Anta da Melriça
Also known asAnta da Fonte das Mulheres
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 da Melriça, also called Anta de Melriço, Anta da Fonte das Mulheres and Anta das Mulheres, is a megalithic tomb about 4 km north-west of Castelo de Vide, in the parish of Santiago Maior, municipality of Castelo de Vide, district of Portalegre, in the north-eastern Alentejo, Portugal.
It is dated from the Late Neolithic to the Chalcolithic (3500–2000 BCE) on the basis of its architectural features, and is a National Monument of Portugal.
Read on Wikipedia2 min readCC BY-SA 4.0
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 Melriça
5 m in diameter, was formed by seven granite orthostats and is closed by a triangular capstone.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Anta de MelriçaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Anta de MelriçaCC BY-SA 4.0
The polygonal burial chamber, up to 3.5 m in diameter, was formed by seven granite orthostats and is closed by a triangular capstone. Three of the seven orthostats, which were originally about 3 m high, were found in situ; the others are largely destroyed.
The tomb was built without a corridor. The former mound (mámoa) is hardly preserved. Concentrations of granite rubble of various sizes in the area of the former mound give rise to the supposition that it may have been a mound of cairn type.
DatingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Anta de MelriçaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Anta de MelriçaCC BY-SA 4.0
On the basis of its architectural peculiarities the anta is dated to the period from the Late Neolithic to the Chalcolithic (3500–2000 BCE). No information exists on any finds from the excavation.
Research historySources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Anta de MelriçaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Anta de MelriçaCC BY-SA 4.0
The monument was excavated and published in 1867–1868 by Pereira da Costa. In 1986 the municipality of Castelo de Vide carried out minor restoration work. The tomb was registered and protected as a Monumento Nacional in 1910.
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
- 2000 BCE
Anhand ihrer architektonischen Besonderheiten wird die Anta in den Zeitraum vom Endneolithikum bis in die Kupfersteinzeit (3500–2000 v. Chr.) datiert.
Source - 1867
1867–1868 wurde die Anlage durch Pereira da Costa ergraben und publiziert; 1986 führte die Gemeinde Castelo de Vide kleinere Restaurierungsarbeiten durch.
Source - 1910
Das Megalithgrab wurde 1910 als Monumento Nacional eingetragen und geschützt.
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
- 39°26′02″ N, 7°30′09″ WFor a GPS or map app: 39.43400, -7.50241
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 do Alcogulo II4000–3000 BCE
- DolmenAnta do Alcogulo III4000–3000 BCE
- DolmenAntas da Coutada de Alcogulo4000–3000 BCE
- DolmenAnta dos Coureleiros IV4000–3000 BCE
- DolmenAnta dos Coureleiros I4000–3000 BCE
- DolmenAnta das Tapadas de Pedro Álvaro4000–3000 BCE
- DolmenAnta de Couleiros4000–3000 BCE
- DolmenAnta dos Coureleiros V4000–3000 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q66814525wikidata.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 do Alcogulo II1.8 km S
- Anta do Alcogulo III2.3 km S
- Antas da Coutada de Alcogulo2.5 km S
- Anta dos Coureleiros IV2.8 km NE
- Anta dos Coureleiros I2.9 km E
- Anta das Tapadas de Pedro Álvaro2.9 km NE
- Anta de Couleiros3.0 km E
- Anta dos Coureleiros V3.5 km NE
- Anta dos Coureleiros III3.6 km NE
- Anta dos Pombais3.7 km E
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Anta de Melriça" (German), 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 (German): Anta de MelriçaCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q66814525CC0