We are flying over the old village of Vilarinho da Furna, which was under water with the construction of the dam in 1971. It was a community village, whose origins are lost in the mists of memory, and its antiquity is unknown. In the Inquiries of 1220, by D. Afonso II, and in 1258, D. Afonso III, there are references to the parish of São João do Campo, but nothing is found regarding Vilarinho da Furna. However, in the District Archive of Braga, there is the first reference to Vilarinho, in the Tombo of the São João do Campo Church, from 1540, as well as the Parish Archives, from 1623. It seems that it became an autonomous parish of the municipality of Terras de Bouro, having subsequently become a village in the parish of São João do Campo. And it is known that it was the last village through which the famous “Jeira” passed before entering Galicia, the old military route from Braga to Astorga.

In human evolution, community organization corresponds to a cultural cycle resulting from the transition from nomadic herding to sedentary agriculture. In Vilarinho da Furna, until 1971, a very perfect community organization was preserved, which shows the superiority of an economy that combines the potential of the pastoral and agricultural economies, a system of community organization, once very widespread in Europe.