In mid-1997, archaeologists in the company of the Lord Mayor and Vice-President of the time, a short visit to "Alto da Escrita" resulted in one of the most sensational archaeological discoveries taken in this county.
In fact, a rare and beautiful anthropomorphic sculpture lay anonymously on a wall that goes along one cart road, with the main face up.
Despite this piece was found displaced, it is possible that originally was vertically positioned in the surroundings and can be related to an old passageway.
It is a piece of granite measuring 1.66 m length, 0.42 m in width at the upper end, 0.44 m in the waist area and 0.42 m at the base. The thickness is variable along the piece, being 0.10 m in the upper end, waist 0.18 m and 0.11 m at the base.
It features a sub-rectangular configuration, revealing extreme care in the treatment of surfaces, especially on the obverse. In fact, these were prepared by pricking, only with the exception that the base primitively would be buried. The piece has a slight chipping in the mesial area, corresponding to the right end of the belt.
The motifs were written by pecking, sometimes followed by polishing, presenting a section U.
The main motifs were carved in the obverse. At the top level we can observe a "breastplate" decoration presumably representing a concentric collar.
At the middle was carved a belt 0.12 m wide, displaying a horizontal line center with twelve circular holes.
Completing the set, it was carved a very shallow motif appearing to be a weapon. Under the belt were carved two oblique lines (one with 13 cm and other 19 cm), parallel, whose meaning escapes us.
The Statue-Menhir from Alto da Escrita may generally correspond to a transition phase of Chalcolithic small parts for larger and anthropomorphic contour, may be chronologically inserted in the transition from IIIº to the IInd millennium b.c..
Location: Tabuaço
In fact, a rare and beautiful anthropomorphic sculpture lay anonymously on a wall that goes along one cart road, with the main face up.
Despite this piece was found displaced, it is possible that originally was vertically positioned in the surroundings and can be related to an old passageway.
It is a piece of granite measuring 1.66 m length, 0.42 m in width at the upper end, 0.44 m in the waist area and 0.42 m at the base. The thickness is variable along the piece, being 0.10 m in the upper end, waist 0.18 m and 0.11 m at the base.
It features a sub-rectangular configuration, revealing extreme care in the treatment of surfaces, especially on the obverse. In fact, these were prepared by pricking, only with the exception that the base primitively would be buried. The piece has a slight chipping in the mesial area, corresponding to the right end of the belt.
The motifs were written by pecking, sometimes followed by polishing, presenting a section U.
The main motifs were carved in the obverse. At the top level we can observe a "breastplate" decoration presumably representing a concentric collar.
At the middle was carved a belt 0.12 m wide, displaying a horizontal line center with twelve circular holes.
Completing the set, it was carved a very shallow motif appearing to be a weapon. Under the belt were carved two oblique lines (one with 13 cm and other 19 cm), parallel, whose meaning escapes us.
The Statue-Menhir from Alto da Escrita may generally correspond to a transition phase of Chalcolithic small parts for larger and anthropomorphic contour, may be chronologically inserted in the transition from IIIº to the IInd millennium b.c..
Location: Tabuaço
