Anta do Monte Abraão

The rush of traffic on the nearby motorway is noticeable but not overwhelming. The buzz of the electricity wires overhead is a gentle background noise. Occasionally you can hear a distant shout of a person in the apartment buildings at the edge of the field. Mostly, you’re aware of the warmth of the sun and coolness of the breeze. The low vegetation is speckled with yellow wildflowers, and rising from the green grass are several huge stone slabs, forming the remnants of a prehistoric tomb. This five thousand-year-old construction bears the graffiti marks and cast-off rubbish of the modern world without losing a speck of its immensity and longevity.

The anta (Portuguese for “dolmen”) of Monte Abraão is named after the town near where it is located. It consists of several upright stones (orthostats) that form its chamber. The largest stone was most likely the capstone (Portuguese: chapeu), although it was originally identified as one of the uprights. There is/was a corridor, but it’s not visible any longer. A few corridor stones were found when Carlos Ribeiro made the first archaelogical excavation in the 1870s.

Sketch of the Anta do Monte Abraão by Carlos Ribeira, 1880

The chamber was a polygon, about 3m by 4m, constructed by 7 uprights, of which 6 are still in existence. The corridor, about 8m long, was mostly determined by the composition of the soil and detritus in the area to the east of the chamber. Many artefacts were found, from stone tools to limestone votive object, bone carvings, as well as human remains. All findings are in the Geological Museum in Lisbon. The findings place the construction of this anta during the final centuries of the 4th millennium BC/BCE, with reoccupations later on until into the 2nd millennium.1

The anta was proclaimed a National Monument in 1910, as one of the three “Antas de Belas.” The other two are the Anta da Estria and Anta da Pedra dos Mouros.

As it is located in an empty field outside a high-density urban area, without any signs or indications of its status or preservation, the anta has been used as a canvas for graffiti and a location for socializing and dumping trash.

Location

The anta (“dolmen”) is in the Lisbon region, in the municipality of Sintra. It’s in the parish of Monte Abraão, just outside the town of Monte Abraão. It’s in an open field between the town and the A9 motorway.

GPS coordinates: 38.768154, -9.264721

Access

The anta is in an open field. It’s an easy walk (muddy if it has been raining!) across mostly flat ground. Head from the town towards the A9 motorway, and follow the electricity lines. The anta is to the left of stone electricity poles (with some ruined stone walls) and a huge metal electricity pylon.

Signage

There are signs along the roads of Monte Abraão pointing the way to the anta. When you reach the edge of the paved roads, you’ll have to walk across the open field to reach the anta.

Links

  • Article (in English) from Wikipedia
  • Entry (in English) in the Megalithic Portal
  • Description (in Portuguese) from Archaeologist’s Portal of Directorate-General of Cultural Heritage
  • Designation (in Portuguese) as a National Monument by the Director-General of Cultural Heritage
  • Detailed entry (in Portuguese) in the database of the Directorate-General of Cultural Heritage

Nearby

This is one of the three “Antas de Belas,” including also the Anta da Estria (a short – but not very easy! – walk away) and the Anta da Pedra dos Mouros (which is on private land). The Anta de Agualva is also in the area, as is the Necrópole de Carenque.

Sources

  1. Boaventura, Rui and João Luís Cardoso. “Carlos Ribeiro (1813-1882) E as Antas de Belas: Um Contributo Para a História Da Ciência Em Portugal No Século XIX.” Estudos Arqueológicos de Oeiras, vol. 21, no. 21, Jan. 2014, pp. 35–80, www.researchgate.net/publication/289532409_Carlos_Ribeiro_1813-1882_e_as_antas_de_Belas_um_contributo_para_a_Historia_da_Ciencia_em_Portugal_no_seculo_XIX_-_Carlos_Ribeiro_1813-1882_and_the_dolmens_of_Belas_a_contribution_for_the_History_of_Sc. ↩︎

2 Comments

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