Menhir da Meada

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Coordinates: 39 ° 29 ′ 45.8 "  N , 7 ° 26 ′ 44.5"  W.

Map: Portugal
marker
Menhir da Meada​
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Portugal

The Menhir da Meada in the east of the Portalegre district in the east of the Alentejo region in Portugal , which was restored and re-erected in 1995, is the largest on the Iberian Peninsula . The menhir has been registered and protected as a Monumento Nacional since 2013 .

Menhir da Meada

location

The menhir is located in the Serra de São Mamede Natural Park about 11 km (driving distance) north of the small town Castelo de Vide at an altitude of about 750  m on the right of the road to Póvoa e Meadas in the corridor Tapada do Cilindro , whose name refers to the monolith .

history

The oldest menhirs in Portugal probably date from between 5000 and 4000 BC. The exact age of the Menhir da Meada is unclear; At some point it broke off (perhaps through human intervention) at a height of about 1.20 m above ground level and was only set up again at the end of the 20th century.

Stone material

The approximately 7.15 m high menhir of Meada stands on the geological boundary between granite and slate and consists of porphyry , coarse-grained granite that is found in the area. Before its restoration it was broken off about four feet above the ground; the stump was still 0.35 m in the ground and was wedged with clay and stones. The wedging turned out to be insufficient to stabilize the assembled and erect menhir. It is assumed that the ground was originally higher here and that a stone ring, indicated by isolated blocks that were found during the excavation, surrounded the monument.

Granite and slate areas have different vegetation. Since they could therefore require arable or livestock farming populations, some menhirs are also interpreted as boundary marks between different population groups during the megalithic era .

Others

The menhir of Meada and belongs to a series of four menhirs that have visual contact with each other. Tegulae finds in the upper layers of the excavation indicate Roman presence at a time when the menhir had already overturned and lost its original meaning.

See also

literature

  • J. Oliveira, P. Sarantopoulos, C. Balesteros: In: A Cidade de Évora. Boletim da Comissão Muncipal de Turismo 2 Series 1 1995. pp. 287-329.
  • AP Santos: Monumentos megalíticos do Alto Alentejo 1994.
  • 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. 113

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Decree n.º 16/2013. (PDF) In: Diário da República, 1.ª série, n.º 119. June 24, 2013, pp. 3457f. , accessed June 30, 2018 (Portuguese).
  2. ↑ Serra de São Mamede Natural Park