Signs out of Time: The Cromeleque dos Almendres
A inquiry into one of the oldest megalithic structures in Europe
Archeoastronomy and Embedded Cosmologies
yours is the light by which my spirit’s born:
yours is the darkness of my soul’s return
–you are my sun, my moon, and all my stars
e. e. cummings
Glance at the Sun.
See the Moon and the stars.
Gaze at the beauty of the green. Now think.
Hildegard Von Bingen
It’s a hot summer day in the Portuguese region of the Alentejo, and geologist Henrique Leonor Pina is interviewing a local forest guard as part of the geological survey he is conducting on behalf of the government. “You are looking for big stones? Says the guard — You should check the alto das talhas, the hill of the wine barrels.” Intrigued by this peculiar name, Pina makes his way through a cork-oak forest on top of a hill, when he suddenly finds himself surrounded by big egg-shaped stones: 30… 50… 100? They cover a large portion of the slope and, most definitely, are not a naturally occurring geological phenomenon, but a man-made monument. It is 1964 and Pina has just stumbled into the biggest megalithic enclosure of the Iberian Peninsula, and, possibly, one of Europe’s oldest surviving monuments: the Cromeleque dos Almendres (pic. 1).
In this essay, I will review the history of this stunning monument, the current theories surrounding its possible dating and purposes, its astronomical alignments, and the kind of worldview it can reveal about our Neolithic ancestors.
The site takes its name from cromlech: “stone circle,” in Brittonic (the language of ancient Brittany, commonly used to refer to megalithic monuments because of their abundant presence in that region), and almendres, which refers to amendoas, Portuguese for “almonds”, due to the shape of the stones. The monument is located 13 km South of Evora, in the Portuguese region of Alentejo, an area exceptionally rich in megalithic sites (pic. 2).
The impressive 93 menhirs (“single standing stones” in Brittonic) are placed on a gentle slope facing East, allowing a magnificent view of the valley and of the Serra da Ossa, the mountain range on the distant horizon. The stones are of different sizes and shapes, mostly coming from the nearby quarry of Murteiras (Calado, p. 249). They are irregularly grouped along a somewhat elliptical shape of roughly 60 x 30 mt, whose longer side is oriented on an East-West axis, with the bigger stones placed on the Western or higher side of the slope (pic 3).
In Central Alentejo there exist at least another six megalithic enclosures (Calado, p. 247) sharing similar characteristics with Almendres: circular or semicircular shape, placed on an East-facing slope and with similar engravings, giving out a sort of “family feeling” as they probably shared a similar socio-cultural identity (Alvim, p. 31) (pic 4).
How Old is very Old?
At the time of the discovery, Portugal was in the stronghold of a dictatorship which was successfully overthrown only in 1975, and it was only in the 1980s and 1990s that archeologists, led by Mario Varela Gomes, could conduct the first excavations to restore the monument. The digging of the sockets revealed a few pieces of decorated pottery, a hatchet, and a fragment of a millstone (pic 5), which were used as filling material to keep the stones erect (Gomes, p. 27). Some of the original locations of the fallen stones could thus be identified and the stones re-erected (pic. 6). Gomes found out that the owner of the property had also previously re-erected some of the stones, without following any archeological method. Strikingly, to this day, it is still not clear which stones were re-erected in this way (Alvim, p. 39).
In the 1990s, another series of archeological surveys and excavations in the nearby area brought to light more megalithic monuments and identified two settlements close to Almendres. The finding of a few shards of decorated pottery compatible with the early Neolithic period led to dating the site to the 5th or 4th millennia BC, predating Stonehenge by two millennia (Alvim, p. 28). However, due to the scarcity of evidence, this chronology is still controversial (Calado, p. 244).
Lost in a Labyrinth: the Position of the Stones
Compared to other European megalithic sites, Almendres is unique for the irregularity of the positioning, shape, and size of the menhirs, providing the perfect conditions for the flourishing of multiple interpretations of their meaning and purpose.
Gomes is credited for advancing a very popular theory on the placement of the stones, arguing for a building chronology divided in three phases (pic. 7). According to him, the first phase, dating to the early Neolithic, consists of three concentric circles of small menhirs, located in the lower part of the slope. During the second phase, a few hundred years later, two bigger ellipses were added, probably as the result of improved socio-economic conditions, which could have led to a higher number of people living in the region. During the third phase, dating to the late Neolithic, Gomes argues that both structures were reformed, the engravings were added (see the next section) and the older, smaller circles were reserved for ceremonial leaders (Gomes, p. 28).
However, this is another controversial theory because of the lack of evidence and Gomes, over the years, has lively debated it with Pedro Alvim, another Portuguese archeologist involved in the study of the cromlech. Alvim has claimed that since no object dating to the late Neolithic was ever found within the enclosure, the use of the monument during this period is very dubious (Alvim, p. 38). The two archeologists disagree also on the original number and placement of the menhirs, on the reasons why the top or bottom part of the enclosure should be regarded as older or younger, and, generally, demonstrating the need for more funding and more research, together with the use of more technologically advanced methods available today.
Message in a Bottle: the Carvings on the Stones
The mysteries surrounding Almendres are still many, but the carvings on some of its stones could add a few pieces to the puzzle, allowing us to get a clearer grasp on the worldview that gave birth to this monument.
Menhir 57: Crusiers or shepherd’s crooks (báculos, in Portuguese) (pic. 8). These hook-shaped symbols represent the tool used by shepherds to hook their sheep or goats, shedding light on the agro-pastoralist way of life of the builders of the monument. They were often made of wood, but some beautifully decorated examples made of schist stone and dating to the late Neolithic (3000 BC) were found in nearby burials (Dolmen da Lobeira de Baixo, Dolmen da Herdade das Antas) (pic. 9). Menhir 57 presents many of them, maybe as a symbol of a newly acquired power to domesticate animals, one of the main innovations of the Neolithic (Alvim, p. 30). It is notable that in the Alentejo, some 7000 years later, this way of life is still proudly kept alive (pic. 9b).
Menhir 8: Cup markings (pic. 10). This stone, placed in the middle of the upper (Western) part of the enclosure, has received significant attention because of its uniqueness. Its top is cropped and presents a series of “cups” of different sizes, giving rise to a number of possible interpretations (see the following sections on astronomical alignments).
Menhir 64: Circles (pic. 11). This stone presents three big circles with some sort of “handles” or “rackets”, maybe representing “solar disks” (Gomes, p.30).
Menhir 48: Anthropomorphic elements (pic. 12). This stone presents a series of shapes that could resemble a face: two circles as the eyes, a crescent shape as a mouth, and a rectangle as the nose, maybe indicative of a proto-statuary phase (Gomes, 30).
Menhir 58: Owl-like figure with three eyes, also interpreted as three solar disks with rays (pic. 13). In case we opt for the owl-like figure, this is an image found on many other ritual artifacts dating to the late Neolithic and generally interpreted as a goddess-like figure, associated with the Mediterranean Great Mother (Gomes, p. 31) (pic. 14).
Like “messages in a bottle” reaching us from a distant past, these symbols add some information on the kind of culture that built and used Almendres, but, at the same time, they also deepen the mystery surrounding it. Do these solar and lunar symbols confirm some sort of astronomical meaning? Are there any alignments in Almendres?
The Megalithic Equinox and the Cult of Fertility
In the 60s and 70s, following the birth of archeoastronomy in Great Britain, Portuguese archeologists (and their British colleagues, who flocked to the region attracted by the new discoveries) started to look for astronomical alignments in the Alentejan region. Soon, it appeared that the horse-shoe-shaped enclosures and Dolmen corridors (megalithic burial sites, locally known as Antas) presented a remarkably consistent alignment towards due East (see the statistical analysis in Pimenta and Tirapicos). The consistency in orientation led archeologists to speak of an “Equinox Cult”, particularly centered around the rise of the Spring Full Moon, the first after the Equinox, which came to be known as “Neolithic Equinox” (Da Silva, p. 6–9) (pic. 15).
As a matter of fact, in Southern latitudes, equinoxes are more important than solstices, for they determine the change of seasons by separating the year into two periods with opposite characteristics: summer and winter, heat and cold, light and darkness, fertility and barrenness, etc. As a testimony of the importance of the Spring Moon, it has been noted that many early agricultural civilizations used this moon to mark the beginning of the agricultural year, the rebirth of plant life, and the opening of the mating season (Oliveira and Da Silva, p. 89). The importance of the Spring Moon has been maintained also in the Christian calendar, where it is used to calculate the date of Easter.
This never-ending alternation between opposites was seen as a cycle of death and rebirth, also mirrored by the daily rise and setting of the Sun and by the behavior of the Moon, which, not only rises and sets, but also waxes and wanes, affecting all cycles of renewal: tides, rain, vegetation’s growth patterns, and fertility, both in animals and humans. The awareness of such awe-inspiring cosmic correspondences could have provided a very strong motivation for finding ways to embed this knowledge in massive stone monuments, something that would remain and support many generations in the practice of an agro-pastoralist way of life.
The symbolic and practical relevance that the vernal equinox had for Neolithic people, is ever more evident when we consider the logistical and conceptual challenges implied in the observation of the Spring Moon. In fact, solstices are much easier to identify than equinoxes: the former can be observed as a “pause” on the horizon in the progression of the Sun’s setting point (azimuth), followed by an inversion of its direction, while the latter happens on a continuum around due East, which is located in between the solstices’ azimuths.
To complicate things further, because of the lack of synchronicity between the lunar and solar cycles, the rise of the Spring Moon doesn’t happen exactly halfway between the solstices, but changes slightly every year. Observing the equinox, therefore, required the ability to conceive it as an abstract concept and sophisticated techniques to measure it, demonstrating a remarkably evolved understanding of astronomical phenomena (Oliveira and Da Silva, p. 84).
Equinox in Almendres: a Mystical Experience
When observing Almendres, the orientation East-West is by far the most evident of the possible astronomical alignments, as it runs along the center axis of the enclosure. We can imagine that this allowed a spectacular group experience of witnessing the equinoctial rising of both Sun and Moon from the Serra da Ossa, the mountain range marking the distant horizon (pic. 16 and 17).
If the dating of the Cromeleque proves correct, we might as well agree with Oliveira and Da Silva when they state that Almendres could be “an example of the early representation of the cosmic order that regulates the cycles of life” (Oliveira and Da Silva, p. 83), an order which was both embedded in space, through the placement of the stones, and in time, through the ritualization of regular celebrations in honor of the Spring Moon: the bringer of life (Oliveira and Da Silva, p. 84). And an order which could have represented the kind of harmony and predictability that megaliths builders wished to draw into their own lives, marked by uncertainty and confusion.
Da Silva, credited to have “revolutionized the regional study of megalithic archeoastronomy by introducing the concept of Spring Moon” (Calado, p. 250), enthusiastically shared that upon visiting Almendres during the equinox: “one can have an almost mystical experience, because the whole place seems to be conceived both to envelop and to point to the Sun, even before it rises above the mountain, like a true amphitheater open towards the equinoctial Sun” (Da Silva, p. 9). It is interesting to note that, as a modern scientific researcher, Da Silva feels the need to call the experience “almost mystical”, while for ancient people it probably was the most awe-inspiring manifestation of a sacred order for many generations. And I also wonder, at this point, why the same “almost mystical” experience was not described by Da Silva also in correspondence to the rising of the Spring Moon.
If we turn our backs to the Serra da Ossa and we face West, Da Silva has pointed out that Menhir 8, the one with the cup markings, could be a possible reference point to observe the equinoctial sunset. In this case, the “cuppings,” filled with water, could have helped “capture” the reflection of the different setting points of the Sun, which, around the equinox, can vary considerably day after day (Da Silva, p. 3).
The Cult of Ancestors
The extended periods of observation needed to notice and predict astral cycles provides a whole new dimension to the understanding of the kind of reverence that Neolithic people (and their ancestors) had towards the generations that preceded them. The cult of ancestors is actually a common denominator among most ancient cultures, generally associated with the belief in rebirth, in resonance with the cycles of nature.
In European megalithic monuments, the cult of ancestors was connected to the winter solstice, the moment in time when the Sun “stops” and starts “coming back”, ushering in the revitalizing power of more light and longer days. Some of the major megalithic monuments in Europe, like Stonehenge in the UK and Newgrange in Ireland, seem to present major alignments with this moment in time (Newman, pp. 158 and 376). Once again we can notice how the Christian calendar has appropriated another date sacred to ancient peoples, by placing the birth of Jesus, or the “coming of the messiah” on the 25th of December, in close proximity to the winter solstice.
Winter Solstice at Almendres
The presence of a winter solstice alignment in Almendres has been hypothesized by Alvim, who noticed that in the lower part of the enclosure, direction N/E, Menhir 92 and 93, of equal size and shape, and much bigger than the surrounding ones, seem to form a sort of gate, or “station.” From there it would have been possible to observe the winter solstice sunset, along the line marked by Menhir 44 and 64, direction S/W (Alvim, p. 62) (pic 19). This alignment seems of particular intentionality when we notice that by stretching this same line in direction N/E, after about 1 km, we reach the 3,5 mt tall Menhir do Monte dos Almendres, which was discovered and re-erected by Pina in 1964 (Alvim, p. 41) (pic. 20). The menhir would therefore stand in alignment with the winter solstice sunrise, the beginning of the return of the light.
The practice of placing menhirs in strategic places to mark alignments across different sites was a common feature in megalithic culture, where vast portions of the landscape were “mapped” in this way. This is spectacularly represented in the Carnac area, in France, where multiple stone structures and isolated menhirs are placed in relation to each other along astronomical alignments that can stretch for many km, revealing an extraordinary ability to map time across space (pic. 20b) (Newman, pp. 118–119).
Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
The Cromeleque dos Almendres might belong to the earliest phase of megalithic culture in Europe, thus providing a rare example of the moment in time when humans entered into a different kind of relationship with nature and the cosmos. The builders of Almendres seem to have had a deep understanding of nature’s cycles, of the influence of the Moon on everything that lives, and of the endless alternation between life and death.
By embedding their knowledge in monuments that survived the test of time, they reclaimed their role within these cycles, while giving rise to the practice of agriculture, and the possibility to establish a more predictable and abundant way of life. The mastery they reached was the result of the work of many generations, turning Almendres into a living testimony of the reverence Neolithic people had both for their ancestors and for the future generations, who will benefit from it and refine it along the course of many centuries.
For about two millennia, Almendres served as a multifunctional monument, a trans-tribal gathering place from where to practice collective observations and celebrations of those astronomical events fundamental for Neolithic religious practices and for the flourishing of an agro-pastoral way of life. In this sense, it probably functioned as a religious and political authority, the central location of a vast area able to physically and psychologically organize time and space for many communities.
In other words, with both simplicity and complexity, elegance and raw craftsmanship, and with a mastery of astronomical knowledge that does not cease to baffle us “future people”, our Neolithic ancestors teach us about a way of life grounded in the awareness of the relationship to the life of plants and animals, to the astral cycles, to the people that lived before, and those who will come after.
Afterwards…
What is the influence of this impressive stone circle in later ages? Megalithic sites of the central Alentejo continued to be in use, often as burial sites, till the early Iron Age — 5th century BC (Calado, p. 346). The Roman settlers often built their villages nearby, although they did not always interact with them respectfully, for they often use them as quarries (Calado, p. 246).
Interestingly, in Evora, there are still the remains of what is known as the “Temple of Diana” (pic. 21). Built in the first century CE and originally dedicated to Emperor Augustus, the temple was attributed to the Goddess Diana by a legend spread by a priest in the 17th century. The priest’s intention was to associate the founding of the temple with the local Lusitanian chief Sertório, devoted to Diana, and murdered by the Romans in 72 CE (“Roman Temple of Evora,” 2021).
The fact that Diana (corresponding to the Greek Artemis and later associated with witches) was the goddess of wild nature, fertility, the underworld, and, most notably, the Moon, could be indicative of the wish to maintain an association between the pre-roman Lusitanian culture and a primordial feminine archetype of fertility (pic. 22).
Similarly to Stonehenge, today Almendres is attracting a plethora of neo-pagans, neo-shamans, Wiccans, and all those who see in these time-honored stones the possibility to reconnect to ancient wisdom based on the interrelatedness of all life and a sense of cosmic unity (see Lucas, 2007).
In the 90s and early 2000s, it has been the site of “psytrance parties” where local and foreign ravers, under the effect of psychedelics, claim to have entered into “deep contact” with the stones. They report being able to communicate telepathically with each other within the enclosure and to have group experiences of seeing the stones levitating (private conversations with the author). These pioneering experiments with the use of psychedelics in megalithic sites, due to the heightened state of consciousness they imply, might as well be pointing to a whole new approach to research in these fields.
The Cromeleque has also been the inspiration for the building of another stone circle in the nearby community of Tamera, a “Peace Research and Education Center” working for a “global system change” (Tamera, 2020). On their website, we can read how the co-founder Sabina Lichtenfels, upon vising Almendres, sensed that “each of the stones represented one archetype of a harmonious tribal culture.” She saw the stone circle as a “living library — a treasure of knowledge of a deeply peaceful culture” hosting “a timeless supra historical matrix for a nonviolent way of human life.” She then decided to create a stone circle in her community to be used as a “natural cathedral (…) for prayer, ritual and spiritual connection with the sacred alliance of life” (Tamera, 2020) (pic. 23, 24).
Millennia after it was erected, Almendres still retains many of its mysteries, allowing both researchers and enthusiasts to hold a variety of interpretations, many of which might never be proved for certain. What seems to be certain is that in these times of disconnection from nature and looming ecological disasters, this and other megalithic monuments are “coming back”, sparking more interest, more research, and more solstice and equinox gatherings, as if they were not done yet with whatever they were intended to do. “Listen — they say — we have something to tell you.”
References
Alvim, P. (2009). Recintos Megalíticos do Ocidente do Alentejo Central: Arquitetura e Paisagem na Transição Mesolítico/Neolítico. Master thesis in archeology and environment, University of Évora.
Calado, M. (2012). All quiet on the Western Front? In Statues-Menhirs et Pierres Levées du Néolithique a Aujourd’hui. Actes du 3 colloque international sur la statuaire mégalithique, Saint-Pons-de-Thomières, pp. 243–253.
Da Silva, M. C. (2000). Sobre o possível significado astronómico do cromeleque dos Almendres, in A Cidade de Évora: Boletim de Cultura da Câmara Municipal (2ª Série), nº 4, pp. 109–128.
Lucas, C. P. (2007). Constructing Identity with Dreamstones: Megalithic Sites and Contemporary Nature Spirituality. In Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, Vol. 11, Issue 1, pp. 31–61.
Newman, H. (ed.). (2018). Megalith: Studies in Stone. Glastonbury: Wooden Books.
Oliveira, C., Da Silva, M. C. (2006). Moon, Spring and Large Stones: Landscape and Ritual Calendar Perception and Symbolization. In Monumental Questions: Prehistoric Megaliths, Mounds, and Enclosures, Papers from Session C68 (Part I) of the XV UISPP World Congress (Lisbon, 4–9 September 2006).
Pimenta, F., Tirapicos, L. (2008). The Orientations of Central Alentejo Megalithic Enclosures. In Astronomy and Cosmology in Folk Traditions and Cultural Heritage, Vol. 10 (pp. 234–240).
Varela Gomes, Mario. (1997). Cromlech dos Almendres: um dos Primeiros Grandes Monumentos publico da Humanidade. In SARANTOUPOLOS, P. (ed.): Paisagens Arqueológicas a Oeste de Évora (pp. 25–38).
Roman Temple of Evora (2021, July 26) in Wikipedia, retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Temple_of_%C3%89vora
Tamera. (2020). Stone Circle. Retrieved from https://www.tamera.org/stone-circle/
