Dolmen 1 of São Rafael

Category: Archaeology > Dolmen

District: Portalegre > Elvas > Elvas > Assunção, Ajuda, Salvador e Santo Ildefonso

Location

Situated in the municipality of Elvas, in the rural area of the parish of Assunção, Ajuda, Salvador and Santo Ildefonso, Anta 1 de São Rafael stands on a small hill. Its position, at an altitude of about 167 meters, offers a broad perspective of the surrounding landscape, characterized by cork oak forests and pasture areas.

From the site, it is possible to contemplate the vast Alentejo plain and spot the course of the Guadiana river. In the distance, the silhouette of the historic Ponte da Ajuda (Ajuda Bridge), connecting Portugal to Spain, stands out, along with an extensive irrigated landscape that already extends into Spanish territory.

A Megalithic Testimony

This dolmen constitutes a significant prehistoric funerary monument, dating from the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods, between the 5th and 3rd millennia BCE. It represents one of the vestiges of the megalithic culture that flourished in this region, originally used as a collective burial site by the ancestral communities that lived here.

The recognition of its historical and archaeological value led to its classification as a Property of Public Interest, ensuring the preservation of this link to a distant past and the civilizations that shaped the territory before writing. It is a place for reflection on the practices and beliefs of our ancestors.

The Ancient Structure

Anta 1 de São Rafael is characterized by its rectangular chamber, which was accessed via a corridor. The structure is composed of large blocks of schist, a rock material abundant in the region.

Although the earth mound that originally covered it, known as a 'mamoa', has mostly disappeared, the dolmen still preserves four of its imposing orthostats in the chamber, one of which remains intact and reaches 2.70 meters in height. In the corridor, two more orthostats can be observed, located on the north side. The dolmen is oriented to the east, a common alignment in many megalithic constructions, which suggests a possible relationship with celestial or natural cycles.

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