Anta do Curral dos Mouros/ Dólmen da Sobreda

Anta/Dolmen - Neolithic e Bronze Age (669)
Anta da Sobreda, also known as Anta de Curral dos Mouros, is a large megalithic monument located 850 m Southeast of Sobreda, in a hillock over the Seia River (which runs 750m away) and standing out in the surrounding landscape. It is about 3 km to NE from Anta de Arcaínha/ Seixo da Beira (CNS 668). The monument is composed by a chamber with a rough sub-circular blueprint, composed by nine orthostats (although nowadays only 8 remain), stripped of the original capstone. It contains a well-differentiated corridor, around 5.5m long, with four preserved orthostats in its south side and two in the northern side. One of the orthostates displayed red ochre paintings, from which there were still some traces during the late 19th century. The mamoa has an oval shape. The identified ceramic artefacts found in this megalithic monument are composed of two bell-beaker vessels, low carinated bowls, medium carinated bowls, large medium carinated bowls, a medium carinated jug with a truncated cone-shaped neck, an elegant neck jug, a drum-shaped jug, a jug with mammilated holds, inverted truncated cone-shaped and plain base vessels. Arrowheads were also identified along with a shale axe and flint nucleus. This monument might have been built/used during the Late Neolithic/Chalcolithic and, similar to what is verified in other megalithic monuments of Beira Alta, reused during the Bronze Age, as evidenced by some of the identified artefacts (i.e.: inverted truncated cone-shaped vessels).

Overview

Free access. Information on the website of the Municipality of Oliveira do Hospital. Presence of an explanatory panel on site.

Visit conditions

Free entrance

Timetables

Contacts

Documents

  • Tourism Flyer:
How to get there? Best practices

Best practices

Good practices when visiting archaeological sites

To visit an archaeological site is to connect with our origins, to understand our path and evolution as a species integrated in the environment, and to respect and safeguard our heritage so that future generations can also visit and enjoy it.

Walking the paths and enjoying the structures and archaeological pieces that survived over time, fosters the understanding of what is different, but also of what is common among different populations: basically, what identifies us as Homo Sapiens.

More than just vestiges and ruins of the past, archaeological sites showcase our capacity for creative thought, adaptation, interconnection, comprehension and resilience. Without these traits we would not have been successful as cultural beings participating in an ongoing evolutionary process. These sites also allow to consider choices made in the past thus contributing for decisions in the present to be made with greater awareness and knowledge.

Archaeological sites are unique and irreplaceable. These sites are fragile resources vulnerable to changes driven by human development. The information they keep, if destroyed, can never be recovered again.

As such, the Directorate-General for Cultural Heritage (DGPC) invites all visitors to enjoy the beauty and authenticity of these sites, while helping to preserve them for future generations by adopting the following set of good practices:

  • Respect all signs; 
  • Do not try to access fenced areas; 
  • Do not climb, sit or walk on archaeological structures and remains; 
  • Respect areas where archaeological excavations are being carried out, not disturbing them; 
  • Do not collect materials or sediments;
  • Do not write or make graffiti on archaeological structures; 
  • Put the garbage in appropriate containers. If none exist, take the garbage with you until you find a suitable container; 
  • Leave the archaeological site as you found it; 
  • Do not drive bicycles or motor vehicles over archaeological sites; 
  • Respect and protect the plants and animals that live in the areas surrounding archaeological sites;
  • Report signs of vandalism or destruction to DGPC or Regional Directorates of Culture (DRC);
  • Share the visiting experience and the archaeological sites, as a way of raising awareness to their preservation and making them better known;
  • Do not buy archaeological materials and report to public security authorities, DGPC or DRC, if you suspect that archaeological materials may be for sale.

Further information:

AIA / ATTA (2013) – Guide to best practices for archaeological tourism. 

Raposo, J. (2016) – Código de conduta para uma visita responsável a sítios arqueológicos. In Sítios arqueológicos portugueses revisitados: 500 arqueossítios ou conjuntos em condições de fruição pública responsável. Al-madan, 2ª série, p. 20 – 77. 

DGPC contacts

Phone: +351213614200 | Email: informacaoarqueologica@dgpc.pt

 


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