Anta de Cunha Baixa - Mangualde, Portugal - Portuguese Inventory of Architectural Patrimony on Waymarking.com

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Anta de Cunha Baixa

[PT]

"Monumento megalítico de câmara e corredor datado entre 3000 e 2500 a.C. A câmara é poligonal com nove esteios e uma cobertura. O corredor é longo com oito esteios de cada lado e cobertura. Trata-se de um exemplar de enterramento colectivo. Não apresenta mamoa, pois terá sido destruída. Inicialmente estudado por Leite de Vasconcelos, foi em 1987 que Raquel Vilaça e Domingos Cruz encetaram os trabalhos de restauro desta sepultura classificada como Monumento Nacional já desde 1910 (DG 136, de 23 de Junho de 1910).
As investigações puseram a nu esteios pintados e gravados e os materiais exumados apontam para uma fase tardia de megalitismo na região. A construção data de cerca de 5000 anos e teve uma utilização até tarde, uma vez que os últimos materiais aí depositados são da Idade do Bronze.
Seu espólio encontra-se no Museu Nacional de Arqueologia em Lisboa. É constituído por machados de pedra polida, lâminas e micrólitos em sílex e fragmentos de cerâmica."

Fonte: http://wikipedia.org

[EN]

"From artifacts discovered in and around the archaeological excavations, scientists have determined that it was constructed between 3000 and 2500 BC.
It was discovered in 1892, by Leite de Vasconcelos, who first documented the dolmen, under the authority of Dr. Pais da Cunha, then owner of the property. He found the dolmen damaged, with the interior chambers full of dirt, brambles and rocks of various sizes, some eroded or damaged from the dolmen itself. They proceeded to clean-out the chambers and excavate to about 1.17 metres, discovering the first archaeological objects, and then continuing to the table rock. In these excavations Leite de Vasconcelos found in the interior of the dolmen, axes and polished trapezoidal-shaped polished stone adzes; rudely carved flint blades, trapezoidal microliths, triangular and semi-lunar, fragments of red and black pottery, some with ornaments; yellow ochre for body painting; burnt berry seeds; burnt pieces of substances from a forge or furnace; and a human bone.
At the entrance, was an inclined rock slab 1.2 metres by 0.2 metres, with 15 grooves along its edge on both sides. Also in the adjacent terrain, a flint axe, a polished stone implement, six small blades (some jagged) and flint arrowheads, were also discovered. The artifacts were transferred to the National Archaeological Museum (Portuguese: Museu Nacional de Arqueologia) in Lisbon.
It was declared a National Monument (Portuguese: Monumento Nacional) on 16 June 1910.
In 1934, the Leisners carried-out a plan of the site, and cut a section from the dolmen. But, by 1955, I. Moita encountered the dolmen surrounded by scrub and the corridor obstructed by rocks. A restoration and cleaning of the site, under Raquel Vilaça and Domingos Cruz (1987), solicited the A.C.A.B. and the Central Region Archaeological Service (Portuguese: Serviço Regional de Arqueologia da Zona Centro), with authorization from the IPPC. A similar cleaning was undertaken in 1994 that included cleaning the monument and the area circling the site."

Translated from: http://wikipedia.org