Giant almonds or eggs: both descriptions have been applied to the rounded granite boulders grouped in circles up to 7,000 years ago to create the Almendres Cromlech near Évora in Alantejo, Portugal. The megalithic complex, known as The Portuguese Stonehenge, is at least 2,000 years older than that evocative monument on Salisbury Plain, England.
Almendres Cromlech, Évora, Alantejo Central, Portugal: lichen encrusts the surface of the rounded granite boulders standing in one of Europe’s oldest and largest prehistoric sites, a megalithic complex founded 7,000 years ago and often known as “The Portuguese Stonehenge”. In reality, the Cromeleque dos Almendres (Cromlech of the Almonds) is about 2,000 years older than England’s unique UNESCO World Heritage site on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire. The first small circle of standing stones or menhirs at Almendres, set up in the Early Stone Age, was followed about 1,000 years later by a larger elliptical grouping of stones to the west. Around 5,000 years ago, many of them were moved to better align them with the moon, sun and stars. The Cromlech, on the Almendres Estate near Évora, was discovered as recently as 1964, by amateur archaeologist Henrique Leonor de Pina (1930-2018). Since then, theories about its original purpose have focused on astronomical observation and sacred rituals. The Cromlech consisted of at least 100 granite menhirs or megaliths, most shaped like eggs or almonds, standing in circular or elliptical patterns. About 95 remain in place today. They vary considerably in size, with some more than meters ( ft) tall. Although all the stones have weathered and most are encrusted with lichen, ancient carvings including incised lines and shapes curved like snakes, croziers or shepherds’ crooks are still visible on some. On at least one megalith, round holes or dimples in its cut top, once filled with stones, were perhaps used for astronomical observation, especially of the spring equinox. A much higher megalith, the Almendres Menhir, stands isolated from the stone circles but when seen from them during the summer solstice, would have pointed to the sunrise.
Size: 4912px × 7360px
Location: Almendres Cromlech, Évora, Alentejo Central, Portugal
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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