The Megalithic Monuments of Alcalar, located in the interior of the municipality of Portimão, are about to win um new tomb, baptized by archaeologists as Tomb 9. The restoration of this millenary structure is almost complete, so that visitors can begin to enjoy yet another point of interest in that national monument.
Situated next to the most imposing Tomb 7, this Tomb 9 is more new «200 to 300 years» than its neighbor next door, according to archaeologist Rui Parreira. "Tomb 7 is older, it dates from the middle of the 3rd millennium BC, while it was still in use and opened when it was already sealed," he added. In other words, Tomb 9 has a date that points to its construction "in the passage of the 3rd millennium to the 2nd millennium" BC One young, therefore, with little more than 4 thousand years.
The most curious thing about this tomb built with large stones (hence the megalithic name) is that, according to archaeologist Elena Morán, it “collapsed”, that is, it fell, while it was still being used… which is not very positive. from your builder.
In the displacement of the Sul Informação to Alcalar, pointing to the two tombs that can be seen side by side, Rui Parreira jokingly commented: "the architect of this one was different."
«This one, on the outside, was more robust than the 7, made with stone paved with clay. What failed here was the internal structure,” added Elena Morán. "The problem was the contractor, not the architect," he joked.
Alcalar's megalithic tombs – there is more than these two – have in common the fact that they are mamoas, that is, structures in the shape of a round breast, situated on top of hills, perhaps to be seen from afar, as a symbol of power of the inhabitants who lived on the hill next door in the village.
They consisted of an access corridor to an interior chamber, structures built with large stone slabs, in this case limestone or sandstone. In this inner chamber, sometimes in niches, the dead and their bones were deposited, accompanied by objects that symbolized their status of power.
This corridor and chamber were later covered by smaller stones, sometimes joined with clay, forming the rounded mound. The crown was made with smaller stones, usually white limestone, which would be seen from a distance, as a mark on the landscape. The entire structure, in a circular shape, was finished with slabs. As builders five thousand years ago did not yet know how to build vaults, the inner circular chamber was covered, at the top of the mound, by a large stone slab.
No less important was, believes the couple of archaeologists Rui Parreira and Elena Morán, who for decades have dedicated themselves to the study of Alcalar, the square in front of the tomb's entrance. “Tomb square 9 which is already excavated is almost the same size as the tomb itself,” explained Rui Parreira. This demonstrates that, in addition to the monument, the rituals that took place in these squares were also very important moments in the lives of ancient populations, «associated with a landscape architecture».
In the specialized restoration and conservation works that have been taking place in Túmulo 9, nominated by the Regional Directorate of Culture of the Algarve to CRESC Algarve 2020 and which cost just over 106 thousand euros (funded 60% by the FEDER), «it was chosen for redoing the tomb, keeping the interior, which had already been consolidated in 2008, and filling the interior with leca”, in order to help maintain the “very fragile structure”, as explained by Elena Morán.
The façade was also repaired (where the sloping stones are visible, due to the collapse of the tomb, which happened thousands of years ago) and drains were placed to «avoid the pool that formed in front of here whenever it rained».
“All the stones that we are putting on the façade are stones that we removed from the monument's condemnation [closing] structure,” added Rui Parreira.
This closing structure, with large stone slabs, “extends from the interior to the façade and then all around” the monument.
But the works now carried out, explains Elena Morán, are “a reversal intervention”. It is that, "if someone, in the future, wants to do another type of intervention, or more studies, it is possible." Quite different from the “brute intervention” made in the XNUMXth century. “But, at that time, what interested these first archaeologists was the objects themselves, so they opened a trench to go inland, looking for these objects,” said Rui Parreira.
As Alcalar is a national monument and one of the most visited monuments in the Algarve in terms of archeology, «the restoration implies that it is not just a memory, but that it is also disseminated, even to serve as an example». The total cost of the intervention (106.315 euros) involves the contract to intervene in the monument, the exterior arrangements, as well as the preparation and edition of a monograph, either on this Monument 9 or on the works themselves. In other words, what the researchers discovered or the methodology of the conservation and restoration work will not be locked away in a drawer, but will be disclosed.
Rui Parreira, who is also the director of Cultural Goods of the Regional Directorate of Culture of the Algarve, stresses that this is “a project very focused on tourism, as we are preparing the megalithic monument to be visited, enjoyed by the population and by tourists'.
But not even that perspective led the intervention to neglect the aspects of scientific research. The dating of this tomb, which makes it hundreds of years younger than the neighboring Tomb 7, was made "from the bones of a secondary burial discovered inside".
«Two ceramic cups were discovered and, on top, a skull and long bones, which were dated in the Anthropology Laboratory of the University of Coimbra», recalls Rui Parreira. The bones were from “a middle-aged individual who suffered a head injury but survived because there is bone reconstruction. He was a robust individual”, probably a boss. But “we also found four more individuals, between children and adults”.
But don't think that the entire population of this Alcalar over 4 years ago was buried here. "There was social segregation, this was only for the elites of the village and the territory", underlined the archaeologist.
These ancient Algarvians used “adornings, in ivory, amber, copper, gold, green stones, materials that were sometimes brought from other places”, even from very far away. This demonstrates its power and social importance.
The archaeological work also led to the discovery of a phalanx, which was first thought to be a horse and later discovered to be a zebra, an equine “which was here until the XNUMXth century, but which is now extinct”.
In other similar tombs, these bones are decorated, but here, laments Rui Parreira, "our phalanx is not decorated". But it is important to add another page to Alcalar's prehistory.
However, the most interesting piece discovered by the archaeologists, in this intervention, was an «eyed idol». «The decorated part of the idol was , [at the site], while the undecorated one was in the XNUMXth century excavation land», which current investigators have gone through with a fine-tooth comb. The idol, a small stone cylinder decorated with large eyes, was restored in the Portimão Museum, where it can now be seen.
The new Tomb 9 will be shown to the public with all the works already completed in May, in the celebrations of the anniversary of the Portimão Museum, when another Day in Prehistory takes place here, an initiative that usually takes hundreds of visitors in its families with children, to megalithic monuments.
Photos: Elisabete Rodrigues|Sul Informação (except for the photo of the eyed idol)
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