Menir de Aldeia dos Fernandes
DatedEst. 2800–1800 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
What the sources say
O Menir de Aldeia dos Fernandes é um monumento megalítico situado na localidade de Aldeia dos Fernandes, no concelho de Almodôvar, em Portugal.
Article in PortugueseRead on Wikipedia3 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.
The full article
Menir de Aldeia dos Fernandes: the whole story
In briefSources for this section
Sources for this section
The Menir de Aldeia dos Fernandes is a megalithic monument in Aldeia dos Fernandes, in the municipality of Almodôvar, Portugal. It stands on Rua dos Moinhos and is classified as a standing stone. Its date is estimated typologically to the period 2800 BCE to 1800 BCE.
The monument is a large block of schist measuring 4,8 m in length and 1,2 m in width. Its overall form is roughly phallic, although it was partly destroyed. At least three cup marks have been identified on its surface, and other symbolic carvings may also be present.
Research was carried out at the site in 1972 during archaeological prospecting coordinated by Caetano Maria de Mello Beirão and Mário Augusto Santos Varela Gomes. Further work in 1993 and 1999 formed part of the Carta Arqueológica de Almodôvar. Some large stones found during these later investigations had been moved when Rua dos Moinhos was opened.
The stone was probably erected during the Neo-Chalcolithic period, although its original location is unknown. In 1992, investigator C. Beirão proposed that it may have formed part of a dolmen that had probably been violated, or that it was associated with a vanished dolmen. The original position of the standing stone and its relationship to any nearby monument therefore remain uncertain.
No English Wikipedia article exists for it; the full text below is the Portuguese article "Menir de Aldeia dos Fernandes", shown in the original language.
Summary in EnglishSources for this section
Sources for this section
Menir de Aldeia dos Fernandes is a menhir (standing stone) in Almodôvar, Portugal. A typological estimate: 2800 BCE to 1800 BCE. No English Wikipedia article exists for it; the full text below is the Portuguese article "Menir de Aldeia dos Fernandes", shown in the original language.
História e descriçãoSources for this section
Sources for this section
O monumento situa-se na Rua dos Moinhos, em Aldeia dos Fernandes. Consiste num bloco de xisto de grandes dimensões, com 4,8 m de comprimento por 1,2 m de largura, de forma sensivelmente fálica, e que foi parcialmente destruído. Na sua superfície foram identificadas pelo menos três covinhas, mas podem existir outras gravuras simbólicas. Em 1992, o investigador C. Beirão avançou a teoria de que o menir teria feito parte de «anta provavelmente violada», ou que estaria associado a uma anta desaparecida. Foi provavelmente erguido durante o período neo-Calcolítico, num local desconhecido.
Foi alvo de trabalhos arqueológicos em 1972, no âmbito de vários trabalhos de prospecção coordenadas por Caetano Maria de Mello Beirão e Mário Augusto Santos Varela Gomes, e em 1993 e em 1999, no âmbito da elaboração da Carta Arqueológica de Almodôvar. Durante estes últimos foram encontradas algumas pedras grandes, que foram mudadas de sítio quando foi aberta a Rua dos Moinhos.
How this page was madeSources for this section
Sources for this section
The summary at the top of this page was written by MiniMax-M3 (2026-11-08) from the cited Wikipedia article “Menir de Aldeia dos Fernandes”, translated from Portuguese. The numbers in it were checked automatically against the source text. The rest of the page is the article itself, the structured records and computed distances.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Iberian menhirs
In Spain menhirs of the western European megalithic type are relatively unusual compared with dolmens, but are common sights in the northern half of the country, where at least 500 have been reported. They are particularly common in the Basque Country, Navarre, northern Burgos and Palencia, Cantabria and the Pyrenees, usually standing alone or in small groups (cromlechs) in elevated places. Most appear to date back to the Stone Age. They are not usually associated with burials, though at the Menhir of Cuesta del Molino in Burgos burials were made at least 2,000 years after the menhir was raised. The Arlobi menhir is one of the most recent examples.
Portugal's highest concentration is in the Alentejo, where the Menhir of Meada is the largest on the Iberian Peninsula. The Menhir of Outeiro, near Reguengos de Monsaraz in the district of Évora, is the second largest in Portugal: a granite monolith 5.6 metres high, about a metre across and an estimated eight tonnes. It was found lying on its side in 1969 by Henrique Leonor Pina and José Pires Gonçalves and re-erected about 1970, and was classified as a national monument in 1971. A hollow in its top has been read as a urethra, so that the stone is taken as phallic; that is an interpretation, not a fact.
The Almendres Cromlech near Évora is the largest group of structured menhirs on the Iberian Peninsula, and one of the largest in Europe. It belongs to the "megalithic universe of Évora", with parallels in the Portela de Mogos cromlech. Its beginnings have been put as far back as the sixth millennium BCE, which would make it extremely early, and it was rediscovered in 1966 by Henrique Leonor Pina.
When visiting, look for stones on high ground and note which way they face.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Menhir, Wikipedia: Menhir of Outeiro, Wikipedia: Almendres Cromlech, Wikipedia: List of menhirs · CC BY-SA 4.0
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 1972
Foi alvo de trabalhos arqueológicos em 1972, no âmbito de vários trabalhos de prospecção coordenadas por Caetano Maria de Mello Beirão e Mário Augusto Santos Varela Gomes, e em 1993 e em 1999, no âmbito da elaboração da Carta Arqueológica de Almodôvar.
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. 2800–1800 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypical range for menhirs in Portugal; this site has not been dated itself. Standing stones are associated with the Beaker people of the European late Neolithic and early Bronze Age c. 2800-1800 BC.Source for this date
Where it stands
Portugal
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 37°34′17″ N, 8°10′10″ WFor a GPS or map app: 37.57147, -8.16940
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.
- DolmenTholos da Nora Velha4000–3000 BCE
- Megalithic complexMonumento megalítico do Cerro da Fonte Santa
Anta da Masmorra4000–3000 BCE- Menhir (standing stone)Menir dos Abrutiais2800–1800 BCE
Anta de Pedras Altas4000–3000 BCE- DolmenAnta da Pedreirinha4000–3000 BCE
Menir da Vilarinha 12800–1800 BCE- Menir da Vilarinha 22800–1800 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q130549306wikidata.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
- Tholos da Nora Velha12 km W
- Monumento megalítico do Cerro da Fonte Santa20 km NE
- Anta da Masmorra35 km SE
- Menir dos Abrutiais35 km S
- Anta de Pedras Altas35 km SE
- Anta da Pedreirinha38 km S
- Menir da Vilarinha 139 km SW
- Menir da Vilarinha 239 km SW
- Menir da Vilarinha 339 km SW
- Menir de Vale Fuzeiros / Horta de Baixo40 km SW
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Text from the Wikipedia article "Menir de Aldeia dos Fernandes" (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