Megalithic sites in Galicia

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The megalithic systems in Galicia ( Spain ) consist of 5000 megalithic systems . These are generally in extremely poor condition.

Dolmen of Cabaleiros near Tordoia
Anta or dolmen of Dombate near A Coruña with the remains of the Mámoa

terminology

Galicia has its own terminology for megalithic monuments and their hills. Names like Mámoa, Medoña, Medorra, Mota or Meda refer to the burial mounds that cover dolmens . The dolmens are referred to by names such as Anta, Antela, Arca, Arqueta, Arquiña, Pedra de Arca, Forno or with proper names such as Capela dos Mouros ( German  "Maurenkapelle" ).

The Mámoas

In contrast to the older definition by López Cuevillas, it is now proven that the burial mounds of Galicia are complex structures that have lost their original shape due to erosion and robbery excavations. The mámoas are generally hemispherical and range in diameter from 10 to 30 meters. Even if the core of the Mämoas consisted of earth and small stones, the recent excavations of Argalo, As Rozas, Chan da Cruz, Marco do Camballón, Monte Món, Os Campiños and Parxubeira have shown that the mounds had an armor made of perfectly toothed stones and that at the base and in the middle there were perimetric stone settings. The Mámoa must be seen as a unified whole, in which the burial mound was just as important as the burial it contained. The stone armor obviously serves as a cladding, protection and support of the hill earth, they absorb the internal pressure and give the hill stability. The base limits the burial place. Fireplaces were found on the one in As Rozas and Chan da Cruz.

The dolmens

Inside the Mámoas there is generally a polygonal chamber tomb, which can be closed (type a) open (type b) or with a passage usually facing east (type c). Apart from Mamoas 1 and 2 by Lousada, where part of the corridor is made of dry stone , the constructions are megalithic . The vertical orthostats, which are sunk into the ground, are aligned in a ring-shaped manner, overlapping like a roof tile, towards the interior. The Galician megalithic tombs are characterized by simple shape, small size (less than 10.0 m total length), covered with a stone block and by tamped or lightly paved floors. According to López Cuevillas, the Galician dolmens, which are called Antas in Portugal , have four forms that give a chronology :

  • a) small, closed, polygonal chambers; (Anta 6 by Mourela is hexagonal; Chao da Arqueta is almost round)
  • b) polygonal chambers with door without aisle;
  • c) polygonal chambers with a wide and long-chambered floor plan and with a short corridor;
  • d) more or less rectangular stone boxes from the Bronze Age ( Dolmen of Pedra Moura ) in the provinces of Coruña and Lugo

theses

The geographical location of Galicia on the north-western Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula led to the assumption that the earliest contacts with Brittany and Ireland could have existed by sea. However , there is no evidence that relationships existed before the Bell Beaker Period (from 2500 BC). Interesting but erroneous was the assumption of Pere Bosch i Gimpera (1891–1974) that Galicia and northern Portugal were the starting points of the megalithic culture , which, supported by shepherds, came from the local Mesolithic .

Destruction

It is difficult to break down the megaliths in Galicia. Acid soils prevented the maintenance of bones. In addition, anthropogenic interventions, such as the reuse of the stone slabs of the dolmens for agricultural buildings or the treasure hunt, have caused severe destruction of the monuments ( Anta of Mina de Parxubeira ). Evidence for the destruction caused by human hands is provided by a document from 1609. After King Philip III. (r. 1598–1621) had given the licensed Vázquez de Orxas permission to open the tombs that were then ascribed to the "gentiles galigrecos" and allowed the gold supposedly contained therein to be removed, the population was seized with unrestrained greed, which led to the secret opening of over 3000 monuments in Galicia. The robbery excavations only give a fragmentary picture of the original situation, especially since not a single megalithic complex was found intact.

Today's research faces numerous problems, also due to the lack of settlements. Only the remnants of the spiritual and religious life of the people have survived and none that allow insight into everyday life. The beginning of megalithic construction in Galicia is also not clearly understandable, so that there are doubts as to whether an unmegalithic pre-Neolithic phase existed. However, it is certain that the Iberian Peninsula is one of the early megalithic regions. It is also likely that before the appearance of collective burials, economic, technical and social aspects of the Neolithic such as agriculture and domestic animal husbandry, pottery and tool manufacture for agricultural activities, as well as sedentariness and a parallel increase in the population were indicated.

genesis

With regard to the genesis of the megaliths in Galicia, the following points should be noted:

  • Keeping pets is not directly detectable before the start of megalithic construction, but cereal and ruderal plants have been proven by pollen analyzes. Intentional forest clearing is from the 6th millennium BC. BC, detectable from the Atlantic .
  • Thick round axes, which, however, do not come from clear contexts of finding, could be taken as an indication of pre-megalithic deforestation and agricultural tillage. The axes are in the Neolithic tradition (phase I according to Leisner), but their cultural connection is uncertain.
  • In the upper layers of the Reiro site (La Corufia), atypical pottery shards were found, which suggest an epipalaeolithic acculturation , which is evidenced by a stone tool industry consisting of chips , blades and rubble.
  • Among the rock shelters of "A Cunchosa" (Peninsula Morrazo) was recovered in a Neolithic protomegalithischen horizon print decorated ceramics for which there parallels in the upper strata of the shell heap ( Portuguese Concheiro ) Moita do Sebastiao ( "Concheiros de Muge") and Neolithic sites of the Portuguese Estremadura .

So far, no evidence for settlement structures has been provided. The hut-like structures of “0 Regueiriño” and “Fontenla” on the Morrazo peninsula (north of Vigo ), made from organic materials, are perhaps an exception , although it is not clear whether these already existed parallel to the first megaliths. The possibility of pre-Megalithic, Neolithic settlement does exist, even if the evidence is uncertain.

Period of the Galician megaliths

Early Megalithic

In Galicia the first apparitions appear at the beginning of the 4th millennium BC. Chr. On. They are worn by groups who may have immigrated from northern Portugal. At this time the first Antas closed polygonal chamber be built where deductions, axes, microliths , pearls from Variszit occur and smooth or pressure-decorated ceramics as adjuncts. 14C analyzes of “Chan da Cruz 1” and “As Rozas 1” gave data from 3940 and 3200 BC. Chr .; these correspond to those of the simple dolmens in the Serra da Aboboreira in northern Portugal.

Middle Megalithic

This period of time is approximately between 3000 BC. BC (2900 BC in Carapito 1 ), which could correspond to the end of the Neolithic, and 2500 BC. BC (early Chalcolithic). The megaliths spread over Galicia. The architecture is becoming more diverse, the chambers are becoming larger and equipped with corridors. The key fossil is the arrowhead with a triangular base, although older forms still exist. Ground stone tools are widely used. For the first time, wall painting appears in the facilities. The cultural unity with northern Portugal seems to continue.

Terminal Megalithic

Characteristic of the period are new forms of tombs with small, rectangular chambers (Mamoa 229 by Veiga dos Mouros), which are placed in mamoas without a stone structure or pits (Mamoa 1 by Monte Campelos), and the appearance of new forms of stone tools such as double axes, double bills, hoes , Chisels and clubs. The new forms were likely imported, demonstrating that Galician culture abandons its isolation. This is supported by the symbolic ceramics excavated in Buriz, whose models are in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula. Chronologically, this phase lies between the Early Chalcolithic and the Bell Beaker Period around 2200–2100 BC. And corresponds to the "Rechaba horizon" according to Vázquez Varelda. The megalithic era comes to a preliminary conclusion with the development of metallurgy. The collective burial is replaced by the individual burial.

Ceramics

Ceramic finds are made on most of the mamoas. Most of these are undecorated sherds made of poor quality, poorly leaned clay that are handmade and irregularly fired and are brown, yellowish-gray or blackish-red in color. The surfaces are rough or hardly smoothed. The majority of the vessels are round, with bowls with a thickened, sometimes slightly swinging rim predominating. Cylindrical shapes with high vessel walls and round bottoms as well as egg-shaped and half-egg-shaped vessels with or without a handle and a smooth bottom are rarer. The characteristic ceramics have a convex profile, sometimes a round bar on the edge (perhaps a remnant of the clay mass), as shown by F. de la Fuente, who developed a scheme. However, undecorated, late ceramic forms have also been recovered: a small, Early Bronze Age vessel from the Anta of Parxubeira and several pieces with a wide, horizontal rim that belong to the inventory of the accessories of the Late Bronze Age secondary burials of Marco do Camball6n's mamoas. The decorated pottery can be divided into four groups:

  • a) Ceramic decorated with imprints: such a vessel was found in Mamoa 4 of Parxubeira. Its decoration seems to have parallels in the abrises of A Cunchosa and to be related to the non-cardiac ceramics from the Portuguese Neolithic.
  • b) Ceramics decorated with grooves: several fragments with rather flat, parallel grooves were found in Mamoa 2 of Monte Pelreo (Buriz).
  • c) Incised ceramics: Apart from various sherds with irregular, superficial incisions, the rich grave inventory of Mamoa 5 of Monte Pelreo must be mentioned: bell-shaped vessel with parallel incised lines and triangles filled with dots; a vessel with parallel and angular incised lines; a vessel with a four-lobed mouth and a decoration with parallel lines, herringbone pattern and two eye motifs. These pieces were undoubtedly imported from the south of the Iberian Peninsula.
  • d) Beaker ceramics, which were found in twenty burial mounds and document foreign influence.

Pictorial representations

In 1874 the first paintings were discovered in the Dolmen of Codesas. In the meantime, remains of paintings and engravings have been found in around 20 other dolmens . Preferred themes are wavy or serpentine lines, which are viewed as symbolic representations of water or snakes. Even if these motifs can be found in Britain and Ireland, it is no longer believed that they spread along the Atlantic coast. Rather, it is a convergence of shapes that gives reason to believe that these are not ornaments, but religious symbols related to the cult, which can be traced back to common origins in the Levant. The main artistic representations in dolmens include:

  • Casa dos Mouros; An engraving with a double-conical motif as in Dombate, with curved, straight and wavy lines. There were paint residues.
  • Dombates ; There are three figures that cannot be identified in detail and consist of parallel lines, a trapezoidal base and wavy lines.
  • Espinaredo; three knife-shaped motifs, serpentines, circles and straight lines.
  • Mamoa da Brafia; Three plates with engravings in the form of wavy lines, circles and a sun motif
  • Mamoa do Rei; The upper part of an orthostat has several lines in a zigzag and cross shape.
  • Marco do Camballon; Engravings with sinuous, wavy and sun-shaped lines.
  • Parada de Alperiz; Seven vertical serpentines.
  • Pedra Cuberta ; G. Leisner describes black and red paintings on a white background with wavy or snake-like motifs, an ornate column, an idol-like figure, concentric circles, vertical lines and triangles.
  • Roza das Modias; Vertical, wavy or serpentine lines.

See also: Parque Arqueolóxico da Arte Rupestre

literature

  • AA Rodríguez Casal: The Megalithic Culture in Galicia. In: Problems of megalithic grave research. Lectures on the 100th birthday of Vera Leisner . Madrid Research Vol. 16. de Gruyter, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-11-011966-8 , pp. 53-72.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ An idea that also the Irishman George Eogan: Irish megalithic tombs and Iberia: Comparisons and Contacts. In: Problems of megalithic grave research Lectures on the 100th birthday of Vera Leisner . Madrid Research Vol. 16; 1989 ISBN 3-11-011966-8 p. 113ff. represents

Web links

Commons : Megalithic Complexes in Galicia  - Collection of images, videos and audio files