This isolated standing stone, The Almendres Menhir, is about 4 meters (13 ft) high. It pointed to the summer solstice sunrise when it was viewed from the megalith rings of the Almendres Cromlech about km away. The cromlech was founded some 7,000 years ago near the site of today’s city of Évora, Alentejo Central, Portugal.
Almendres Menhir, Évora, Alentejo Central, Portugal: this granite menhir, about four meters (13 feet) high and .9m (3ft) wide, stands on its own about 1,400m or nearly a mile northeast of the rest of the Early Neolithic “Portuguese Stonehenge”, the Almendres Cromlech complex of megaliths arranged in concentric circles up to 7,000 years ago. Despite the distance, the Menir dos Almendres is believed by archaeologists to have been a vital part of the overall design, as it pointed to the summer solstice sunrise when viewed from the main monument. The Cromeleque dos Almendres (Cromlech of the Almonds) was started as a small stone circle that expanded about 1,000 years later with much larger circles added to the west. In time, it became one of the biggest megalithic complexes in Europe. Like Stonehenge, the world-famous prehistoric site in England, the complex was probably built as an observatory to view the sun, moon and stars, and as a venue for sacred rituals. The rounded granite boulders in the stone circles are generally smaller than the Almendres Menhir, although some are more than ( ft) high. Despite weathering and lichen patches, some still display ancient carvings, including incised lines and symbolic shapes curved like snakes, croziers or shepherds’ crooks. About 5,000 years ago, many of the stones were moved to new sites to better align them with heavenly bodies - further evidence that the cromlech was used for rudimentary astronomy. The prehistoric complex was discovered as recently as 1964, by archaeologist Henrique Leonor de Pina (1930-2018). Excavations showed that the cromlech once had at least 100 megaliths, of which about 95 remain in place today.
Size: 4912px × 7360px
Location: Almendres Menhir, Évora, Alentejo Central, Portugal
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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