To date, this side of the wall circuit has given less clear evidence. Firstly, because on its northern side modern roads (e.g. the national road no. 359 to Portalegre) and some recent housing have more extensively altered the natural condition of the topography, and secondly because no above-ground structures of the wall are preserved in situ. Still, the almost straight delineation of the wall circuit proposed by us, connecting the valley edge of the Rio Sever with a high location uphill, seems very logical from a geomorphological point of view. Examination of landscape features demonstrated that the urban area was bordered on this side by a narrow, but originally (in Roman times?) quite steep palaeo-valley, with its head some 450m uphill from the northern corner of the city. Extension of the former habitation zone beyond the line proposed by us seems therefore not very probable. Surface materials of an archaeological nature are also virtually non-existent in this lower-lying area to the north-west. The trace of the city wall probably coincides here with a present-day local road that is partly built on a terrace structure, giving support to the southern sides of this palaeo-valley. In support of this, we observed that this robust terrace wall and also an area uphill parallel with this small road, contain many ancient building blocks - clearly 'Roman style' spoils comparable to those near the still-standing 'porta sul'. In contrast almost all field boundaries north of this line use only the local schist.
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