Portal do Arqueólogo

Description
Overview
Visits
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Map

The Vidigueira dolmen is located in a flat area, next to soft elevations, inside a farmland in the vicinity of the aldeia do Freixo, on the left bank of Ribeira da Palheta, south of the Serra d'Ossa. It is integrated in a landscape with a significant presence of megalithic monuments, inserted in a cluster composed by the Quinta do Freixo dolmens (CNS - 154, 19029, 19030, 19031, 35249 and 37655). This megalithic monument is composed of a polygonal shaped chamber, about 3m in diameter, formed by seven granite orthostates, 2.2m tall, along with a cover slab, decorated with several dozens of cups and a medium sized elongated corridor, rectangular in shape and 4m long, with four preserved orthostates on the north side and one on the south side. Traces of the mamoa can be found outside, formed by black, clay compressed soil and by a small cairn, composed of a set of stones of different sizes. Inside the chamber and from the corridor, a scarce but diversified artefactual set was identified, consisting of flint blades, a trapezium, four arrowheads in distinct raw materials (flint, quartz, siliceous shale), three small disc-like schist beads, an intact ceramic container (hemispherical vase with no decoration) and various fragments of ceramic containers (edge thickened plates), as well as a fragment of a plate-like loom element. The presence of these artefacts, typical of housing contexts, on the inside and/or in the outside of megalithic monuments may be connected with symbolic gestures (domestic votive deposits) intended to bring closer the spaces of the living and the dead. The architectural features of this monument and the materials collected inside allow to chronologically frame its construction and use at end of the 4th and beginning of the 3rd millennium BC (3500 - 2500 BC), eventually, being associated with the small habitation facilities scattered throughout the current Freixo farmland (Quinta do Freixo).

Overview

This monument is integrated in the "Percurso das Antas - Eco Museu de Redondo".

Visit conditions

Free entrance

Timetables

Contacts

Telefone: (+351) 266989210
Email: geral@cm-redondo.pt

Documents

Route Leaflet

Map

Street View

How to get there?

Good practices when visiting archaeological sites

To visit an archaeological site is to connect with our origins, to understand our path and evolution as a species integrated in the environment, and to respect and safeguard our heritage so that future generations can also visit and enjoy it.

Walking the paths and enjoying the structures and archaeological pieces that survived over time, fosters the understanding of what is different, but also of what is common among different populations: basically, what identifies us as Homo Sapiens.

More than just vestiges and ruins of the past, archaeological sites showcase our capacity for creative thought, adaptation, interconnection, comprehension and resilience. Without these traits we would not have been successful as cultural beings participating in an ongoing evolutionary process. These sites also allow to consider choices made in the past thus contributing for decisions in the present to be made with greater awareness and knowledge.

Archaeological sites are unique and irreplaceable. These sites are fragile resources vulnerable to changes driven by human development. The information they keep, if destroyed, can never be recovered again.

As such, the Directorate-General for Cultural Heritage (DGPC) invites all visitors to enjoy the beauty and authenticity of these sites, while helping to preserve them for future generations by adopting the following set of good practices:

Respect all signs;
Do not try to access fenced areas;
Do not climb, sit or walk on archaeological structures and remains;
Respect areas where archaeological excavations are being carried out, not disturbing them;
Do not collect materials or sediments;
Do not write or make graffiti on archaeological structures;
Put the garbage in appropriate containers. If none exist, take the garbage with you until you find a suitable container;
Leave the archaeological site as you found it;
Do not drive bicycles or motor vehicles over archaeological sites;
Respect and protect the plants and animals that live in the areas surrounding archaeological sites;
Report signs of vandalism or destruction to DGPC or Regional Directorates of Culture (DRC);
Share the visiting experience and the archaeological sites, as a way of raising awareness to their preservation and making them better known;
Do not buy archaeological materials and report to public security authorities, DGPC or DRC, if you suspect that archaeological materials may be for sale.

Further information:

AIA / ATTA (2013) – Guide to best practices for archaeological tourism.

Raposo, J. (2016) – Código de conduta para uma visita responsável a sítios arqueológicos. In Sítios arqueológicos portugueses revisitados: 500 arqueossítios ou conjuntos em condições de fruição pública responsável. Al-madan, 2ª série, p. 20 – 77.

DGPC contacts

Phone: +351213614200 | Email: informacaoarqueologica@dgpc.pt