SQUARING THE CIRCLE: DISCUSSING PLAN CHOICES IN DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE FROM LATER PREHISTORIC AND PROTOHISTORIC EXAMPLES IN PORTUGUESE ESTREMADURA

Abstract

The circular or the oval plan predominate in the domestic architecture of the first peasant societies of Portuguese Estremadura, despite the identification of a coexistence with the rectangular plan, at least during the Late Neolithic and the Chalcolithic. It is only during the Iron Age that the rectangular plan becomes predominant, which is probably due to the Phoenician presence at the time.

Building from the study of the case of the Portuguese Estremadura in Late Prehistory and Protohistory, this article presents some reflections on, beyond the chronology and the specific cultural contexts, which are the motives that lead a society to choose the round plan, the rectangular plan, or both at the same time, for its domestic constructions. Evidencing several advantages of the round over the rectangular plan, one challenges the evolutionist prejudice that considers rectangular plan constructions as being more advanced.