents of clay, sticks of slate and the so called plate idols, that some archaeo astronomers consider to be precise calendars. Nevertheless, the exchange with other groups, particularly Los Millares, is also present in the archaeological record. The inhabitants of the fort had its economy based on agriculture and grazing, which was suitable to the surrounding lowlands.

But, trade proved to have greater interest: the first settlers brought with them red tinged pottery, more delicate then later ceramics, with excellent decoration, suggesting their contact with peoples of a superior civilization (something that they could not produce with similar quality). With the arrival of the Beaker peoples around 2200 BCE, the local culture entered a new period of development that mixed the Beaker people burial rites, while maintaining other traditions. It is likely that the Beaker people's presence within this region also resulted in secondary phase of development of this culture. The inter cultural exchanges between groups were more frequent, and their influence spread to distances of 1000 kilometres or greater, as was the case with the Treilles, in the French Languedoc. Local artifacts associated with these cultures, such as the Palmela arrowheads or bell shaped beakers, were commonly found dispersed in the western half of the Iberian peninsula, suggesting an origin in the region. After 1900 BCE there is a decentralization in the Iberian peninsula, resulting in a dispersion of many of these artifacts to as far as Bohemia. With the arrival of Bronze Age technologies in southern Iberia after 1800 BCE (particularly in El Argar), the influence of the castro culture of Vila Nova de São Pedro begins to slowly decline. Finally, around 1300, it merges with the wider culture associated with internally burnished pottery, including most of Portugal and the wider Atlantic Bronze Age cultures.

The site was discovered in 1936 by Raposo, and followed in 1937 by excavations under the auspices of the Associação dos Arqueólogos Portugueses (Association of Portuguese Archaeologists). Between 1941 1948, 1949–1954, 1959 and 1960–1967, Afonso do Paço was responsible for the dig. In 1961, the Direcção Geral dos Edifícios e Monumentos Nacionais (DGMEN) (General Directorate for Buildings and National Monuments) also conducted investigations, in conjunction with the Serviços de Monumentos Nacionais (National Monument Services branch). Following the authorization of Vitor Manuel dos Santos Gonçalves, in 1985, new archaeological investigations were undertaken at the site.