The archaeological explorations carried out in Monte Real (Leiria) in 1865 by Frederico Augusto de Vasconcelos Pereira Cabral or the history of a schist prehistoric engraved plaque

In this paper we publish the report prepared in 1866 by Frederico de Vasconcelos Pereira Cabral (1820-1886) after his visit in 1865 to Monte Real, concerning the characterization of the geological conditions of a funerary deposit of Neolithic age occasionally found in the previous year and whose human remains were then buried in the local cemetery. Among the scarce spoils that the author obtained in 1865 from the inhabitants of Monte Real, there is a schist plaque that was, together with the exemplars recovered in the excavations of Nery Delgado held in the same year in the cave of the Casa da Moura the first to be duly recognized as prehistoric artifacts. The scientific quality of this report would suffice to place its author among the pioneer archaeologists of Portugal, confirming his priority in other contributions of a geological and archaeological nature, such as the publication in 1881 of the first Paleolithic artefacts collected in Portuguese territory. This study is also a contribution to draw attention to the pioneer activity of its author in the field of Archeology, as a member of the Geological Commission of Portugal.