Almendres
The Cromlech of Dos Almendres is a Neolithic stone circle in the Évora district in the Alentejo region . It is the most important cromlech in Portugal and on the entire Iberian Peninsula and around 1000 to 2000 years older than Stonehenge .
location
The site of Dos Almendres is located in a wood between the villages of Valverde and Guadalupe about 16 km (driving distance) west of the city of Évora at an altitude of about 400 m on a slope not far from the Anta Grande do Zambujeiro (about 4 km southeast) and the two smaller stone circles of Portela de Mogos (40 stones) and Vale Maria do Meio (approx. 10 km northeast).
history
The complex, which was very likely built in several stages, is dated to the transition period from the Stone Age to the Copper Age (4000 to 2800 BC). When they were discovered and exposed in the years after 1964, many stones had overturned and - due to the hillside location - partially rolled away. The reconstruction of the eastern oval in particular does not seem particularly successful.
Stones
The stone circle, composed of approx. 100 one to three meter high stones (Pedras talhas) from different types of stone, some of which were transported from far away, consists today of a double east-west facing stone oval in the shape of an '8'. There is a belief that it could once have been two double ovals - an order that is not known anywhere else for Cromlechs.
Most of the stones are rounded on the sides and top, which is probably not due to natural weathering processes alone. Many stones are bulged , which means that they are about 40 to 80 cm above ground level thicker than above and below.
Only a few stones bear (later attached?) Eye motifs, circles, crooked sticks ( báculos ) or zigzag lines, as well as sun and moon representations as decorations. Several stones have bowls on top.
Surroundings
In the area of the "Finca Almendres" located approx. 500 m to the northeast, surrounded by silos and olive trees, stands the menhir of Almendres , which is about 3.50 m high . It consists of porphyry granodiorite and, like many menhirs and most of the country's cylindrical limestone idols, has one flat and one curved side. It also has a Báculo decoration, which covers older, barely recognizable wavy lines.
Nearby are the remains of the Almendres dolmen , an anta .
See also
literature
- M. Gomes Varela: Menires e cromeleques no complexo cultural megalítico portugués. Trabalhos recentes e estado da questao . In: Domingos J. da Cruz (ed.): O megalitismo no centro de Portugal. Novos dados, problemática e relações com outras áreas peninsulares . Actas seminário. (Mangualde, Novembro 1992). Centro de Estudos Pré-Históricos da Beira Alta, Viseu 1994, ISBN 972-959521-6 , pp. 317-342 ( Estudos pré-históricos 2).
- Thomas G. Schattner (Ed.): Archaeological guide through Portugal (= cultural history of the ancient world . Vol. 74). Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1998, ISBN 3-8053-2313-1 p. 165
- Jürgen E. Walkowitz: The megalithic syndrome. European cult sites of the Stone Age (= contributions to the prehistory and early history of Central Europe. Vol. 36). Beier & Beran, Langenweißbach 2003, ISBN 3-930036-70-3 .
- Maria Nunes Gomes Pereira: Comunicação Patrimonial de Monumentos Megalíticos. Estudo de caso do Cromeleque dos Almendres. Diss. University of Lisbon 2015.
- Ana Palma dos Santos: Monumentos megalíticos do Alto Alentejo . Lisbon 1994, ISBN 972-918416-X .
Web links
- Dos Almendres - Photos and information (English)
- Dos Almendres - Photos + Info (Megalithic Portal, English)
- Dos Almendres ua - photos + videos (spanish)
- Dos Almendres - short video
Coordinates: 38 ° 33 '27.1 " N , 8 ° 3' 41.4" W.