Comenda da Igreja

Anta Comenda da Igreja, in the foreground the entrance

The Anta Grande da Comenda da Igreja (also called Herdade da Comenda da Igreja or Anta São Geraldo) is a megalithic complex on the road from Montemor-o-Novo to Mora in the Évora district in Portugal . Until the discovery of the Anta Grande do Zambujeiro, it was considered the largest megalithic complex in Portugal. Anta is the Portuguese name for around 5000 megalithic structures or dolmens , which were built during the Neolithic in the west of the Iberian Peninsula by the successors of the cardial or imprint culture .

Anta Comenda da Igreja

Comenda da Igreja has largely been preserved and consists of the chamber and a 10 m long corridor. The oval chamber measures 4.8 × 4.5 m in plan and has a clear height of around 5.0 m. The capstone, broken in the middle, buckled, but lies on it. The corridor still has over 12 bearing stones and six cap stones. The remains of the hill can be seen in the terrain.

The finds kept in the Museu Nacional de Arqueologia come from excavations at the beginning of the 20th century:

• over 100 stone axes and hoes,
• about 350 arrowheads in various shapes,
• several hundred pearls made of amethyst , amber , gagat , malachite , slate , variscite or rock crystal
• over 60 slate idols and 20 fragments, including four crooked sticks .
• mostly undecorated shards of over 50 vessels

The Anta has been registered and protected as a Monumento Nacional since 1936 .

Nearby is the Anta do Estanque .

See also

• Megaliths in the Évora district

literature

• Ana Palma dos Santos: Monumentos megalíticos do Alto Alentejo . Lisbon 1994, ISBN 972-918416-X .
• 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. 161.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Thomas G. Schattner (ed.): Archaeological guide through Portugal (= cultural history of the ancient world. Vol. 74). Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1998, p. 161.
2. ↑ Decreto n.º 26 236 de 20-01-1936. (pdf) In: DG, I Série, n.º June 16, 23, 1910, p. 83 , accessed on June 17, 2018 (Portuguese). 

Coordinates: 38 ° 45 ′ 28 "  N , 8 ° 12 ′ 12"  W.