Dólmenes

A Coruña · Lugo · Ourense · Pontevedra

A Coruña

Pedra Moura de Aldemunde

It is located in the municipality of Carballo (A Coruña). It is quite big, has no barrow and its dimensions are 2.40 high and 3.20 m wide. The orthostats have been removed and at present only two of them are in their original position being supported the capstone on two of them. The bigger one is 2.30 m high.

Pedra da Arca

It is one of the more impressive dolmens in Galicia and it is located in the municipality of Malpica (A Coruña). It is worth noting the thickness of its capstone. It has fallen and rests on the chamber; in its centre a signal can be seen showing the hole where a bore was put in order to divide the stone. An old legend makes responsible to "a moura" of its construction. "The moura" was carrying on her head the stones while spinning and at the same time she was suckling a boy.

Dombate

This dolmen is located in the municipality of Cabana de Bergantiños (A Coruña) and it is the best known dolmen in Galicia, not only because of its form and of the findings appeared during its excavation, but also because it was immortalized by Eduardo Pondal, a Galician fine poet and one of the greatest figures of "The Rexurdimento" (The Rebirth) of the Galician culture, that ended a poem with these unforgettable verses.

"Now, that my early life has gone for ever

now, that only melancholy lives inside me

that is hard to me to finish my earthly journey

when my head has become white because of my age

I can yet remember the dolmen of Dombate"

It is a perfect example of a passage tomb. The polygonal chamber preserves its cover, is 4.20 m high and 2.90 m wide and it is formed by seven orthostatic slabs, being the headstone 3 m wide and 4.64 high. Its long passage has three sections and is 4.10 m long. It increases progressively from 95 cm to 1.40 m as we approach the chamber. At the same time it also increases its height from 95 cm to 1.50 m.

It has been rigorously excavated by the leading archaeologist José María Bello, who is at present the Director of the Archaeological Museum of A Coruña, in the years l987 and l989. During the excavation important findings took place, being the most outstanding:

The existence of a previous dolmen, a portal tomb, observed in its archaeological trace. That constitutes the first well-known case in Galicia in which a dolmen is built in the place where already existed one.

The appearance of pictorial decoration in the orthostats, both in the chamber and in the passage.

The find of a row of idols, a group of twenty, located in the passage and in the barrow limit.

An remarkable quantity of grave goods and pottery.

The dolmen was used at different times and the studies carried out evidence an use from the year 3.900 B.C . up to the year 2.700 B.C., when the monument was finally closed. We know this because it was usual to light a bonfire when a dolmen was closed definitively and this fact let us know the dates of the closing with the help of radiocarbon 14.

The Dolmen de Dombate belongs to the Provincial Government of A Coruña.

Pedra Vixía

This megalithic monument is located in the municipality of Zas (A Coruña), and it is deeply altered since the nine orthostats that conform it were moved away from their original position. It looks like that the reason was because of a resident that in the 1950s carried all the stones he could to make the foundations of his house. It keeps two fragments of the stone cover.

Arca da Piosa

It is also located in the municipality of Zas (A Coruña). It is inside a great forest exploitation of eucalyptuses, where a lot of trails are continuously opened making it difficult to know its exact location. It conserves four of the five orthostats of its polygonal chamber, and two in the passage, that is more than a meter long. The two stone covers are outstanding, the one of the passage is in an inferior level in relation to that of the chamber. The barrow is quite big and it is visible from the distance (as long as the eucalyptuses that colonize the place do not become too big). The poet Eduardo Pondal located inside it the tomb of the mythical Celtic warrior Brandomil:

"Old Arca da Piosa

under your cover

is the brave Brandomil"

Mina da Parxubeira

It is located in the municipality of Mazaricos (A Coruña) and it is also known as Dolmen of Corveira. It belongs to a cemetery consisting of four barrows. The monument preserves the orthostats of its north side, the remains of a short passage, including a cover stone and part of the barrow. It was carefully excavated by Antón Rodríguez Casal, professor of prehistory in the University of Santiago de Compostela, between l977 and 1984, with great success because he discovered in the barrow limit four anthropomorphic stele and some betilos (small boulders that have been interpreted as idols) and very valuable grave-goods integrated by fragments of bell shaped pottery, laminae of silex, an arrowhead, a chip ax and a gouge.

Casa dos Mouros

It is a great passage dolmen located in the limit of the municipalities of Vimianzo and Dumbría (A Coruña), although we think that it belongs to the first of them. Its denomination also moves to confusion because in several publications is named as Pedra da Arca or even Dolmen of Regoelle. It reaches a total length of 7.50 m, of which 3.80 m belong to the chamber and the remainder to the passage. Its polygonal chamber preserves six orthostats, only lacking the head stone. For that reason at first sight it seems that the entrance is on this side. However it is linked through a passage of two sections, partly covered by the barrow. In the passage the two huge capstones are conserved, the same as it happens with the cover stone of the chamber, that probably is the biggest stone preserved in any Galician dolmen. In the second orthostat of the chamber from right to left it is possible to observe the rest of an engraving similar to the one observed in Dombate, as well as waved lines and two spots in red. A good position to see the grandiosity of this monument is to stand in front of the passage to observe how it is clearly differentiated in its height in relation to the megalithic chamber.

Pedra Cuberta

It is located in the municipality of Vimianzo (A Coruña) and is near the village of Arxomil. It is a monument of great historical importance, since in l934 the German Georg Leisner presented a surprising finding: the pictorial decoration of this funeral monument, a fact fairly new at that moment in Europe. The little remains of these paintings are explained in the section dedicated to the megalithic pictorial art.

At present, it is possible to see a dolmen with a polygonal chamber and a passage with a total length of 6.60 m. It only keeps a slab in the passage cover and some remains of the barrow. It is threatened by the roots of the great eucalyptuses and pines that surround it.

Casota de Berdoias

It is located in the municipality of Vimianzo (A Coruña) and it is also known as Caseta dos Mouros or Dolmen of Freáns. It is the best preserved example in Galicia of a stone cist, a typology that appears in the last phase of the Galician megalithic art. It has a rectangular ground plan with a length of 2.70 m and is constructed using local granite. In the inner surface of the three orthostats that support the beautiful cover stone can be seen engravings with cross shape motifs and cup marks, of uncertain chronology.

 

Pedra Moura de Monte Carneo

It is located in Vimianzo (A Coruña). It belongs to the type of polygonal dolmens with short passage. Its total length reaches four meters and it has been removed as only one of the stones that cover the monument seems to be in its original position.

Cabaleiros

It is located in the municipality of Tordoia (A Coruña). Its has a polygonal chamber, formed by six orthostats that support a stone cover 4.5 m long. As it has never been excavated it keeps the passage that is hidden under the barrow. This one is partially conserved and surrounds the dolmen. It is a property of the Government of the province. People know it as Casa da Moura, as a legend tells of its construction by one of those mythical beings, that brought the cover stone on her head from very far away, while knitting a dress with her hands.

Cova da Moura

It is located in the municipality of Noia (A Coruña) and it is also known as Dolmen of Argalo. It keeps remains of the barrow in its back and the polygonal chamber is formed by seven orthostats. It is 3.10 m long and 2.90 m wide and its entrance face sunrise as do the majority of dolmens. The biggest of the orthostats, the headstone is 2.40 m high and 1.75 m wide. The cover stone is supposed to have measured 3,40 m long and 3.70 m wide and it was circular in shape but unfortunately it disappeared at the beginning of the XX Century. The monument was repeatedly violated in search of treasures and it was rigorously excavated by C. García Martínez in l980. During the excavation a kerb around the barrow , a flint knife, several arrowheads, two axes, an idol and rests of pottery were found.

Axeitos

It is undoubtedly the most beautiful of the Galician dolmens. It is located in the parish of Oleiros in the municipality of Ribeira (A Coruña) and it is a property of the Provincial Government. People know it as Pedra do Mouro and it is in good condition. It has a polygonal chamber, formed by seven orthostats, perfectly overlapped and a stone cover, oval in shape, that is only supported in three points. The capstone is narrower and lower towards the south and is 4.50 m long and a maximum thickness of 60 cm . The chamber is 2.40 m long from the entrance to the end and 3.20 m from side to side. It keeps two upright stones in the passage which faces the eastern half of the horizon.

Forno dos Mouros (Serra Faladoira)

It is located in the municipality limits of Ortigueira and Mañon. It was studied in the 1940s by the archaeologist Federico Maciñeira, who is the author of a titanic work that also embraces other areas like As Pontes and the Capelada Sierra. This dolmen was built with local quartz and conserves in its chamber seven orthostats and two more in its passage. Its dimensions vary from 3.20 to 3 m. It is situated close to the Royal Trail that linked As Pontes with the port of Bares and in which Mr. Maciñeira described 87 barrows (this one being the number 32). In the 1980s this trail was again travelled by leading specialists as José María Bello, Felipe Criado and Vázquez Varela, who have published splendid works about the Galician megalithic monuments and that confirmed the findings made by Sr. Maciñeira.

Casota do Páramo

It is located in the municipality of Boiro (A Coruña), in an area known as Chans de Iroite situated in the centre of the Barbanza peninsula. It is one of de Galician areas where more barrows are found and several specialists have published works about this area, as X. Agrafoxo or Felipe Criado.

It is a passage dolmen with a polygonal chamber formed by seven orthostats and a capstone that is almost cut by its middle. It is 3.40 m long and 3.50 m wide. In the passage are only conserved the cover and an orthostat. The barrow was partially destroyed.

Arca do Barbanza

It belongs to the municipality of Boiro (A Coruña). It is also located in the Chans de Iroite. It is the biggest dolmen in the Barbanza Peninsula, with a total length of 6,60 m, three of them corresponding to the passage. The polygonal chamber preserves all the stones, 6, except the headstone. The capstone is slightly moved and has an estimated weight of about seven tons. The passage has two sections and is triangular in shape and keeps four orthostats and two capstones. In the barrow, remains of its protection are conserved.

Casarota do Fusiño

It is the third dolmen in importance of those conserved in the Chans de Iroite, in the municipality of Boiro (A Coruña). It keeps seven orthostats in the rounded polygonal chamber. The cover slab is supported where the passage begins. In the passage it is possible to distinguish two orthostats and the cover.

Pena do Raposo

It is situated in the A Coruña region of Terra de Melide and it is classic among the Galician megalithic constructions, since it was excavated in the 1920s and was aforementioned by Otero Pedrayo in his History of Galicia. It is formed by a polygonal chamber (that is supposed to have measured 3.50 m long and 2 m wide in its origin) and a short passage. At present it is deeply altered, it has no cover stone and the barrow can not be distinguished because of the great pine trees that surround the dolmen. In the work of Cuevillas and Bouza Brey: "The neo-eneolithic Galician civilisation", published in l931, it was included a photo that testimonies the damage suffered by the monument from then onward.

Forno dos Mouros (A Moruxosa)

It is an important dolmen and it is located in the Municipality of Toques (A Coruña). It was excavated by Jacobo Vaquero, in three consecutives campaigns, inside a broader project directed by Felipe Criado. It is located next to the Royal Trail that goes through the Bocelo Sierra. It has a polygonal chamber formed by seven orthostats and a middle size capstone. Its structure is at present reinforced by two iron beams. The passage, with two sections, is partly covered by a wood structure. In its interior pictorial remains in red and black on a base of white colour and forming zig zags have been found.

Serramo

It is located in the municipality of Vimianzo ( A Coruña). It is also known as Pedra da Lebre. It has a polygonal plan formed by five orthostats, one of which supporting the cover stone. It has a short passage. The most outstanding in this megalithic monument are the great dimensions of the stones and their thickness, that in sometimes reach 70 cm.

Fornela dos Mouros

It is located in the place of Aplazadoiro, in the municipality of Laxe (A Coruña). It is a beautiful example of stone cist, that are a feature in the Galician final phase of megalithic constructions. The cover stone is supported by three upright stones forming three sides of a rectangle. It is 1,35 m high.

Pedra da Xesta

It is a small stone cist formed by six orthostats. It is 2 m long, 90 cm wide and 90 cm thick. The barrow although partially destroyed keeps some remains of the stone armor and of the kerb. It is located in the Chans de Iroite, in the municipality of Boiro (A Coruña)

Os Campiños

It is a necrópolis formed by six barrows, and it is located in the municipality of Rianxo (A Coruña). The barrow nº 6 preserves inside a dolmen formed by seven orthostats, four of them in their original position. It was excavated in the year l.984, by Fábregas and De la Fuente, who also took care of its reconstruction. The orthostats which are not originals are marked with a white point.

Aiazo

It is a great dolmen located in the municipality of Frades (A Coruña). It was known with the name of Peneda de Guntín. In l995 it was destroyed because of agricultural improvements in the area. Nowadays, six great orthostats are lying on the ground next to a trail, one of them is 4,65 m high.

A Cavada

It has a small chamber and it is located in the Chans de Iroite, in the municipality of Boiro (A Coruña), in a area of great megalithic density. The chamber is partially hidden because of the barrow and preserves eight orthostats that make up a rounded polygonal plan.

Recesinde

It is a dolmen hard to see and with remarkable dimensions, hidden in an enormous barrow partly destroyed. It conserves six orthostats of its polygonal chamber. It is located in the parish of Carantoña, that belongs to the municipality of Vimianzo (A Coruña).

Lugo

Roza das Modias

It is part of a megalithic cemetery made up of six barrows. This one is 12 m in diameter and 1.50 m high. It hides a polygonal chamber, with no cover stone, formed by eight orthostats clearly sloping towards the interior.

Four of them, being the bigger one 1.95 m high, 0.70 m wide and 20 cm thick, have very visible engravings showing parallel wavy lines upwards the stones.

It is located in Galde hill, parish of San Xoán de Alba, in the municipality of Vilalba (Lugo).

Santa Mariña

It is an exceptional necropolis formed by about thirty barrows located on the hill that shares the same name, in the limit between the municipalities of O Incio and Sarriá. On arriving to the high plateau where it is located, it is easy to understand the significance of the group of barrows. Some of them preserve remains of their megalithic chambers, being the best one a passage grave, that is 5.60 m long and 2.80 in diameter and although its chamber does not exist, it preserves nine orthostats. It was excavated under the direction of professor Rodríguez Casal of the University of Santiago de Compostela.

Mollafariña

This dolmen is located in the municipality of Xermade (Lugo) and it is formed by ten quartz orthostats that enclose a polygonal chamber. It is in ruinous state since it has been removed because of agricultural development carried out in the pasture where it is located, works that have also destroyed the barrow.

Chao de Mazós

This megalithic monument, is located in the municipality of Begonte (Lugo) and it is encircled by its barrow. It keeps seven small orthostats, the biggest one being the headstone that is 1.10 high and 0.80 m wide.

Santo Tomé

This dolmen is located near the Horse Festival enclosure (where the famous "Rapa das Bestas" Festival is celebrated), in the municipality of O Valadouro (Lugo). It is half buried in its barrow and it consists of four orthostats and the capstone. It is 1.50 m high.

Pedra da Arca (A Pontenova)

This dolmen is located in the municipality of A Pontenova (Lugo) and only one orthostat that is l.90 high, 1.20 wide and 12 cm thick is conserved.

Hospital

This dolmen is located in the municipality of A Fonsagrada (Lugo), next to what used to be the pilgrim's hospital of Montouto and that explains its name. It preserves four big orthostats, the biggest one being 1.30 m wide, l.90 high and 40 cm thick. It has no barrow.

Abuime

It is located in the municipality of O Saviñao (Lugo). The dolmen consists of five orthostats forming a polygonal chamber that is about 2 m high. It is said that at the beginning of the XX century the cover stone was retired to make a manger for pigs.

Moruxosa

This is a dolmen beautiful in shape that is located in the municipality of Friol (Lugo). It is formed by six orthostats, three of them supporting the cover stone. The polygonal megalithic chamber is 1.70 m high, l.50 m wide. It keeps remains of the barrow structure.

Bravos

It is a small dolmen partly hidden because of the barrow that covers it. It has seven orthostats that surround a polygonal space. It preserves remains of the passage. It is located in the municipality of Outeiro de Rei (Lugo).

Capela dos Mouros

It is located in the municipality of Vilalba (Lugo). It forms part of a group consisting of two barrows. It was studied in the 1950s by Georg and Vera Leisner. It keeps four great orthostats in the chamber and two more in the passage, being these last ones both split.

Ourense

Casiña da Moura

It is a passage dolmen located close to the Salas reservoir, in the municipality of Salas (Ourense). The construction of the dam forced to move it and that is the reason why the two orthostats that were preserved in its small passage are now in the interior of the dolmen. It was excavated in l927 by López Cuevillas and in l972 by Ferro Couselo. The polygonal chamber is composed of seven orthostats supporting a big capstone that is 2.85 m long and 2.60 m wide.

Casola do Foxo

It is in the prehistoric cemetery of Maus de Salas, in the Ourense municipality of Muiños. It is located in the south side of the Salas dam, very close to the dolmen of Casiña da Moura. In contrast to this one, it is not clear that it had been moved because the mound remains look like as if they were original. It is a dolmen with a simple polygonal chamber formed by seven orthostats. The chamber is 2.40 m long, 2.60 m wide and 1.20 m high. The maximun thickness of the capstone is 60 cm and during the excavation of the monument several bell shaped pottery remains were found.

Outeiro de Caladre

It is a necropolis consisting of fourteen barrows that are located in Maus de Salas, in the municipality of Muíños (Ourense). The two ones marked with the abbreviations M-1 and M-5, were excavated by an archaeological team directed by José María Eguileta, professor of prehistory of the University of Vigo, between the years l990 and l994.

- The barrow M-1 had in its interior a passage grave, not clearly differentiated, formed by nine orthostats. It also preserves a capstone in the passage. Grave-goods with abundant pottery fragments and several arrowheads were found inside it.

- The barrow M-5 sheltered a chamber irregular in shape, a cist, formed by six orthostatic slabs. The funeral grave-goods found inside consisted of pottery remains in good condition what made possible to reconstruct some recipients and there was also arrowheads and microliths.

Casa da Moura

It is one of the most spectacular dolmens in Galicia, because of its dimensions and good condition. It has a polygonal chamber consisting of six orthostats, one of them not in its original position, that support a huge capstone. The one section passage preserves its cover and it is in an inferior level in relation to the chamber. The dolmen is 4 m long and more than 2 m high. it is located in Queguas, a place belonging to the municipality of Entrimo (Ourense).

San Cibrao

It is a prehistoric cemetery belonging to the parish of Pardavedra in the municipality of A Bola (Ourense). In the necropolis stand out two chambers that are in good condition.

-The one marked with the nº 1 shelters a rounded polygonal chamber formed by eight orthostats. The chamber is 2,10 m long and 2,40 m wide. It preserves a one section passage 1,40 m long.

-The one marked with the nº 2 preserves part of the barrow that shelters a polygonal chamber formed by eight orthostats. The chamber is 2 m long and 2.50 m wide.

Mota Grande

It is a huge barrow located in Verea (Ourense) and it hides a megalithic chamber formed by five orthotats strongly sloping inwards because of the clandestine violations happened during the 1980s. It was excavated in l990 and l994 what let to discover pictorial remains in two of the orthostats and a very original engraving on one of them. It is part of a great necropolis located in the Leboreiro Mountains, consisting of 130 barrows (30 of them in Spain) and at present the entrance gap is filled with drystone walling as both administrations: the Spanish and Portuguese governments have not reached and agreement over a joint project to excavate it. The photo of the monument that is in the Ourense page was downloaded from the next web: www.leboreiro.com

Pontevedra

Mámoa do Rei (Vilaboa)

It is located in the municipality of Vilaboa (Pontevedra). The dolmen is in ruinous state and is under a barrow 3 m high, 30 m long and 20 m wide. It preserves four orthostats in the passage, one in the north face and three in the south face. In one of these facing the south, the one giving access to the chamber, it can be observed several engravings with zigzags lines under a cruciform-shaped sign. It is possible that the monument once has had a chamber but is has completely collapsed. All the cover stones have disappeared except one that is situated on the north side of the barrow. The orthostats that are yet standing up are overlapped and are sloping inwards.

Chan de Castiñeiras

It belongs to the municipality of Marín (Pontevedra). It is situated very close to the Mámoa do rei, also located in Marín. The megalithic chamber, deeply altered, consists of ten orthostats. Two of them have an abundant decoration formed by horizontal lines engraved on their surface. A road has destroyed part of the barrow.

Chan de Armada

   It belongs to the municipality of Marín (Pontevedra) although almost in the limit of the one of Vilaboa. It preserves a polygonal chamber with a passage narrower and lower towards the entrance where it is only 50 cm wide. Between the orthostats of the chamber can be seen several stone wedges that prevent the increasing of the pressure of the standing stones towards the interior. At present a stone cover can be observed but it is difficult to say if it is the original one.

Chan de Arquiña

It is located in the municipality of Moaña (Pontevedra). The dolmen, that has a polygonal chamber and a passage facing the east, preserves part of the barrow. It was excavated under the direction of Ramón Sobrino Lorenzo-Ruza, that restored it in l953 in order to show it to the attendants to the III Archaeological Congress. It has eleven orthostats in the chamber and five in the passage and the stone cover is broken, showing signs of an attempt to destroy it. The monument is 5.20 m long, 3.45 m wide and 2.20 m high.

Meixoeiro

It is located in the municipality of Mos (Pontevedra). It is alson know as Dolmen of San Cosme or As Minas, and in the inventory published by Filgueira Valverde and García Alén in the year l.977, it was considered as disappeared. At present, it is situated in the Círculo Mercantil of Vigo, what is an evidence that it has been moved. It is a dolmen with a short passage facing the east and it preserves five orthostats in the chamber and a great capstone. It is in very good condition.

Casa dos Mouros

It is also known with the name of Dolmen de Candeán, as it belongs to this parish situated in the municipality of Vigo. This monument has a polygonal chamber formed by five orthostats and the stone cover is supported on two of them. The chamber is 3 m long, 2 m wide and about 2 m high. Part of the barrow can be seen from very far away.

Mámoa do Rei

It belongs to the municipality of Redondela (Pontevedra) and it is located in the parish of Trasmaño. That's why it is also known with this last name. It is part of the megalithic cemetery of Mount Penide, formed by 39 barrows. Local people calls this necropolis "Cortellos dos Mouros". The polygonal chamber faces the eastern half of the horizon and preserves six orthostats. The capstone is fallen in its centre. The mound is 15 m in diameter and it is about 2.5 m high.

A Madroa

The two barrows grouped under this name belong to the municipality of Vigo and both are very close each other.

    - The one marked with the number one was secretly excavated by people unconcerned about their ancestors history. This excavation made appear the megalithic chamber, polygonal in shape, formed by five orthostats. Towards the east can be seen two other stones that could form a small passage.

    - The one marked with the number two, was also clandestinely violated. It hides a polygonal chamber formed by seven small orthostats. It preserves the capstone in the passage, supported on two orthostats.

Costa da Freiría

It belongs to the municipality of Vigo. The megalithic chamber is polygonal in shape and it is half buried in the barrow that surrounds it. It consists of eight orthostats and it conserves remains of the passage, which faces the southeast. It was excavated in the 1930s.

Marco do Camballón

This megalithic cemetery is located in Oirós, a parish of the municipality of Vila de Cruces (Pontevedra). Among the fifteen barrows that have been found, the most interesting one is the barrow catalogued with the number five, that we are examining in this study about the Galician megaliths. It contains a dolmen with a rounded polygonal chamber, formed by seven orthostats, what is a protoexample of the simple forms appeared at the initial stages of the Galician megalithic monuments. In one of the orthostats were observed several engravings: serpents and a solar motif. During the excavation appeared pottery remains, both smooth and bell shaped and a drilled disk.

Mámoa da Cruz

It is located in the parish of Parada de Alperiz in the municipality of Lalín (Pontevedra). It is part of a necropolis formed by six barrows. Not too much can be seen of this monument, as only one of the orthostats has a noticeable height, because the others are broken. The reason why it is included in the papers about Galician megalithic art is because of the engravings yet conserved with serpent motifs.

Casiña da Moura

It is located in the Municipality of Meis (Pontevedra). It belongs to the megalithic group known as Fonte do Lagarto. Six orthostats are conserved in the polygonal chamber and another one in the passage which faces the east. The stones were quarried in the vicinity. It is in ruinous state.

Couto dos Mouros

It is located in Alemparte, in the municipality of Rodeiro (Pontevedra). It is a very spectacular dolmen, not yet excavated and it is partially hidden by the barrow. When going in its interior one can observe that its polygonal chamber is composed of eight orthostats, one of them fallen and the headstone is strongly sloping inwards. In this last upright slab can be seen pictorial remains in red, forming zigzags. It preserves a one section passage covered by two big capstones. The dolmen has a sloping capstone above the chamber. It is worth noting the numerous small stones that help to fix each orthostat. We are grateful to the archaeologist Sr. José María Bello for the information that let us to locate it.