Anta da Arcainha
DatedEst. 4000–3000 BCE
No licensed photograph yetWe have no photograph we may publish for this site, so the interpretive 3D view leads instead.
Overview
About this site
Overview
The Anta de Arcainha, also known as Casa da Moura or the Dólmen de Seixo de Beira, is a dolmen in the parish of Seixo da Beira, in the municipality of Oliveira do Hospital, Coimbra district, Portugal. It was classified as a national monument of public interest in 1959.
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Where it sits in time
The site's dated range, placed against world reference points.
The scale is logarithmic: each step to the left is about ten times older than the last.
Article
Anta da Arcainha
It is supported by nine orthostats at present, of which five were originally preserved in situ, with a height of about 3 to 4 m.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Anta de ArcaínhaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Anta de ArcaínhaCC BY-SA 4.0
The monument has been poorly restored, but still preserves part of its original fabric. Some of the stones are of moulded concrete. The capstone measures about 4 × 3.5 m and is 0.3 m thick, and rests almost horizontally. It is supported by nine orthostats at present, of which five were originally preserved in situ, with a height of about 3 to 4 m. Stones of the covered gallery are still in place.
The Anta de Curral dos Mouros lies about 3.3 km to the west.
NameSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Anta de ArcaínhaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Anta de ArcaínhaCC BY-SA 4.0
The word anta is the Portuguese equivalent of ante, the end pillar of a Greek or Roman temple, but it is also used for the stones of a dolmen or for the dolmen itself. About 5 000 megalithic structures of this type were built in the Neolithic in the west of the Iberian Peninsula by the successors of the Cardial pottery culture.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Anta de ArcaínhaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Anta de ArcaínhaCC BY-SA 4.0
Around Évora, in the Alentejo, megalithic tombs are also called antas, and some of the largest in Iberia stand there. The Great Dolmen of Zambujeiro has been dated by research to between 4000 and 3000 BCE, concurrent with the megalithic building of the Évora region.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Portuguese antas of the Alentejo
Around Évora, in the Alentejo, megalithic tombs are called antas, and some of the largest in Iberia stand here. The Great Dolmen of Zambujeiro, near Valverde in the municipality of Évora, is considered one of the biggest such structures in Iberia. Research has dated it to between 4000 and 3000 BCE, concurrent with the megalithic building of the Évora region, and it is linked to the Great Dolmen of Comenda da Igreja at Montemor-o-Novo. Henrique Leonor Pina excavated it in 1965, and although his methods caused some controversy, the work recovered slate tablets, necklaces, crosiers, copper objects, ceramics and carinated bowls. The Portuguese government declared it a national monument in 1971.
The finds show that the tombs were used for generations: slate tablets, personal ornaments and copper objects in the chambers reach into the Chalcolithic, so one anta can carry evidence for several centuries of burial custom. Excavated anta chambers are the main source for dating, since the stones themselves cannot be dated.
Nearby, the Almendres Cromlech is a large group of standing stones, a reminder that the Alentejo's megalithic landscape also includes open-air stone enclosures and single menhirs, not only tombs.
The Atlas's records here include small antas, some reduced to a few standing slabs, and many lack a secure excavation date. They are labelled with a typological range.
When visiting, look for the chamber and the passage that leads to it, and for the way the monument sits in its field. Check access in advance.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Great Dolmen of Zambujeiro, Wikipedia: Great Dolmen of Comenda da Igreja, Wikipedia: Almendres Cromlech, Wikipedia: Dolmen · CC BY-SA 4.0
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 1959
Il a été classé Bien d'intérêt public (Catégorie IIP) monument national en 1959 .
Source
See it in 3D
An interpretive reconstruction of the monument, standing on the real ground at its exact point, under the sun for that place and season. Drag to look around it.
The reconstruction is ours, not a survey: it shows what a monument of this type looks like, at the size the record gives for this one.
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
Est. 4000–3000 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypical range for dolmens in Portugal; this site has not been dated itself. Most dolmens date from the Late Neolithic period (4000-3000 BCE); megalithic tombs at Algarve in Portugal date to c. 2500 BC.Source for this date
Where it stands
Portugal
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 40°26′43″ N, 7°50′40″ WFor a GPS or map app: 40.44528, -7.84444
Access is as our sources describe it; we have not visited the site to check.
Nearby
The closest sites in the Atlas, by straight line.
- DolmenAnta de Pinheiro dos Abraços4000–3000 BCE
- DolmenAnta de Arcaínha ou Dólmen do Seixo da Beira4000–3000 BCE
- DolmenAnta de Curral dos Mouros4000–3000 BCE
Antas de Paranhos4000–3000 BCE
Conjunto dos Monumentos Megalíticos de Fiais/Azenha4000–3000 BCEPhoto: Vitor Oliveira from Torres Vedras, PORTUGAL · CC BY-SA 2.0
Dólmen da Orca4500–1800 BCE- DolmenOrca de Pramelas4000–3000 BCE
Anta do Pinheiro dos Abraços4000–3000 BCE
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Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q86659235wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Report a correctionWrong date, name, photograph or source? Tell us and it will be put right.
Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
- Anta de Pinheiro dos Abraços<0.1 km N
- Anta de Arcaínha ou Dólmen do Seixo da Beira0.1 km S
- Anta de Curral dos Mouros3.5 km E
- Antas de Paranhos6.0 km NE
- Conjunto dos Monumentos Megalíticos de Fiais/Azenha7.0 km W
- Dólmen da Orca7.9 km W
- Orca de Pramelas9.1 km NW
- Anta do Pinheiro dos Abraços9.2 km S
- Orca de Santo Tisco14 km W
- Dolmen of Cunha Baixa15 km NE
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Anta de Arcaínha" (French), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; authors are listed in the page history. Reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikipedia · Edit history and authors
- Wikipedia (French): Anta de ArcaínhaCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q86659235CC0