Days Out - Cova dos Mouros Mining Park

Close to Alcoutim, the Cova dos Mouros Mining Park uses a series of historical reconstructions to tell the story of man’s dedication to the mining and working of metals over a period of five thousand years.

In the course of an open-air walking tour over a distance of roughly one kilometre – a path that your children can also follow on the back of a donkey – you will discover reconstructions of a prehistoric house, with human figures from the period at work, as well as seeing the variety of tools that they used.

This educational park shows the history of the development of mining and metal work in the Algarve. The tour begins in the Chalcolithic period (2500 BC), at a time when man first discovered that by heating and beating copper with a hammer he could transform it into different shapes and make a variety of tools that would facilitate his everyday tasks, such as the saws and axes that have been found here.

Next, you will pass through the Bronze Age (1500 BC) – the period when this alloy of copper and tin was discovered – and then into the Iron Age (8th century BC), when new techniques were introduced for the smelting of ores, such as the use of a north-facing tunnel furnace, which made it possible to take advantage of the winds and achieve higher temperatures.

With the arrival of the Romans in the Iberian Peninsula in the 3rd century BC, the ore began to be mined and worked in open trenches by slaves and criminals sentenced to forced labour. The tour ends with a reconstruction of the period of the Industrial Revolution, through the use of mining trucks, mining sounds, the mouths of mines and other objects that were used at the time and which can now be discovered by those who visit this place.

The whole mining park is situated in a very beautiful natural environment and so it also represents an excellent way of exploring nature, for here, in the midst of a pleasant smell of rock-rose and rosemary, you will see birds of prey hovering overhead, as well as Azure-Winged Magpies, Hoopoes, Woodpeckers, Peacocks, Australian Emus, Sudanese Sheep and African Goats.

More information at http://minacovamouros.sitepac.pt/index_in.html