It’s due to A. Bellino the acknowledgment of a lot of archaeological stations datable to the Iron Age, particularly fortifications – or hillforts -, topic very dear to the investigators at the time, either by fitting in the general line of investigation conducted in other countries about the Celtic expansion, or by revealing itself a mean of emphasizing the particularities of the northern region at that time and place.
It’s not surprising then, that the hillforts were populated since then, both the collective imagination of the region, as the intellectual interest of successive investigators, ending up identifying examples of this archeological typology. This was the case, among others, of the “Castro Máximo or Mount of Castro” (Castro Máximo ou Monte de Castro), implanted in one of the highest points of the periphery of the current urban area of the city of Braga, enjoying, therefore, an excellent command of the surrounding landscape.
Although the exercised activity in the quarries localized in its surroundings has altered considerably the primordial configuration of the hillfort, there are registers of the excavations performed inside its perimeter during the decade of 30 of the XX century that points to the existence of a defensive system originally composed of two lines of walls and pits. Other than this evidence, structural traces of houses with the mainly circular design were identified, in the internal area bounded by the walls.
