Portuguese: Monumento pré-histórico da Praia das Maçãs Also known as: Tholos do Outeiro das Mós, or Tholos da Praia das Maçãs
In the Neolithic era, about 4,000BC, an artificial cave was dug on this site. It had a corridor and central burial chamber with side niches. Later, a large tholos was built. The site was used through the 3rd millennium BC.
The site was originally identified in the 1920s and was excavated in the 1960s. It was declared a National Monument in 1974, but after that it was mostly abandoned and subject to neglect and vandalism. In the early 2000s, the municipality of Sintra purchased the land it was on with the objective of refurbishing it and turning it into a site for education and tourism, including an interpretive centre. Further excavations were made between 2020 and 2022.1
The visible structure is a tholos, a collective funerary structure with a circular chamber covered by a false dome. The site was constructed in stages, and in the oldest stage it was an artificial cave (or hypogeum). Subsequently, the tholos was built.
The article at the left is from the book, “Roteiros da Arqueologia Portuguesa 1: Lisboa e Arredores.” (Routes of Portuguese Archaeology 1: Lisbon and its surroundings)2
Translation:
“This monument, known as “tholos of Praia das Maçãs,” shows itself as a complex architectural structure, with construction phases separated in time and with diverse characteristics: in addition to the tholos itself, made up of an atrium, corridor and chamber, there are also intermediate chambers connected to the latter, which give access to the western chamber, the whole site was covered by a tumulus.
The artefacts found in the site prove that the site was used as a burial chamber for a long period of time, which extended from the Neolithic to the Later Chalcolithic.”
I have included this page to give further information and photographic evidence of a closed site. The book is copyright 1986 by the Department of Archaeology of the Portuguese Institute of Cultural Heritage, but it is currently out of print and not available online.
The site is undergoing reconstruction work as well as active archaeological excavations. It is therefore not open to the public, but there are occasional guided tours. The photos and information below are from a guided tour in May 2024.
Location
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The monument is located in the district of Lisbon, municipality of Sintra, parish of Colares. It is situated on a hill in the middle of the town of Praia das Maçãs, overlooking the beach.
Access
The entrance to the monument is off the main road, in a residential area along Rua Afonso Banheiro. It’s an easy walk up the hill from the tram (életrico) station and/or the city market.
The monument is not open to the public. There are active archaelogical excavations ongoing, as well as restoration work. The town hall of Sintra hosts occasional guided visits, and the archaeological museum in Odrinhas can organize a visit at other times if requested.
Signage
There are signs on the gate leading to the monument describing it and the work being done.
Links
- Article (in English) from Wikipedia
- Description (in Portuguese) of the restoration project from the Municipality of Sintra (March 2022)
- Article (in Portuguese) with photographs of the restoration from Jornal de Mafra (June 2022)
- Description (in Portuguese) from the Archaeologist’s Portal of Directorate-General of Cultural Heritage
- Designation (in Portuguese) as a National Monument by the Directorate-General of Cultural Heritage
- Detailed information (in Portuguese) in the database of the Directorate-General of Cultural Heritage
Nearby
There are fossilized dinosaur footprints nearby on Praia Grande, and a megalithic site about 15km away at Barreira. The Tholos do Monge is another tholos, about 12km away in the Sintra Mountains.
Sources
- Porfírio, Eduardo, et al. “O Monumento Pré-Histórico Da Praia Das Maçãs (Sintra): Atividades de Divulgação E Educação Patrimonial Realizadas No Âmbito Das Recentes Escavações Arqueológicas .” Arqueologia Em Portugal 2023 – Estado Da Questão, Associação dos Arqueólogos Portugueses, 2023, pp. 1963–1978. ↩︎
- Roteiros Da Arqueologia Portuguesa 1: Lisboa E Arredores. Instituto Português do Património Cultural, Departamento de Arqueologia, 1986. ↩︎
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