26 May 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

5,500-year-old Menhir discovered in Portugal

A 5,500-year-old (that is around 3500 BC) menhir has been discovered in the town of São Brás de Alportel in the District of Faro, Algarve region, in Portugal.

A menhir is a single upright prehistoric stone monument, similar to a stele, and often buffed to create a phallic shape. They are one of the first stone monuments in human history, and in Europe, they are the first to have a religious function. In practice, they symbolized fertility, whether of animals, people or land, hence their form.

Archaeologist António Faustino de Carvalho made the announcement in front of the now-named menhir of Monte do Trigo, which was the focus of excavations he oversaw for a week in August. This is the first archaeological excavation in the history of the municipality of So Brás de Alportel.

The first-ever archaeological excavation in the history of the municipality of São Brás de Alportel started on August 14, 2021, following the discovery of a possible menhir by a resident looking for trilobites (fossils) at the top of Monte do Trigo, in the Machados area.

The Regional Directorate of Culture of the Algarve joined forces with the Municipality of São Brás de Alportel and the University of the Algarve (UAlg).

As soon as professor and archaeologist António Faustino Carvalho came across the object, he said he was “immediately 95 percent certain that we were facing a menhir”, he clarified to journalists last Friday, August 18, during the presentation of the preliminary fieldwork results.

Photo: João Lázaro

Next to the stone monument, he explained that it is a menhir of particular importance for the Eastern Algarve and of interest on a regional scale. “Its shape, the raw material it is made of (limestone), and its dimensions are the same as the dozens of menhirs from the Neolithic period that we already know of in Barlavento, in Aljezur, Lagoa, Lagos, and Vila do Bispo. Outside these municipalities, we aren’t aware of any”.

But that is not the only particularity of the archaeological find: it is also the first menhir in limestone and with characteristics that attribute it to the Neolithic period (5500 years ago, that is around 3500 BC) to be discovered in the Sotavento Algarvio.

Professor  António Faustino Carvalho, “in Sotavento, in Loulé and Salir, for example, there is the menhir of Cerro das Pedras, which was discovered by Estácio da Veiga in the 19th century, in Lavajo, in Alcoutim, there is also a meniric complex, which is also open to the public.”

But “these are the only examples we have in Sotavento of structures similar to this one, but here the key word is “similar” because they are not exactly the same». The Sotaventine menhirs “are made in other rocks, have other configurations, which are more or less truncated conical, prismatic or with irregular morphologies, not with this phallic morphology,” he said.

Archaeologist António Faustino de Carvalho with mayor Vítor Guerreiro – Photo: Elisabete Rodrigues | Sul Informação

They are, moreover, from “a later period of Prehistory, from the Chalcolithic period or Copper Age, they are about 5000 years old”, that is, at least five centuries older. new than the menhir of Monte do Trigo.

The menhir of Monte do Trigo “was lucky to be partially covered with earth and, as it is bulky, it will have resisted more to human action and the action of time.”

This menhir is no longer, that is, in the original place where it would have been erected, erect to mark the territory of the people who 5500 years ago would have lived on the slope and in the valley at the foot of the mountain, in the area that is now called Machados, on the edge of the EN2.

Although today it is lying down, originally it was vertical, marking the territory, most likely on top of the hill, perhaps with other menhirs in the vicinity.

As for the future fate of the Monte do Trigo menhir, a report, and topographical study will now be redacted, and the decision on what to do with the monument will be made.

Cover Photo: Elisabete Rodrigues | Sul Informação

Related Articles

More than 1,300 prehistoric burial mounds in western Azerbaijan systematically surveyed for the first time

2 January 2025

2 January 2025

Over 1,300 archaeological sites in Azerbaijan were systematically surveyed and documented in two field campaigns in 2021 and 2023 by...

Medallion of Emperor Caracalla Minted in Pergamon Found in Roman Tombs in Bulgaria

13 February 2024

13 February 2024

One of the valuable discoveries from the Roman tombs discovered near the village of Nova Varbovka in Strazhitsa municipality in...

1st Century BCE Medusa Mask Mold Discovered in Ancient Finziade, Sicily

24 January 2025

24 January 2025

At the Finziade archaeological site in the Sicilian town of Licata, archaeologists have discovered a mask mold that could represent...

Beautiful’ Water-Nymph statue turns out to be Aphrodite

20 October 2023

20 October 2023

The statue of a nymph (water fairy) discovered last month during excavations in the Ancient City of Amastris was identified...

Archaeologists find new clues about North Carolina’s ‘Lost Colony’ from the 16th century

11 May 2024

11 May 2024

Archaeologists from The First Colony Foundation have yielded a tantalizing clue about the fate of the Lost Colony, the settlers...

Oldest Direct Evidence for Honey Collecting in Africa

18 April 2021

18 April 2021

Honey is an important food source that has been considered a very important healing source in the history of civilizations....

Sacred Seduction: Kamasutra Feminism and the Legacy of Ancient Erotic Temples

8 April 2025

8 April 2025

For many, the Kamasutra is merely a name linked to condom brands and erotic chocolates, often dismissed as just a...

Statue heads of “Aphrodite” and “Dionysus” were found in Aizanoi Ancient City in Turkey’s

30 October 2021

30 October 2021

The statue heads of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, and Dionysus, the god of wine, were unearthed in...

Celtiberian Inscription Found at La Peña del Castro: One of the Earliest Examples of Alphabetic Writing in Northern Iberia

26 February 2025

26 February 2025

La Ercina, León, Spain – Archaeological research at the La Peña del Castro site has unveiled an important discovery that...

China’s 4300-Year-Old Ancient Pyramids

26 March 2021

26 March 2021

Shaanxi Province in Northwest China is famous for its rich archaeological treasures. Among the many sites discovered in Shaanxi, the...

Archaeologists Uncover Extensive Ancient Irrigation Network in Eridu, the World’s First City

8 March 2025

8 March 2025

Recent research by a multidisciplinary team of archaeologists and geologists has revealed that the Eridu region of southern Mesopotamia, inhabited...

Shocking Images Appeared As The Waters Recede

8 February 2021

8 February 2021

As the dams recede, the remains of the flooded settlements come to light. This time Kayseri witnessed these images that...

2,000-year-old stone faces and engravings emerge amid severe drought in Amazon

24 October 2023

24 October 2023

As a result of record-low water levels brought on by the region’s worst drought in over a century, faces carved...

7.5 Million Annual Elephant Skulls Fossil Were Found in Turkey “Choerolophodon Pentelic”

17 March 2021

17 March 2021

A complete skull fossil from 7.5 million years ago was discovered on the bank of the Yamula Dam in the...

Part of The ‘Missing Link’ in Human Migration may have been Found in Kaldar Cave

3 April 2021

3 April 2021

Kaldar cave is an important archaeological site that provides evidence for the transition from the Middle and Upper Paleolithic Ages...