Pedra Formosa
The Pedra Formosa ( German for "Beautiful Stone" ) in northern Portugal are a feature of the Castro culture . The stone compositions often have extensive stylized engravings on the front.
The monuments consist of a vestibule with a round chamber with a cantilever vault (and traces of fire) and the actual Pedra Formosa, a covered room made of stone tablets. Access to the inside of the building is always low and narrow. The monuments are mostly found on the edge of settlements, sometimes on the outer wall, in other cases, such as the Citânia de Sanfins , and Paços de Ferreira outside the walls. The west-east facing sites are usually interpreted as graves (Cardozo 1976). A. Nunes (1993) interprets it as the place of rites of transition or fertility.
Sanfins
Briteiros
Freixo / Tongobriga
Castro das Eiras
Castro de Borneiro
Castro de Castañoso, A Fonsagrada, Lugo
The monuments all located in the vicinity of Braga and Porto became known :
- Citânia de Briteiros (excavated by F. Martins Sarmento in the 19th century),
- Citânia de Sanfins
- Santa Maria de Galegos / Barcelos
- Freixo, ( Tongobriga )
literature
- Álvarez Sanchís JR: Los Vettones. 1999.
- Abreu, Nunes 1993, Monumentos tipo Pedra Formosa: uma interpretação. Jornadas Arqueológicas 5, pp. 217-228.
