Anta ou orca de Cortiçô
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 Cortiçô, also called the Orca de Cortiçô or the Dólmen da Casa da Orca, is a megalithic monument in the parish of Cortiçô, in the municipality of Fornos de Algodres, Guarda District, Portugal. Its construction is estimated to date to 2900 to 2640 BCE. It was declared a Property of Public Interest in 1992.
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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 ou orca de Cortiçô
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (Portuguese): Anta de CortiçôCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Portuguese): Anta de CortiçôCC BY-SA 4.0
The chamber has a polygonal plan and measures approximately 2.5 metres in diameter and three metres in height. It is formed of 8 orthostates that lean inwards, two of which have fallen. The main entrance faces east and is preceded by a short passage. Part of the mound survives.
Research historySources for this section
- Wikipedia (Portuguese): Anta de CortiçôCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Portuguese): Anta de CortiçôCC BY-SA 4.0
The anta was studied by José Leite de Vasconcelos in 1896. The finds recovered at that time were sent to the Museu Etnográfico Português.
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
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°40′15″ N, 7°30′20″ WFor a GPS or map app: 40.67071, -7.50542
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.
Dólmen da Matança4000–3000 BCEPhoto: Vitor Oliveira from Torres Vedras, PORTUGAL · CC BY-SA 2.0
- DolmenAntas de Penalva (2)4000–3000 BCE
Dólmen de Carapito I, também conhecido por «Casa da Moura»2950–2850 BCE- DolmenDólmen de Carapito4000–3000 BCE
- DolmenDólmen de Carapito4000–3000 BCE
Anta do Penedo Com4000–3000 BCEPhoto: Vitor Oliveira from Torres Vedras, PORTUGAL · CC BY-SA 2.0
- MegalithMonumento constituído por uma rocha de granito com sete assentos dispostos em semicírculo - Hemicyclium
Anta da Pedra da Orca4000–3000 BCEPhoto: Vitor Oliveira from Torres Vedras, PORTUGAL · CC BY-SA 2.0
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Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q1135626wikidata.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
- Dólmen da Matança2.3 km W
- Antas de Penalva (2)5.3 km W
- Dólmen de Carapito I, também conhecido por «Casa da Moura»9.1 km N
- Dólmen de Carapito9.4 km N
- Dólmen de Carapito13 km N
- Anta do Penedo Com14 km W
- Monumento constituído por uma rocha de granito com sete assentos dispostos em semicírculo - Hemicyclium19 km SW
- Anta da Pedra da Orca23 km SW
- Anta de Cas-Freires23 km NW
- Orca de Forles24 km NW
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Anta de Cortiçô" (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 CortiçôCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q1135626CC0