At its roots, Vila Nova de Foz Côa meets the Paleolithic man who, with modest artifacts, marked in the hardness of the schist ambitions and projects of his spiritual and material universe, making this sanctuary the largest open air rock art museum, today Heritage of the Humanity.

The vestiges of human occupation, more or less intense, are prolonged through Castro and Roman times. The few testimonies of the Suevo-Visigothic and Arab period guarantee, however, the continuity of the population centers. Contrary to the vicissitudes typical of border lands in these areas, community life has been shown to be regular and continuous, beginning in the 10th century.