Megalithic monument of Pego Longo

Category: Archaeology > Megalithic Monument

District: Lisboa > Sintra > Pego Longo

Location

This monument is situated in a more secluded area of Pego Longo, a locality in the municipality of Sintra. The environment is predominantly rural and offers a sense of tranquil isolation. The site is positioned on the crest of a limestone massif, an elevated point that naturally separates the valleys of the Ribeiras de Castanheira and Carenque, providing a unique perspective on the surrounding landscape.

Its presence in this natural setting underscores the importance these locations would have held for prehistoric communities, who frequently chose strategic points in the landscape for their most significant constructions.

An Ancestral Heritage

The megalithic Monument of Pego Longo is a fascinating example of an anta, or dolmen, a collective funerary structure dating back to the remote Megalithic Epoch. Its construction is dated to around 3000 years before our era, testifying to the presence and practices of very ancient human communities in the Sintra region.

It belongs to the typology of dolmens with a vestibule, characterized by a main chamber connected to the exterior by a corridor. These monuments, made of large stone blocks, the megaliths, were sacred places of burial and remembrance for the Neolithic peoples.

The Structure and its Past

Excavated directly into the local limestone rock, the monument reveals a rectangular chamber. Despite the marks of time, some of the elements that made up its walls and the ceiling of the gallery are still visible. These remains allow us to imagine the original grandeur of the structure and the complexity of its construction.

Over the centuries, the Pego Longo Monument has been the subject of various archaeological excavations, which have contributed to a greater understanding of its characteristics and the culture that erected it. Curiously, the inventory found in these explorations was relatively modest, leading some researchers to suggest that its importance might lie more in its symbolic value than in the quantity of artifacts associated with funerary rituals.

License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.pt