The site has been studied extensively since 1874, with the first excavations beginning in 1875, when the Portuguese archaeologist Francisco Martins Sarmento began annual excavation campaigns while helping to develop methods of archaeological research and preservation in Portugal [REF].
As research methods developed over the 19th and 20th centuries, the successive excavations at the Briteiros site adapted to evolving concepts, and gaps remain in the scientific knowledge of the site.