‘Archaeology of the Spanish Republican Refugee Camps in Barrancos (1936)’ is the title of the workshop promoted by HELP – Heritage, Environment, Liberty and People: Archaeology of the Spanish refugee camps in Barrancos, Alentejo, an IN2PAST exploratory project, on the morning of October 3^rd, in Barrancos, a Portuguese border town in the district of Beja, Baixo Alentejo.

From 9:30 am, the Centro Interpretativo do Barranquenho (Interpretive centre for the Barrancos local language) will host the team of this project which studies the two improvised refugee camps in Barrancos (Herdade da Coitadinha and As Russianas) where Republicans from Extremadura and Andalusia, fleeing from the advance of Franco’s troops, were confined between September 21st and October 8th, 1936. Project HELP aims to undertake a comprehensive archaeological study of this traumatic and uncomfortable landscape.

The proceedings will be opened by Leonel Rodrigues, the Mayor of Barrancos, Cláudia Costa, Councillor for Culture at the Municipality, and Dimas Ferro, representing EDIA, the Alqueva Development and Infrastructure Company. HELP’s principal investigator (PI), Xurxo Ayán Vila (IHC – NOVA FCSH / IN2PAST) presents the project and discusses the archaeology of prison centres, while the Barrancos refugee camps will be addressed by INET-md / NOVA FCSH researcher Dulce Simões.

Rebeca Blanco-Rotea (Lab2PT – University of Minho / IN2PAST), member of the project team, takes her Extremo project to Barrancos to discuss the ‘Archaeology of Conflict’, Paulo Catrica (IHC – NOVA FCSH / IN2PAST)  talks about the New City of Santo André and Ruy Llera Blanes (CRIA – Iscte / IN2PAST) looks at forensic heritage in the light of his experiences in Guinea-Bissau.