Menhir of Barrocal
The menhir of Barrocal ( Portuguese Menir do Barrocal , also called Menir da Herdade de São Lourenço do Barrocal or Estela-Menir do Barrocal) is a menhir in the Évora district in Portugal .
The stone was erected in the early Neolithic (5th millennium BC) and rediscovered in 1993 in Herdade de São Lourenço do Barrocal, near Monsaraz, a district of Évora . The monument has been classified as a protected monument since 2006 as part of the "Monte do Barrocal".
The approximately 3 m high menhir is one of the highest in the west of the Iberian Peninsula . It is located in the center of an artificially flattened platform, which is bordered by the remains of an oval enclosure that has a northwest-southeast orientation. Archaeological digs near the base led to the discovery of the supporting structure.
Engravings
78 engraved figures were identified in the viewing area. The stratigraphic analyzes, the engraving techniques used, the degrees of erosion observed and some parallels made it possible to assign the images to five main periods. The surface is a palimpsest in which iconographic fittings from the 5th millennium BC. BC, when the monolith was erected, until the 2nd millennium BC. BC ( Bronze Age ) when it was already lying on the ground. The presence of wavy lines, the earliest decoration, the Middle Neolithic depiction of a Báculo and two idol-shaped figures, the late Neolithic or Chalcolithic zigzag patterns, and the simple concentric circles and cup-and-ring markings of the Bronze Age are represented.
Nearby are the Antas do Barrocal .
See also
literature
- J. Oliveira, P. Sarantopoulos, C. Balesteros: In: A Cidade de Évora. Boletim da Comissão Muncipal de Turismo 2 Series 1 1995
- AP Santos: Monumentos megalíticos do Alto Alentejo. 1994.
Web links
Coordinates: 38 ° 26 ′ 30.8 " N , 7 ° 24 ′ 49.3" W.