.jpg/1920px-Orca_do_Picoto_do_Vasco_-_Portugal_(6137585963).jpg 1920w)
Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)
Picoto do Vasco
Photo Vitor Oliveira from Torres Vedras, PORTUGAL · CC BY-SA 2.0Photo taken at this location (Wikimedia Commons)Source file on Wikimedia Commons
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Overview
About this site
Overview
Picoto do Vasco is a megalithic mound in Pendilhe, Portugal. It lies at 40.9016° N, 7.8089° W.
Catalogue recordSources and licences
Article
Picoto do Vasco
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
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. The regional background, “Iberian tumuli”, is given below.
Dating
No date has been published for this site.
Setting
1 other recorded monument lies within 10 km (0 within 1 km, 0 within 5 km). In Pendilhe, Portugal, 1 of the 2 recorded monuments are of this type.
The nearest recorded monuments are Anta de Pendilhe (9.6 km south-east, dolmen); Orca dos Juncais (11.5 km south-east, dolmen); Conjunto de Monumentos Megalíticos do Grupo de Viseu Dão Lafões (11.6 km south-east, megalith); Anta de Cas-Freires (12.8 km south-east, dolmen).
ProtectionSources for this section
Sources for this section
Heritage status: Pending classification monument.
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
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
1 photograph, each with its author and licence
Where it stands
Portugal
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 40°54′06″ N, 7°48′32″ WFor a GPS or map app: 40.90160, -7.80892
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.
Anta de Pendilhe4000–3000 BCE
Orca dos Juncais4000–3000 BCEPhoto: Vitor Oliveira from Torres Vedras, PORTUGAL · CC BY-SA 2.0
Conjunto de Monumentos Megalíticos do Grupo de Viseu Dão LafõesPhoto: Vitor Oliveira from Torres Vedras, PORTUGAL · CC BY-SA 2.0
- DolmenAnta de Cas-Freires4000–3000 BCE
- DolmenPedralta 14000–3000 BCE
- DolmenOrca de Forles4000–3000 BCE
Recinto Megalítico de São Cristóvão3300–2500 BCE
Conjunto Megalítico de Felgueiras
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Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
1 source behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q136544073wikidata.org
Image files
- Orca do Picoto do Vasco - Portugal (6137585963).jpgVitor Oliveira from Torres Vedras, PORTUGALCC BY-SA 2.0
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
- Anta de Pendilhe9.6 km SE
- Orca dos Juncais12 km SE
- Conjunto de Monumentos Megalíticos do Grupo de Viseu Dão Lafões12 km SE
- Anta de Cas-Freires13 km SE
- Pedralta 113 km S
- Orca de Forles14 km SE
- Recinto Megalítico de São Cristóvão19 km NW
- Conjunto Megalítico de Felgueiras19 km NW
- Mamoa de Moumiz21 km NW
- Menir do Vale de Nascerães24 km N
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 Q136544073CC0
- 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