Artificial Caves of Alapraia

Portuguese name: Grutas de Alapraia or Grutas Artificiais de Alapraia. Also known as: Necrópole Eneolítica de Alapraia

Walk around the neighbourhood of Alapraia, and look into the yards of the houses, read the menu from the restaurant, look at the notices of the clinic. Little glimpses of life in this suburban area surround you. Then turn around and look across the red picket gate. Notice the deep groove carved into the exposed rock under the tree. At the end, a squared-off doorway proves the suspicion that this is not a natural trench worn into the stone. This is a cave that was carved into the bedrock thousands of years ago. Just beyond are three more carved caves, showing that this area was a significant ceremonial location millennia before the cafes and clinics. Their current state of disrepair cannot mask the fact that they have survived far longer than any of the people or buildings surrounding them.

These are the Grutas Artificias (Artificial Caves) of Alapraia. Several thousand years ago, people carved these spaces into the rock, creating special locations in which to deposit the remains of their loved ones. We can only guess at the ceremonial rituals they practiced, but we know they did: engraved plaques made out of black schist plates were attached to necklaces and placed around the necks of the deceased. Stone sandal soles were carved with holes for laces – not practical items of clothing, but votive objects of ceremonial import. Jewelry, ceramic vessels, and more were all found in these caves.

There are four caves, all carved out of the rock by people. They each have a circular chamber with a long corridor for access. Each chamber had a skylight in the ceiling, covered with a slab, that allowed for access when the corridor was full. These caves go back to the third millennium BCE, which places it in the Chalcolithic (or Eneolithic) period. This is also synonymous with the “Bell-Beaker” culture, as shown in some of the recovered artefacts. The caves show use over many years, up through the Bronze Age.

The first cave was discovered in 1889 by Francisco Paulo e Oliveira. He found no artefacts and saw that it was partially destroyed: a wooden gate at the entrance showed that it had been used by locals as a pigsty and store for firewood. In the 1930s and 1940s, further exploration revealed caves #2-4 which had previously been sealed and so various artefacts were recovered.

Many of the artefacts collected from the caves are housed in the Municipal Museum in Cascais. Possibly most significant are the unique votive sandals: soles of sandals made out of limestone, which are evocative of footwear of the period but are unlike any other votive offerings found from this period.

As of the time of this posting (December 2024), the caves are filled in with gravel. However, work has just started on the plan by the City Council of Cascais to restore and rehabilitate the site, and turn the building on the site (Casal Saloio: the “rustic farmhouse”) into an interpretive centre for both these caves and for the caves (natural) of Poço Velho in Cascais. The estimation is that this work will be done by June 2025.

Location

The caves are located in the Lisbon district, Cascais municipality. They are in the neighbourhood of Alapraia inside the town of São João do Estoril.

Access

They are easy to find: they are located on Rua das Grutas (“Road of the Caves”). It is not possible at the moment to explore the caves as they have been filled in with gravel (and the gate to cave #1 is locked).

Signage

There is a big noticeboard on Estrada Alapraia right next to Rua das Grutas announcing the repairs to the Casal Saloio (“Rustic Farmhouse”) and to the site. It was intended to run between 2021-2022, but the Covid Pandemic stopped work. Work has now started and the projection is that the work will be done by June 2025.

Links

• Article (in English) from Wikipedia
• Entry (in English) from the Megalithic Portal
• Description (in Portuguese) from Infopedia.pt
• Information (in Portuguese) from the Municipal Council of Cascais
• Inventory with photos & more (of group, Cave 1, Cave 2, Cave 3, Cave 4) (in Portuguese) from Cultura Cascais
• Photo gallery of artefacts from the caves (descriptions in Portuguese) published on Flickr by the Historic Archive of Cascais
• News article from 2020 about the depreciation of the caves (in Portuguese) from o Correio da Linha
• Publicity news release from 2020 about creating a new interpretive centre (in Portuguese) from the Municipal Council of Cascais
• Description (in Portuguese) from Archaeologist’s Portal of Directorate-General of Cultural Heritage
• Designation (in Portuguese) as a Property of Public Interest by the Directorate-General of Cultural Heritage

Nearby

In Cascais (about 6km away), the Caves (natural) of Poço Velho are visitable, and the artefacts from the Alapraia caves can be seen in the Municipal Museum in Cascais.