Dolmen of Encheira dos Vidais

Category: Archaeology > Dolmen

District: Portalegre > Marvão > Pombais > Encheira dos Vidais

Location

Located in the heart of Alto Alentejo, the Anta da Encheira dos Vidais is immersed in the serene landscape of the locality of Pombais, within the municipality of Marvão, in the district of Portalegre. The site offers a characteristic rural setting, with gentle undulations of the terrain, dotted with cork oak and holm oak forests that define the horizon. This pastoral environment invites contemplation and allows for a true immersion in the tranquility of the Alentejo nature.

The surrounding area, known as Encheira dos Vidais, remains linked to traditional agricultural activity, providing an authentic setting where megalithic heritage merges harmoniously with rural daily life. It is a place where time seems to slow down, allowing visitors to appreciate the vast expanse of the Alentejo sky and the calm emanating from the landscape.

Legacy of Immemorial Times

The Anta da Encheira dos Vidais is a remarkable testimony to human presence in the Alentejo territory during the Neolithic period, approximately between the 4th and 3rd millennia BCE. These monuments, which dot the landscape of Portugal, served primarily as collective burial chambers, places of interment for the communities that settled here and developed their earliest forms of social and religious organization. They represent a direct link to the region's first builders, revealing their beliefs and their capacity for environmental transformation.

Each stone that makes up the anta holds within it the memory of distant rituals and community life, offering those who visit a unique opportunity to connect with a deep and intangible cultural heritage. It is a point of reflection on the passage of time and the persistence of the human mark over millennia.

Primitive Architecture and Symbology

As a typical megalithic construction of the region, the Anta da Encheira dos Vidais exemplifies the ingenuity and effort of prehistoric human groups. The monument is characterized by its chamber, usually polygonal in shape, built from large stone slabs arranged vertically, known as orthostats. Originally, these structures were covered by a horizontal capstone and sometimes surrounded by a mound of earth and stones, known as a mamoa, which contributed to their grandeur and sacred character, although these elements are not always visible today.

The selection and transport of these massive rocks, as well as the precision required to erect and fit them, reveal an empirical knowledge of engineering and complex social organization on the part of its builders. The anta was not merely a burial site, but also a place of worship and territorial assertion, where architecture merged with spirituality to create a lasting landmark in the landscape.

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