A Shrine in the Neolithic? Orca da Lapa do Lobo, Nelas (c. 5000-3000 BC)

• Main Author: Senna-Martinez, João Carlos
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: Fundação Lapa do Lobo, UNIARQ - Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa, CEAACP - Universidade do Algarve 2019
• Subjects: Megalithism; Mondego platform; Neolithic; Symbolic Practices; Megalitismo; Plataforma do Mondego; Neolítico; Práticas simbólicas; Orca
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10451/36436

The Orca of Lapa do Lobo is already mentioned in a medieval document (1303), as defining one of the limits of the then “Canas de Senhorim” county. In 1905 Leite de Vasconcelos mentions it as a megalithic monument in the place of Lapa of Lobo, near the geodesic landmark of “Orca” and that would have been destroyed by the construction of the current EN-234 (Vasconcelos, 1905: p.313). As early as 1966, Irisalva Moita again refers to it as being lost. Similarly we could not find it during the regional surveys we conducted in the summer of 1985. It was necessary to wait until October 2013 so that a cut of vegetation on the site would reveal what appeared to be the remains of a tumulus, buried under scrub and very close to the place where, in previous editions of the CMP sheet 211, we can read the place name “Orca”. During a vegetation clean-up action on April 23, 2014, on the initiative of the County’s Council and with the presence of the regional representative of the DGPC, it was possible to confirm that it looked like a tumulus, which led to its study during four excavation campaigns in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. In this paper we present and discuss the surprising results of these campaigns, namely the existence of a stratigraphically underlying Early Neolithic habitat and the fact that more than a grave site it looks like a “Sanctuary”. Finally we address the regional implications of these findings to our understanding of the regional Neolithic ways of life. Mencionada já num documento de 1303 como definindo um dos limites dos “coutos de Canas de Senhorim”, a Orca da Lapa do Lobo volta ser referida em 1905 por Leite de Vasconcelos como tratando-se de um monumento megalítico sito no lugar da Lapa do Lobo, próximo do marco geodésico da “Orca” e que teria sido destruído pela construção da actual EN-234 (Vasconcelos, 1905: p.313). Já em 1966, Irisalva Moita volta a referir-se-lhe como perdido. Do mesmo modo não a conseguimos encontrar durante prospecções efectuadas no verão de 1985. Foi preciso esperar por Outubro ...