Anta de Santa Marta
Also known asForno dos Mouros · anta de Santa Marta · dólmen da Portela
DatedEst. 4000–3000 BCE
Photo Wickeed at Portuguese Wikipedia · Public domainSource file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
The Anta de Santa Marta, also known as the Dólmen da Portela and the Forno dos Mouros, is a megalithic monument at Portela, near the road between Santa Marta and Portela do Monte, in the parish and municipality of Penafiel, Porto District, Portugal.
Archaeologists estimate that it was built in the third millennium BCE. It has been a National Monument since 1910.
Read on Wikipedia1 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 de Santa Marta
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (Portuguese): Anta de Santa MartaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Portuguese): Anta de Santa MartaCC BY-SA 4.0
The anta is formed of seven orthostats with a capstone measuring about 3.3 metres by 2.1 metres. It had a corridor about 6 metres long and 2.5 metres wide, of which only ten orthostats now remain.
DatingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (Portuguese): Anta de Santa MartaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Portuguese): Anta de Santa MartaCC BY-SA 4.0
Archaeologists estimate that the anta was built in the third millennium BCE. The Atlas catalogue gives a typological estimate of 4000 to 3000 BCE.
ConservationSources for this section
- Wikipedia (Portuguese): Anta de Santa MartaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Portuguese): Anta de Santa MartaCC BY-SA 4.0
The anta was given the status of National Monument in 1910, by the decree of 16 June 1910 (DG 136, 23 June 1910). It was represented in the coat of arms of the former parish of Santa Marta.
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
- 1910
Foi-lhe atribuído o estatuto de Monumento Nacional em 1910 pelo decreto 16 de junho de 1910, DG 136, de 23 de junho de 1910.
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.
Photographs
2 photographs, each with its author and licence
More photographs
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
- 41°12′25″ N, 8°15′15″ WFor a GPS or map app: 41.20684, -8.25426
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.
- DolmenMamoa e gravuras rupestres conhecidas por «as Pegadinhas de São Gonçalo», a 16 m e 30 m, respectivamente, do «Menir de Luzim»4000–3000 BCE
Menir de Luzim2800–1800 BCE- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Mamoa de Luzim
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Mamoa de Ramos
Anta do Padrão4000–3000 BCE- DolmenDólmen existente no terreno designado «Leira Longa», junto a uma veiga de terras lavradias chamadas «As Mourinhas»4000–3000 BCE
Mamoa do Taio- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)megalithic site of Outeiro de Gregos
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q570525wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
- AntaSantaMarta.jpgWickeed at Portuguese WikipediaPublic domain
- Antasantamarta.jpgCelso NetoPublic domain
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
- Mamoa e gravuras rupestres conhecidas por «as Pegadinhas de São Gonçalo», a 16 m e 30 m, respectivamente, do «Menir de Luzim»6.5 km S
- Menir de Luzim6.9 km S
- Mamoa de Luzim7.0 km S
- Mamoa de Ramos12 km W
- Anta do Padrão12 km W
- Dólmen existente no terreno designado «Leira Longa», junto a uma veiga de terras lavradias chamadas «As Mourinhas»15 km NW
- Mamoa do Taio15 km W
- megalithic site of Outeiro de Gregos18 km E
- Conjunto megalítico da Abogalheira18 km E
- megalithic site of Outeiro de Ante18 km E
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Anta de Santa Marta" (Portuguese), 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 (Portuguese): Anta de Santa MartaCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q570525CC0