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Montesinho Natural Park is one of the largest Portuguese natural protected areas, presenting good biodiversity and a cultural heritage with a strong connection to the territory and its people. It constitutes a low-density territory, characterized by a human and social landscape based on community practices, such as joint aid and the community use of goods and means of agricultural production, which have contributed to the construction of the “transmontana” identity and to the richness of the habitats. The promotion of the sustainable development of this low-density rural region demands the understanding of its specificities and an appropriate approach to grasp its challenges and develop effective management tools, allowing to preserve and exploit the region’s potential from various perspectives. The purpose of this article is to develop an analytical model using a literature review and a survey of the region’s specificities. This analytical model intends to provide the basis for designing and assessing sustainable development solutions, increasing local entrepreneurship and community empowerment through regional dynamism, with a focus on environment and heritage preservation, universal tourism accessibility, collective memory and endogenous product development. The suggested model adopts an interdisciplinary perspective and stresses that, in order to ensure that the new initiatives will contribute to the territory’s sustainable development, they should be scrutinized by asking four main questions: Is the initiative promoting the rural development of the territory through the creation of synergies between agroforestry and tourism activities? Is the initiative promoting an inclusive and sustainable tourism that is based on the territory’s resources? Are heritage and collective memory being preserved and valued through the initiative? Is the initiative promoting the empowerment of local communities?

Fecha de recepción: 15-02-2018 Fecha de aceptación: 30-04-2018 RESUMEN Los balnearios-sauna castreños del noroeste peninsular son monumentos con horno con una arquitectura muy original, posiblemente asociada a los diversos modelos termales. Se conocen cerca de tres decenas, distribuidos por el noroeste peninsular. La arquitectura compleja de estos monumentos se organiza estructuralmente hacia posibilitar baños de sauna y baños de agua fría. Las dos áreas son divididas por una estela, monolítica, normalmente ornamentada -la pedra formosa.El papel simbólico que tendrían en el seno de la sociedad castreña de la Edad del Hierro del noroeste peninsular permanece por aclarar y envuelto en gran misticismo, fruto de una posible sacralidad. Este entorno, referido por diversos autores a lo largo de los tiempos, está posiblemente asociado al culto de los dioses de las aguas y a la sacralidad del baño purificador, medicinal, que se refleja en las decoraciones frontales de las pedras formosas, cuya maestría de los escultores que las insculpieran, tipología decorativa, interpretación simbólica y semiótica estudiamos, como objetivos primordiales, a lo largo de este trabajo de investigación. PALABRAS CLAVE:Protohistoria, monumentos con horno, decoración pétrea, interpretación simbólica / semiótica. ABSTRACTThe Iron Age sauna-baths of the northwest peninsular are monuments with an oven with very original architecture, possibly associated with the diverse thermal models. There are about three dozen known sauna-baths spread over the northwest peninsular. The complex architecture of these 192 | Vínculos de Historia, núm. 8 (2019) DECORAÇÃO E SIMBOLISMO DAS PEDRAS FORMOSAS DOS BALNEÁRIOS-SAUNA CASTREJOS... monuments is structurally organized to allow for cold water baths and sauna baths. The two areas are divided by a tectiforme stele, monolithic, usually ornamented, known as pedra formosa (beautiful stone).The symbolic role that they would have had in the heart of the Iron Age "castreña" society in the northwest peninsular remains unclear and shrouded in mysticism, the fruit of a possible sacredness. This environment, referred to by various authors throughout the ages, is possibly associated with the worship of the water gods and the sacredness of the medicinal and purifying bath, which is reflected in the frontal decorations of the pedras formosas, whose masterful sculpting, decorative typology, symbolic interpretation and semiotics we studied as primary objectives of this research work.