Anta da Herdade do Zambujal
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
What the sources say
Anta da Herdade do Zambujal is a dolmen in São Bento do Mato, Portugal. In open records it appears as Wikidata item Q66813705, mapped at 38.6369° N, 8.1101° W.
Built from structured records, not from an articleSources and licences
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.
The full article
About Anta da Herdade do Zambujal
This kind of monument hereSources for this section
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
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 full article, “Portuguese antas of the Alentejo”, follows below under About this kind of monument.
DatingSources for this section
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
Typological estimate, not a date for this site: monuments of this kind in this region are normally dated 4000 BCE to 3000 BCE. The range comes from what is known about dolmen monuments in Portugal; nothing measured on this site itself is on record, so it may be younger or older than the range suggests.
The range rests on this regional background (source: the Wikipedia article “Dolmen”): Most dolmens date from the Late Neolithic period (4000-3000 BCE); megalithic tombs at Algarve in Portugal date to c. 2500 BC.
Landscape and neighbours
Counting outward from Anta da Herdade do Zambujal, there are 0 catalogued sites within 1 km, 1 within 5 km and 14 within 10 km, and 9 of them are also classed as dolmen. It is one of 1 dolmen records among the 1 sites catalogued in São Bento do Mato, Portugal.
Nearest to it are Anta da Herdade de Tourais (4.4 km west, dolmen); antas do Pinheiro do Campo (5.1 km south-east, dolmen); Patalim dolmen (5.3 km south-east, dolmen); Anta da Moita do Gato (6.5 km south-east, dolmen). The catalogue is assembled from open records and is not complete, so unrecorded monuments may lie closer.
Records and protectionSources for this section
Sources for this section
Heritage records attach the status National Monument of Portugal to this site. The open records for it are Wikidata (Q66813705), where corrections and further identifiers can be added. Access varies from open common land to private fields; check local access rules, ask where needed, and take care not to damage the monument.
How this page was madeSources for this section
Sources for this section
Nothing on this page was written by an AI model: it is assembled by program from Wikidata (CC0), the heritage register named above and the regional article “Portuguese antas of the Alentejo”, written for the Atlas from the Wikipedia articles it cites (CC BY-SA 4.0), with distances and counts calculated from the catalogue coordinates.
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
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
- 38°38′13″ N, 8°06′36″ WFor a GPS or map app: 38.63690, -8.11012
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 da Herdade de Tourais4000–3000 BCE
- Dolmenantas do Pinheiro do Campo4000–3000 BCE
- DolmenPatalim dolmen4000–3000 BCE
- DolmenAnta da Moita do Gato4000–3000 BCE
Anta de Paredes4000–3000 BCE- Menhir (standing stone)Menires da Pedra Longa2800–1800 BCE
Cromeleque da Portela de Modos4000–1200 BCE- DolmenAnta 1 do Monte das Fazendas4000–3000 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q66813705wikidata.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 da Herdade de Tourais4.4 km W
- antas do Pinheiro do Campo5.0 km SE
- Patalim dolmen5.3 km SE
- Anta da Moita do Gato6.5 km SE
- Anta de Paredes6.8 km NE
- Menires da Pedra Longa7.1 km N
- Cromeleque da Portela de Modos7.5 km E
- Anta 1 do Monte das Fazendas7.9 km N
- Cromeleque de Vale de Maria do Meio9.0 km E
- antas da Valeira9.4 km E
Credit
Text, licence and sources
This page is assembled from open records (Wikidata, CC0; OpenStreetMap, ODbL) and a tradition article paraphrasing Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). No article exists for this site, and nothing here is written by a model.
- Wikidata Q66813705CC0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0