The Terva Valley Archaeological Park/TVAP is a joint project involving the Municipality of Boticas and the University of Minho. The project began in 2006 with the program ‘’Preservation, Study, Promotion and Dissemination of the Ancient Mining Complex of the Terva River Upper Valley, Boticas’’.
The territory of TVAP is a continuous geographical area of about 60 km2, demarcated in the county of Boticas, north of Portugal. Due to its specific location, the Terva Valley is characterized by a high level of biodiversity, enhanced by wise balance that the people of the valley have managed to keep in conjunction with ecosystem.
Despite the difficulties of the present, its small population keeps the essential features of the landscape, dominated by forests of the valley, the farmed plains around the villages and the stony mountain ridges.
The TVAP’s territory still has a vast and rich archaeological heritage that stand 9 settlements from the Iron Age, 12 Roman sites and 7 other medieval which bear witness to an intense but diverse occupation of the valley in the long term.
In developing the TVAP project was considered in particular the contribution of Archaeology, which studies support the analysis of landscape evolution and allowed to identify potentialities, hierarchize heritage values, and set options for the enhancement and respective proposals for action, according to a perspective of applied research.
The options for the enhancement have focused to the conservation and qualification of heritage resources, from the perspective of its public enjoyment through the installation of infrastructure and equipment. The transfer of knowledge, supported by ongoing investigations, it will be through an Interpretation Centre and interpreted visitation itineraries.
The main objective is to ensure a sustained enhancement and integrated management of TVAP that promotes social and territorial cohesion, that is, that fosters the welfare of their populations.