<< Our Photo Pages >> Grutas Artificiais de Alapraia - Rock Cut Tomb in Portugal in Lisboa
Submitted by Bak_teria on Tuesday, 09 September 2014 Page Views: 2962
Multi-periodSite Name: Grutas Artificiais de Alapraia Alternative Name: Necrópole EneolÃtica de AlapraiaCountry: Portugal
NOTE: This site is 5.752 km away from the location you searched for.
Distrito: Lisboa Type: Rock Cut Tomb
Nearest Town: Alapraia
Latitude: 38.706595N Longitude: 9.377187W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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External Links:
I have visited· I would like to visit
BrunoG would like to visit
Piotrekszw couldn't find on 19th Dec 2019 - their rating: Amb: 2 Access: 2
Ana visited on 6th Sep 2014 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 1 Access: 5
Bak_teria visited on 5th Sep 2014 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 1 Access: 5
Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 3 Ambience: 1.33 Access: 4
The Caves of Alapraia are classified as property of public interest since 1945. It is also known as the Necropolis EneolÃtica de Alapraia (Estoril) and it was discovered in the early twentieth century by Francisco Oliveira e Paula. In that time was identified only the first of the four caves. Unfortunately this one was used by locals to store cattle and firewood. Exploration in the site revealed nothing, no remains and no objects of significance. Later on conducting archaeological excavations in the area allowed to find three more caves. Afonso do Paço (1895-1968) and Eugénio Jalhay (1891-1950) were able to determine the origin of that neolithic burial space whose importance was reinforced by the sustained use over time by different civilizations over several eras.
All of them were excavated on the natural limestone of the region. The whole necropolis of Alapraia is located chronologically in the transition from 4000 BC to 3000 BC. This period can be characterized by what is called the 'Secondary Products Revolution' and features typological characteristics that allowed to insert these artificial caves into the class of the rabbit hole type. They have a round deposition chamber closed at top by large slabs of stone. At the front of the chamber of the tombs was built a big corridor that leads to the entrance hole. There are some similarities between this type of construction and the dolmens found in the Lisbon area but it was usual to bury their dead also on natural caves as in the Grutas do Poço Velho also in Cascais area. Similar constructions can be found at Necrópole de Carenque (Amadora) and at the artificial caves of Quinta do Anjo (Palmela).
In the last three caves was found a high number of funeral ceramics from different ages which leads to the continued use of the necropolis by different people of those who originally built it. Also was found a set of votive artefacts of limestone.
Today the caves are left completely abandoned in the middle of buildings and urban constructions. The place is usually used to park cars and accumulates lots of trash. To stop people from throwing garbage inside the tombs the Cascais municipality decided to fill the caves with gravel. You can only identify the place of the graves because of the plaques that identify them and of the walls that were built around the monuments. Only cave number one can be fully seen but only from a distance because the access is blocked.
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