Category: Civil Architecture > Museum
District: Portalegre > Nisa > Salavessa
This dolmen is located in Salavessa, a village in the municipality of Nisa, set in a tranquil rural environment. The monument stands in isolation, rising from an open field where low-lying vegetation dots the landscape. Its position offers a serene setting, ideal for contemplation and for feeling a connection with a very distant past.
The Salavessa Dolmen features an irregularly circular plan, notable for its simplicity and robustness. It is composed of five large granite blocks, known as orthostats, driven into the ground. These orthostats, rectangular in shape with tapered ends, lean slightly inwards, touching at the top to form the chamber structure. The spaces between these larger blocks are filled with other smaller granite stones, lending cohesion to the ensemble. Its covering consists of a single pyramidal slab, which acts as a protective "cap" over the burial chamber. It is still possible to observe the chamber structure and traces of the corridor that connected it to the exterior, including some of the orthostats and stones that comprised it.
This monument dates back to the Megalithic period, bearing witness to the presence and practices of the peoples who inhabited this region in the late Neolithic, between 3500 and 2000 BC. Its original function was funerary, serving as a site for collective burial. Due to its historical and cultural importance, this dolmen was classified as a National Monument in 1910, which underscores its heritage value. Its significance is further highlighted by the discovery, within its interior, of a flint halberd. This prehistoric weapon, which is fragmented, is a notable find that illustrates the tools and objects accompanying the funerary rituals of that era.
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.pt
Coordinates DD: 39.6211881,-7.6116566
Coordinates DMS: 39°37'16.3"N 07°36'42.0"W
Weather Salavessa
On-duty Pharmacy Salavessa
