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64-487: Human presence in the municipality of Mirandela goes back to prehistoric times. Megaliths can be found throughout the municipality, although several have been altered or destroyed. Prehistoric paintings and shelters have also been identified. Most findings are believed to date back to the period between the end of 4th and the start of the 2nd millennium BC. During the bronze age, the area hosted several hillforts ( castros ). Tin, copper, arsenic, and gold mining took plece in

128-451: A keep . Residents of the town that did not possess arms or a horse were mandated to pay annual stipend on São Miguel day, in September. The castle featured three gates (Santo António, Santiago, and Portela), along with a small gate at São José. It also included battlements and interior keep, near the prison block, that served as the royal residence. It may have also featured a Postern next to

192-552: A bike and walking path. Outside of the city, there is the Mirandela Aerodrome , which allows for recreational flights. Prehistory Prehistory , also called pre-literary history , is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins c.  3.3   million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems . The use of symbols, marks, and images appears very early among humans, but

256-576: A common impurity. Tin ores are rare, as reflected in the fact there were no tin bronzes in Western Asia before 3000 BCE. The Bronze Age forms part of the three-age system for prehistoric societies. In this system, it follows the Neolithic in some areas of the world. While copper is a common ore, deposits of tin are rare in the Old World , and often had to be traded or carried considerable distances from

320-594: A local passenger service until 2018 called Metro de Mirandela . In 1963, during Estado Novo , an ambitious agribusiness development project, the Cachão Agroindustrial Complex, was established in Mirandela municipality. The town of Mirandela was elevated to the status of city on 28 June 1984. The municipality is bordered by the municipalities of Murça , Valpaços , Vinhais , Bragança , Macedo de Cavaleiros , Vila Flor and Carrazeda de Ansiães , and

384-663: A much more evident Mesolithic era, lasting millennia. In Northern Europe , societies were able to live well on rich food supplies from the marshlands fostered by the warmer climate. Such conditions produced distinctive human behaviours that are preserved in the material record, such as the Maglemosian and Azilian cultures. These conditions also delayed the coming of the Neolithic until as late as 4000 BCE (6,000  BP ) in northern Europe. Remains from this period are few and far between, often limited to middens . In forested areas,

448-622: A passenger with a CP ticket using the replacement road service. In May 2016 the Mirandela local authority decided to withdraw funding for the replacement road service due to financial constraints. Budget cuts by the Portuguese Government led to a decision to permanently close the line, as announced in the Government's Strategic Transport Plan 2011–2015, published in October 2011. Actual train services were effectively withdrawn in 2008, apart from

512-475: A region that included Torre de Dona Chama, Frechas, Sesulfe, Nozelos, Vilas Boas, Vale de Asnes and Cortiços. However, Torre de Dona Chama would become its own municipality briefly between 1287 and 1293 and again from 1299. On 2 September 1282, King Denis issued a royal decree, officially transferring the town to its current location in São Miguel Hill, where a small shrine existed. This move likely reflected

576-563: A short section around Mirandela which was operated as the Metro de Mirandela until December 2018. As of 2018, the possibility of reopening the railway between Brunheda and Mirandela as a tourist attraction is being explored. The trackbed south of Brunheda will be submerged by the Foz Tua Dam scheme. A visitor centre for the Tua Valley (including features on the railway line) has been developed on

640-649: A single room. Settlements might have a surrounding stone wall to keep domesticated animals in and hostile tribes out. Later settlements have rectangular mud-brick houses where the family lived in single or multiple rooms. Burial findings suggest an ancestor cult with preserved skulls of the dead. The Vinča culture may have created the earliest system of writing. The megalithic temple complexes of Ġgantija are notable for their gigantic structures. Although some late Eurasian Neolithic societies formed complex stratified chiefdoms or even states, states evolved in Eurasia only with

704-723: A single source. The emergence of metallurgy may have occurred first in the Fertile Crescent , where it gave rise to the Bronze Age in the 4th millennium BCE (the traditional view), although finds from the Vinča culture in Europe have now been securely dated to slightly earlier than those of the Fertile Crescent. Timna Valley contains evidence of copper mining 7,000 years ago. The process of transition from Neolithic to Chalcolithic in

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768-532: A steep stairway. The village was a part of several fortifications at the border with Castile and it was one of the best protected settlements in the region. Following the Battle of Aljubarrota in 1385, Mirandela's military role would fade and by 1530 the castle already showed signs of decay. Mirandela was donated to the Távora family in 1301 when King Denis granted the town's title to Branca Lourenço. For several centuries,

832-767: Is also a transition period between Stone Age and Bronze Age, the Chalcolithic or Copper Age. For the prehistory of the Americas see Pre-Columbian era . The notion of "prehistory" emerged during the Enlightenment in the work of antiquarians who used the word "primitive" to describe societies that existed before written records. The word "prehistory" first appeared in English in 1836 in the Foreign Quarterly Review . The geologic time scale for pre-human time periods, and

896-511: Is an example. In archaeology, the Iron Age refers to the advent of ferrous metallurgy . The adoption of iron coincided with other changes, often including more sophisticated agricultural practices, religious beliefs and artistic styles, which makes the archaeological Iron Age coincide with the " Axial Age " in the history of philosophy. Although iron ore is common, the metalworking techniques necessary to use iron are different from those needed for

960-488: Is anonymous. Because of this, reference terms that prehistorians use, such as " Neanderthal " or " Iron Age ", are modern labels with definitions sometimes subject to debate. The concept of a "Stone Age" is found useful in the archaeology of most of the world, although in the archaeology of the Americas it is called by different names and begins with a Lithic stage , or sometimes Paleo-Indian . The sub-divisions described below are used for Eurasia, and not consistently across

1024-747: Is called the Lower Paleolithic (as in excavations it appears underneath the Upper Paleolithic), beginning with the earliest stone tools dated to around 3.3 million years ago at the Lomekwi site in Kenya. These tools predate the genus Homo and were probably used by Kenyanthropus . Evidence of control of fire by early hominins during the Lower Palaeolithic Era is uncertain and has at best limited scholarly support. The most widely accepted claim

1088-481: Is located in the district of Bragança . Mirandela has a Mediterranean climate ( Köppen : Csa ) with hot dry summers and cool wet winters. It is one of the driest municipalities in Portugal, receiving almost a third of the precipation of nearby Braga . While snowfalls with accumulation are rare and don't happen every year, rime ice is more frequent, and frosts occur on average 56 days per year. Administratively,

1152-515: Is not generally used in those parts of the world where the working of hard metals arrived abruptly from contact with Eurasian cultures, such as Oceania , Australasia , much of Sub-Saharan Africa , and parts of the Americas . With some exceptions in pre-Columbian civilizations in the Americas, these areas did not develop complex writing systems before the arrival of Eurasians, so their prehistory reaches into relatively recent periods; for example, 1788

1216-558: Is provided by a wide variety of natural and social sciences, such as anthropology , archaeology , archaeoastronomy , comparative linguistics , biology , geology , molecular genetics , paleontology , palynology , physical anthropology , and many others. Human prehistory differs from history not only in terms of its chronology , but in the way it deals with the activities of archaeological cultures rather than named nations or individuals . Restricted to material processes, remains, and artefacts rather than written records, prehistory

1280-542: Is seen as a transition period between the Stone Age and Bronze Age. An archaeological site in Serbia contains the oldest securely dated evidence of copper making at high temperature, from 7,500 years ago. The find in 2010 extends the known record of copper smelting by about 800 years, and suggests that copper smelting may have been invented independently in separate parts of Asia and Europe at that time, rather than spreading from

1344-491: Is that H. erectus or H. ergaster made fires between 790,000 and 690,000 BP in a site at Bnot Ya'akov Bridge , Israel . The use of fire enabled early humans to cook food, provide warmth, have a light source, deter animals at night and meditate. Early Homo sapiens originated some 300,000 years ago, ushering in the Middle Palaeolithic . Anatomic changes indicating modern language capacity also arise during

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1408-446: Is usually taken as the end of the prehistory of Australia . The period when a culture is written about by others, but has not developed its own writing system, is often known as the protohistory of the culture. By definition, there are no written records from human prehistory, which can only be known from material archaeological and anthropological evidence: prehistoric materials and human remains. These were at first understood by

1472-506: Is when the first signs of human presence have been found; however, Africa and Asia contain sites dated as early as c.  2.5 and 1.8 million years ago, respectively. Depending on the date when relevant records become a useful academic resource, its end date also varies. For example, in Egypt it is generally accepted that prehistory ended around 3100 BCE, whereas in New Guinea

1536-637: The Copper Age or Bronze Age ; or, in some geographical regions, in the Iron Age ). The term Neolithic is commonly used in the Old World ; its application to cultures in the Americas and Oceania is complicated by the fact standard progression from stone to metal tools, as seen in the Old World, does not neatly apply. Early Neolithic farming was limited to a narrow range of plants, both wild and domesticated, which included einkorn wheat , millet and spelt , and

1600-476: The Indus Valley Civilisation , and ancient Egypt were the first civilizations to develop their own scripts and keep historical records, with their neighbours following. Most other civilizations reached their end of prehistory during the following Iron Age . The three-age division of prehistory into Stone Age , Bronze Age , and Iron Age remains in use for much of Eurasia and North Africa , but

1664-525: The Paleolithic , by the Neolithic only Homo sapiens sapiens remained. This was a period of technological and social developments which established most of the basic elements of historical cultures, such as the domestication of crops and animals , and the establishment of permanent settlements and early chiefdoms. The era commenced with the beginning of farming , which produced the " Neolithic Revolution ". It ended when metal tools became widespread (in

1728-606: The three-age system for human prehistory, were systematised during the nineteenth century in the work of British, French, German, and Scandinavian anthropologists , archaeologists , and antiquarians . The main source of information for prehistory is archaeology (a branch of anthropology), but some scholars are beginning to make more use of evidence from the natural and social sciences. The primary researchers into human prehistory are archaeologists and physical anthropologists who use excavation, geologic and geographic surveys, and other scientific analysis to reveal and interpret

1792-469: The "Chalcolithic", "Eneolithic", or "Copper Age" refers to a transitional period where early copper metallurgy appeared alongside the widespread use of stone tools. During this period, some weapons and tools were made of copper. This period was still largely Neolithic in character. It is a phase of the Bronze Age before it was discovered that adding tin to copper formed the harder bronze . The Copper Age

1856-478: The 11th and 12th century, these divisions become administrative and the area around Mirandela is shown as a part of "Terra de Ledra". By the 12th century, Mirandela hosted a small population, following a period of war. In 1198, King Sancho I visited these lands looking to settle its population and further develop agriculture. On 25 May 1250, Mirandela becomes a municipality after receiving a foral (charter) from King Afonso III . The magistrate of Mirandela governed

1920-517: The 19th century, reaching its modern day borders. On 27 September 1887, the Tua railway line in narrow gauge reached Mirandela. It connected the city to Bragança to the north and Tua to the south, where it connected to the Douro railway line and thereafter westward to Porto. The section to Bragança was closed in 1991 and the rest of the line closed in 2008, with the exception of a short section, which operated as

1984-678: The Azilian cultures, before spreading to Europe through the Iberomaurusian culture of Northern Africa and the Kebaran culture of the Levant . However, independent discovery is not ruled out. "Neolithic" means "New Stone Age", from about 10,200 BCE in some parts of the Middle East, but later in other parts of the world, and ended between 4,500 and 2,000 BCE. Although there were several species of humans during

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2048-454: The Iron Age, often through conquest by empires, which continued to expand during this period. For example, in most of Europe conquest by the Roman Empire means the term Iron Age is replaced by "Roman", " Gallo-Roman ", and similar terms after the conquest. Even before conquest, many areas began to have a protohistory, as they were written about by literate cultures; the protohistory of Ireland

2112-677: The Middle East is characterized in archaeological stone tool assemblages by a decline in high quality raw material procurement and use. North Africa and the Nile Valley imported its iron technology from the Near East and followed the Near Eastern course of Bronze Age and Iron Age development. The Bronze Age is the earliest period in which some civilizations reached the end of prehistory, by introducing written records. The Bronze Age, or parts thereof, are thus considered to be part of prehistory only for

2176-708: The Middle Palaeolithic. During the Middle Palaeolithic Era, there is the first definitive evidence of human use of fire. Sites in Zambia have charred logs, charcoal and carbonized plants, that have been dated to 180,000 BP. The systematic burial of the dead , music , prehistoric art , and the use of increasingly sophisticated multi-part tools are highlights of the Middle Paleolithic. The Upper Paleolithic extends from 50,000 and 12,000 years ago, with

2240-506: The Távoras held significant power in the region, contributing to the local economy and supporting institutions such as the Santa Casa da Misericórdia , where many family members served as administrators and benefactors. The family's influence lasted until 1759, when the infamous Távora affair led to the family's execution and disgrace under King Joseph I . Francisco de Assis de Távora (1721–1759)

2304-535: The area, as is the case with the 'Buraco da Pala,' located in the parish of Passos. During the Roman era, the main settlement in Mirandela was a Roman civitas known as Caladunum in the province of Gallaecia . It was located in São Martinho, northwest of the current city. Archaeological findings at Castelo Velho, São Martinho, Mourel, and Prado Pequeno include ceramics, manual millstones, tiles, and copper coins, one from

2368-553: The case of Indigenous Australian "highways" known as songlines . The Mesolithic, or Middle Stone Age (from the Greek mesos , 'middle', and lithos , 'stone'), was a period in the development of human technology between the Palaeolithic and Neolithic . The Mesolithic period began with the retreat of glaciers at the end of the Pleistocene epoch, some 10,000 BP, and ended with

2432-411: The city center. The city of Mirandela has two public bus services inside the city and into Carvalhais. A bus station also exists, where inter city services are operated. Mirandela municipality had long distance railway services until 2009 and local railway services until 2018 under a passenger service called Metro de Mirandela. In 2024, 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) of this railway line was converted into

2496-463: The collection of folklore and by analogy with pre-literate societies observed in modern times. The key step to understanding prehistoric evidence is dating, and reliable dating techniques have developed steadily since the nineteenth century. The most common of these dating techniques is radiocarbon dating . Further evidence has come from the reconstruction of ancient spoken languages . More recent techniques include forensic chemical analysis to reveal

2560-405: The death of a passenger and 25 injuries. A twice-daily taxi service replaced the train service, but was withdrawn on 1 July 2012 thus appearing to mark the final and formal closure of the line. However, the taxi service was restarted on 9 July 2012 for a further initial three-month period, later extended indefinitely. Though actual train services had been withdrawn, it was possible to travel as

2624-500: The earliest known writing systems appeared c.  5,200 years ago. It took thousands of years for writing systems to be widely adopted, with writing having spread to almost all cultures by the 19th century. The end of prehistory therefore came at different times in different places, and the term is less often used in discussing societies where prehistory ended relatively recently. In the early Bronze Age , Sumer in Mesopotamia ,

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2688-497: The end of the Bronze Age large states, whose armies imposed themselves on people with a different culture, and are often called empires, had arisen in Egypt, China, Anatolia (the Hittites ), and Mesopotamia , all of them literate. The Iron Age is not part of prehistory for all civilizations who had introduced written records during the Bronze Age. Most remaining civilizations did so during

2752-625: The end of the prehistoric era is set much more recently, in the 1870s, when the Russian anthropologist Nicholai Miklukho-Maklai spent several years living among native peoples, and described their way of life in a comprehensive treatise. In Europe the relatively well-documented classical cultures of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome had neighbouring cultures, including the Celts and the Etruscans , with little writing. Historians debate how much weight to give to

2816-446: The few mines, stimulating the creation of extensive trading routes. In many areas as far apart as China and England, the valuable new material was used for weapons, but for a long time apparently not available for agricultural tools. Much of it seems to have been hoarded by social elites, and sometimes deposited in extravagant quantities, from Chinese ritual bronzes and Indian copper hoards , to European hoards of unused axe-heads. By

2880-493: The first organized settlements and blossoming of artistic work. Throughout the Palaeolithic, humans generally lived as nomadic hunter-gatherers . Hunter-gatherer societies tended to be very small and egalitarian, although hunter-gatherer societies with abundant resources or advanced food-storage techniques sometimes developed sedentary lifestyles with complex social structures such as chiefdoms, and social stratification . Long-distance contacts may have been established, as in

2944-493: The first signs of deforestation have been found, although this would only begin in earnest during the Neolithic, when more space was needed for agriculture . The Mesolithic is characterized in most areas by small composite flint tools: microliths and microburins . Fishing tackle , stone adzes , and wooden objects such as canoes and bows have been found at some sites. These technologies first occur in Africa, associated with

3008-487: The following artists: Nadir Afonso , Júlio Resende , Júlio Pomar , João Hogan , Graça Morais , Malangatana , Manuel Cargaleiro , Mário Cesariny , João Abel Manta , Antoni Tàpies , Almada Negreiros , Vieira da Silva , José Rodrigues and Ângelo de Sousa . The municipality is serviced by the A4 motorway , connecting it to Bragança to the east and to Vila Real and Porto to the west. The national roads 15 and 213 intersect in

3072-467: The introduction of agriculture , the date of which varied by geographic region. In some areas, such as the Near East , agriculture was already underway by the end of the Pleistocene , and there the Mesolithic is short and poorly defined. In areas with limited glacial impact, the term " Epipalaeolithic " is preferred. Regions that experienced greater environmental effects as the last ice age ended have

3136-474: The keeping of dogs , sheep , and goats . By about 6,900–6,400 BCE, it included domesticated cattle and pigs, the establishment of permanently or seasonally inhabited settlements, and the use of pottery . The Neolithic period saw the development of early villages , agriculture , animal domestication , tools , and the onset of the earliest recorded incidents of warfare. Settlements became more permanent, some with circular houses made of mudbrick with

3200-508: The line between Mirandela and Bragança was suddenly closed in December 1991, with the closure being formalised in 1992. The southern section between Tua and Mirandela remained in use. Most of the remaining 54 km section south of Mirandela was closed abruptly in August 2008 on grounds that emergency track repairs were necessary. This followed the derailment of a railcar near Brunheda, resulting in

3264-647: The line closed. Diesel railbuses, such as the Série 9300 and finally the Série 9500 , were also used on some passenger trains. Part of the route of the Tua line was submerged in 2016 after the conclusion of Foz Tua Dam. Other narrow gauge railways in northern Portugal included the Corgo line and the Tâmega line (both closed in 2009) and the Sabor line (closed in 1988). The northern section of

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3328-565: The metal used earlier, more heat is required. Once the technical challenge had been solved, iron replaced bronze as its higher abundance meant armies could be armed much more easily with iron weapons. All dates are approximate and conjectural, obtained through research in the fields of anthropology , archaeology, genetics , geology , or linguistics . They are all subject to revision due to new discoveries or improved calculations. BP stands for " Before Present (1950)." BCE stands for " Before Common Era ". Linha do Tua The Tua line

3392-557: The municipality is divided into 30 civil parishes ( freguesias ): In Mirandela, it is possible to see historical sites, such as the remains of the Castle of Mirandela . In the Armindo Teixeira Lopes municipal museum , an art collection can be visited. It includes a collection of artworks by Armindo Teixeira Lopes and other art pieces from the 20th century, most by Portuguese artists. The museum's collection also includes artworks by

3456-401: The nature and behavior of pre-literate and non-literate peoples. Human population geneticists and historical linguists are also providing valuable insight. Cultural anthropologists help provide context for societal interactions, by which objects of human origin pass among people, allowing an analysis of any article that arises in a human prehistoric context. Therefore, data about prehistory

3520-658: The regions and civilizations who developed a system of keeping written records during later periods. The invention of writing coincides in some areas with the beginnings of the Bronze Age. After the appearance of writing, people started creating texts including written records of administrative matters. The Bronze Age refers to a period in human cultural development when the most advanced metalworking (at least in systematic and widespread use) included techniques for smelting copper and tin from naturally occurring outcroppings of ores, and then combining them to cast bronze . These naturally occurring ores typically included arsenic as

3584-623: The reign of Emperor Tiberius . Following the fall of the roman empire, the area comes under the Suebi and Visigothic Kingdoms and later the Muslim states of Al-Andalus . In the 6th century, the land of the Suebi is split into various dioceses in the First Council of Lugo . The resulting document Parochiale Suevorum displays the area of the municipality under a vast administrative region called "Laetera". In

3648-502: The rise of metallurgy, and most Neolithic societies on the whole were relatively simple and egalitarian. Most clothing appears to have been made of animal skins, as indicated by finds of large numbers of bone and antler pins which are ideal for fastening leather. Wool cloth and linen might have become available during the later Neolithic, as suggested by finds of perforated stones that (depending on size) may have served as spindle whorls or loom weights. In Old World archaeology,

3712-631: The sometimes biased accounts in Greek and Roman literature, of these protohistoric cultures. In dividing up human prehistory in Eurasia, historians typically use the three-age system, whereas scholars of pre-human time periods typically use the well-defined geologic record and its internationally defined stratum base within the geologic time scale . The three-age system is the periodization of human prehistory into three consecutive time periods , named for their predominant tool-making technologies: Stone Age , Bronze Age and Iron Age . In some areas, there

3776-431: The strategic advantages of the new location, such as its defensibility and proximity to fertile lands and the river. There are conflicting sources over the settlement's previous location during the 12th and 13th centuries. Some sources indicate the settlement was still located in São Martinho, while other suggest it may have moved to an unknown location. Following this decree, the town was fortified with defensive walls, and

3840-582: The use and provenance of materials, and genetic analysis of bones to determine kinship and physical characteristics of prehistoric peoples. The beginning of prehistory is normally taken to be marked by human-like beings appearing on Earth. The date marking its end is typically defined as the advent of the contemporary written historical record. Both dates consequently vary widely from region to region. For example, in European regions, prehistory cannot begin before c.  1.3  million years ago, which

3904-455: The whole area. "Palaeolithic" means "Old Stone Age", and begins with the first use of stone tools . The Paleolithic is the earliest period of the Stone Age . It extends from the earliest known use of stone tools by hominins c.  3.3  million years ago, to the end of the Pleistocene c.  11,650   BP (before the present period). The early part of the Palaeolithic

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3968-490: Was a metre gauge railway line in northern Portugal , which connected Tua to Bragança . The line was opened in 1887 and closed in 2018. The section from Mirandela to Brunheda is planned to be reopened in 2019. This highly scenic line ran north from a junction with the main Douro line at Tua Station , closely following the banks of the Tua River to the towns of Mirandela and Bragança . The railway opened in 1887. It

4032-531: Was the first and longest (at 133.8 km) of all the narrow gauge railways built to serve the area north of the River Douro. It was originally operated by Companhia Nacional de Caminhos de Ferro (CN). From 1947 onwards, until closure, the line was operated by CP . Trains on the line were hauled by steam locomotives for much of the line's existence. From the 1970s onwards trains on the line were hauled by CP Class 9020 diesel locomotives, which were withdrawn when

4096-754: Was the last Távora to hold the title. During the start of the 16th century, the municipality would be fragmented as King Manuel I attributed forals to the localities of Frechas (1513), Vale de Asnes (1514), Abreiro (1514) and Lamas de Orelhão (1515). By 1530, the population of the municipality had grown to 1,132 inhabitants and it included 44 places and 9 estates across its parishes: Abambres, Ala, Alvites, Avantes, Brinço, Cabanelas, Caravelas, Carvalhais, Cedães, Cedainhos, Chelas, Contins, Freixeda, Mascarenhas, Miradeses, Mirandela, Pousadas, Quintas, São Salvados, Val de Lobo, Val de Salgueiro, Valtelhas, Vila Nova, Vila Verde and Vilar de Ledra. The municipality would only reintegrate these areas, together with Torre de Dona Chama in

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