ROCK MURALS

In this Natural Monument, there are sets of rock engravings with an abstract theme called Atlantic art. It is estimated that these engravings were represented between the Neolithic (± 5000 years b.c) and the Iron Age (± 1000 years b.c).

The main characteristic of Atlantic art is schematism, a figurative style in which the basic features of each figure are represented, making the graphic elements in mere sketches, without losing the minimal features of identification.

At Fornelos beach there are 3 engraved panels. On panel 1, on the subvertical front facing south of the granite outcrop, several moving horses were recorded, almost all facing east, with some mounted and others suggesting cargo transportation. In panel 2, in the subvertical front facing east, there is a canid. Finally, on panel 3, on the subvertical front facing west, horses and riders and an anthropomorph were recorded, whose arms raised, indicates a prayer.

At the north end of the Montedor promontory, a group of granite blocks emerges, to which the name Sinadora was attributed. Here are inserted concentric circles, circular compositions, some of them with central and appendages, and what seem to be reticulated, whose symbology is difficult to interpret, with only a few theoretical premises, which essentially affect the surrounding environment - the sea, the rivers , the relief and all its interaction.


References:

Bettencourt, A. (2009). Entre os montes e as águas: ensaio sobre a percepção dos limites na pré-história da faixa costeira entre o Minho e o Lima (NW português), A.M.S. Bettencourt & L.B. Alves (eds.) Dos montes, das pedras e das águas. Braga:CITCEM/APEQ: 131-162

In this Natural Monument, there are sets of rock engravings with an abstract theme called Atlantic art. It is estimated that these engravings were represented between the Neolithic (± 5000 years b.c) and the Iron Age (± 1000 years b.c).

The main characteristic of Atlantic art is schematism, a figurative style in which the basic features of each figure are represented, making the graphic elements in mere sketches, without losing the minimal features of identification.

At Fornelos beach there are 3 engraved panels. On panel 1, on the subvertical front facing south of the granite outcrop, several moving horses were recorded, almost all facing east, with some mounted and others suggesting cargo transportation. In panel 2, in the subvertical front facing east, there is a canid. Finally, on panel 3, on the subvertical front facing west, horses and riders and an anthropomorph were recorded, whose arms raised, indicates a prayer.

At the north end of the Montedor promontory, a group of granite blocks emerges, to which the name Sinadora was attributed. Here are inserted concentric circles, circular compositions, some of them with central and appendages, and what seem to be reticulated, whose symbology is difficult to interpret, with only a few theoretical premises, which essentially affect the surrounding environment - the sea, the rivers , the relief and all its interaction.


References:

Bettencourt, A. (2009). Entre os montes e as águas: ensaio sobre a percepção dos limites na pré-história da faixa costeira entre o Minho e o Lima (NW português), A.M.S. Bettencourt & L.B. Alves (eds.) Dos montes, das pedras e das águas. Braga:CITCEM/APEQ: 131-162

Technical details

Location

Descrição Localização

Coordinates

Lat: 41.7528486

Long: -8.8793968

Legend
Theme
Point of interest

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Technical details

ROCK MURALS

According to Bettencourt (2009), it seems to be possible to relate Atlantic art and the actions that are inherent to them with the movement of river waters (from their sources to the mouth) and the seas, and with the liminal places between the waters, the land and the sky, in a worldview that would give special emphasis to the meeting of these different elements. In this context, the mouths and estuaries of the Minho and Lima rivers would have been places of symbolic significance of great collective importance because they are, simultaneously, places where the waters of the seas meet those of the rivers and the waters with the land. The entire coastal facade between the Lima and Minho rivers, would have been an equally relevant scenario in the symbolic universe of prehistoric populations.

References and scientific articles

BETTENCOURT, A.M.S. 2009. “Entre os montes e as águas: ensaio sobre a percepção dos limites na pré-história da faixa costeira entre o Minho e o Lima (NW português)”. In: A.M.S. Bettencourt & L.B. Alves (eds.) Dos montes, das pedras e das águas. Formas de interação com o espaço natural da pré-história à atualidade.

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