Tholos do Barro
The Tholos do Barro is a Copper Age domed tomb made of block masonry. It is located on the east side of a widely visible Marian shrine on Monte da Pena, near an old quarry near the village of Barro near Torres Vedras , about 45 km north of Lisbon in Portugal .
From the round domed grave made of limestone masonry , up to seven rows of the enclosure have been preserved. The mound was 13 m in diameter. If one consults the findings from the new excavation in the necropolis of Alcalar (Portimão), this could also have been a two-tier cairn .
The wall of the chamber, six meters in diameter, is still about one meter high. In places you can still see the beginning of the wrong dome .
Chamber, passage and antechamber together have a length of 9.7 m. The inner corridor is two meters long and 90 cm wide. In front of it (still within the hill) there is a 1.70 m long and 1.50 m wide antechamber. At right angles to the entrance are the remains of a wall made of limestone blocks over a length of about 2.70 m on both sides, which are interpreted as the remains of a forecourt or an exedra .
The grave was excavated in 1908 by Paolo Bovier-Lapierre and E. Jalhay, but remained unpublished. The finds include devices made of rock (amphibolite, diorite, granite), limestone idols and vessels, a slate stick, as well as ceramics, bone objects and jewelry, but also a copper dagger and metal rings. The finds, which also come from the nearby settlement, are in the Museu Nacional de Arqueologia in Lisbon . Nearby is the Cabeço da Arruda site .
literature
- Georg Leisner , Vera Leisner : The megalithic tombs of the Iberian Peninsula: The West. In: Madrid Researches 1.1 1956
- 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. 134
Web links
Coordinates: 39 ° 4 ′ 2 " N , 9 ° 15 ′ 43" W.