Orca de Pramelas
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
Orca de Pramelas is a dolmen in Canas de Senhorim, Portugal. It lies at 40.5130° N, 7.9042° W.
Catalogue recordSources and licences
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
Orca de Pramelas
ContextSources for this section
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
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 regional background, “Portuguese antas of the Alentejo”, is given below.
DatingSources for this section
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
No scientific date has been published for this site. Monuments of this type in Portugal are generally dated 4000 BCE to 3000 BCE; the site itself may fall inside or outside that range.
Most dolmens date from the Late Neolithic period (4000-3000 BCE); megalithic tombs at Algarve in Portugal date to c. 2500 BC.
Setting
8 other recorded monuments lie within 10 km (0 within 1 km, 0 within 5 km), 8 of them of the same type. In Canas de Senhorim, Portugal, 1 of the 1 recorded monuments are of this type.
The nearest recorded monuments are Conjunto dos Monumentos Megalíticos de Fiais/Azenha (5.8 km south, dolmen); Dólmen da Orca (8.2 km south, dolmen); Anta de Arquinha da Moura (8.5 km west, dolmen); Anta da Arquinha da Moura (8.5 km west, dolmen).
ProtectionSources for this section
Sources for this section
Heritage status: Immovable Cultural Heritage of Public Interest.
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
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°30′47″ N, 7°54′15″ WFor a GPS or map app: 40.51302, -7.90422
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.
Conjunto dos Monumentos Megalíticos de Fiais/Azenha4000–3000 BCEPhoto: Vitor Oliveira from Torres Vedras, PORTUGAL · CC BY-SA 2.0
Dólmen da Orca4500–1800 BCE
Anta de Arquinha da Moura4000–3000 BCE- Anta da Arquinha da Moura4000–3000 BCE
Antas de Paranhos4000–3000 BCE- DolmenAnta da Arcainha4000–3000 BCE
- DolmenAnta de Pinheiro dos Abraços4000–3000 BCE
- DolmenAnta de Arcaínha ou Dólmen do Seixo da Beira4000–3000 BCE
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Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q66815508wikidata.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
- Conjunto dos Monumentos Megalíticos de Fiais/Azenha5.8 km S
- Dólmen da Orca8.2 km S
- Anta de Arquinha da Moura8.5 km W
- Anta da Arquinha da Moura8.5 km W
- Antas de Paranhos8.7 km E
- Anta da Arcainha9.1 km SE
- Anta de Pinheiro dos Abraços9.1 km SE
- Anta de Arcaínha ou Dólmen do Seixo da Beira9.2 km SE
- Orca de Santo Tisco10 km SW
- Anta de Curral dos Mouros11 km SE
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Compiled from open records (Wikidata, CC0; OpenStreetMap, ODbL) and a regional background article based on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Wikidata Q66815508CC0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0