Lapa da Meruje

The Dolmen de Lapa de Meruge is a dolmen in the freguesia of Cambra e Carvalhal de Vermilhas, in the municipality of Vouzela, district of Viseu, Portugal. It does not currently have a protection designation. Two nearby sites are Anta da Arca and the dolmen de Malhada do Cambarinho.

The monument has a polygonal chamber made up of 6 orthostates, topped by a roof slab measuring 3,2 × 2,8 m. A tumulus covers almost the whole structure, and the pillars of the access passage remain visible. The site was partly backfilled after excavation, but the monument can still be viewed from a platform on the east side.

Archaeological excavations were carried out from 2016 to 2018 by students from the Universidade do Algarve and the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, together with local volunteers. A trench was first dug to the south, revealing the original passage, which was then cleared. The passage and chamber were later excavated more deeply. The dating of 4000 BCE to 3000 BCE is a typological estimate.

Dolmens are the type of monument more commonly called antas in the Évora area of the Alentejo, where some of the largest examples in Iberia stand. Research on the Great Dolmen of Zambujeiro, dated to between 4000 and 3000 BCE, recovered slate tablets, necklaces, crosiers, copper objects, ceramics and carinated bowls, suggesting that such tombs were used over generations.

Lapa da Meruje is a dolmen in Cambra e Carvalhal de Vermilhas, Portugal. A typological estimate: 4000 BCE to 3000 BCE. No English Wikipedia article exists for it; the full text below is the French article "Dolmen de Lapa de Meruge", shown in the original language.