Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)
Mamoa de Lamas
Photo Joseolgon · CC BY-SA 3.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
The Mamoa de Lamas is a megalithic monument in the parish of Lamas, in the municipality (concelho) of Braga, Portugal. It was built in the Neolithic period, about 3000 BCE, and has the average dimensions of a mamoa. It covered a dolmen, of which only three slabs remain in situ, the others lying in the surroundings of the mound.
The monument is classified as a Site of Municipal Interest and forms part of the Núcleo Museológico de Lamas.
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Article
Mamoa de Lamas
In February 1993, during earthmoving to prepare a raised area for urban development, the structure of a megalithic tomb still protected by the earth of the mound was uncovered.
Research historySources for this section
- Wikipedia (Portuguese): Mamoa de LamasCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Portuguese): Mamoa de LamasCC BY-SA 4.0
In February 1993, during earthmoving to prepare a raised area for urban development, the structure of a megalithic tomb still protected by the earth of the mound was uncovered. The remains became evident through the action of the excavator carrying out the levelling. The discovery also revealed various pieces of information about the past of the region.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (Portuguese): Mamoa de LamasCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Portuguese): Mamoa de LamasCC BY-SA 4.0
In the Iberian north, archaeologists distinguish dolmens, which have a stone chamber covered by a mound of stones and earth, from tumuli or mounds without a chamber that were used in the same way, for collective burial. Both kinds are usually placed in spots of great visibility and built of local materials.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Iberian tumuli
Most of the Atlas's Iberian mounds lie in the northern highlands, especially the Basque country, where prehistoric collective graves are found in great numbers. Archaeologists there separate dolmens, which have a stone chamber covered by a mound of stones and earth, from "tumuli" or mounds that have no chamber but were used in the same way, for collective burial. Roughly 800 dolmens and about 500 mounds are known in the Basque Country, though some of the mounds may be dolmens waiting to be excavated.
Both kinds are placed in spots of great visibility, often on mountain ridges, and are built of local materials; the larger ones tend to be in lowland areas and the smaller ones in mountain zones. The dead were placed in the chamber or under the mound over generations, and older remains were moved aside to make room for newer ones, which is why very few Basque monuments have a clear layered record. Megalithic burial arrived in the late Neolithic, was in constant use in the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, and in some mounds continued as late as the Iron Age.
Across Iberia the picture changes with the Bell Beaker phenomenon of the late Chalcolithic, which brought individual graves, often under mounds, in contrast with the collective graves that came before.
Dating is difficult, because few mounds have been excavated and the collective burials were disturbed, so the Atlas gives broad typological ranges.
When visiting, look for low circular mounds of stone on high ground in pasture, often with a ring of larger stones or a dip in the centre where a chamber may have collapsed, and for neighbouring stone circles on the same ridge.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Basque prehistory, Wikipedia: Tumulus, Wikipedia: Bell Beaker culture, Wikipedia: Dolmen · CC BY-SA 4.0
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 3000 BCE
O monumento foi edificado no período Neolítico (aproximadamente 3000 a.C.), possuindo as dimensões médias de uma mamoa.
Source - 1993
A Mamoa de Lamas está inserida no Núcleo Museológico de Lamas.Em fevereiro de 1993, aquando do desaterro para urbanização de uma área elevada foi posta a descoberto a estrutura de um túmulo megalítico ainda protegido pelas terras da mamoa.
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
5 photographs, each with its author and licence
More photographs
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Where it stands
Portugal
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 41°30′12″ N, 8°25′54″ WFor a GPS or map app: 41.50334, -8.43163
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.
Necrópole de Vermoim4000–3000 BCE- SteleVia de Braga a Guimarães, 2 marcos miliários (série capela)
Nécropole mégalithique de Bustelo4000–3000 BCE- DolmenDólmen existente no terreno designado «Leira Longa», junto a uma veiga de terras lavradias chamadas «As Mourinhas»4000–3000 BCE
Mamoa do Taio
Anta da Portelagem e Mamoas do Rápido4000–3000 BCE- DolmenRapído dolmen4000–3000 BCE
Via romana de Braga ao Porto (8 marcos miliários, Série Capela)
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Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
1 source behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q10323466wikidata.org
Image files
- Mamoa de Lamas.JPGJoseolgonCC BY-SA 3.0
- Mamoa de Lamas 2018 (1).jpgJoseolgonCC BY-SA 4.0
- Mamoa de Lamas 2018 (2).jpgJoseolgonCC BY-SA 4.0
- Mamoa de Lamas 2018 (3).jpgJoseolgonCC BY-SA 4.0
- Mamoa de Lamas2.JPGJoseolgonCC BY-SA 3.0
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
- Necrópole de Vermoim8.0 km S
- Via de Braga a Guimarães, 2 marcos miliários (série capela)13 km SE
- Nécropole mégalithique de Bustelo22 km N
- Dólmen existente no terreno designado «Leira Longa», junto a uma veiga de terras lavradias chamadas «As Mourinhas»22 km S
- Mamoa do Taio28 km S
- Anta da Portelagem e Mamoas do Rápido29 km W
- Rapído dolmen29 km W
- Via romana de Braga ao Porto (8 marcos miliários, Série Capela)29 km SW
- Menir de São Paio de Antas30 km W
- Estela de Vila Boa30 km E
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Mamoa de Lamas" (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): Mamoa de LamasCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q10323466CC0