As vestige of the past we can admire in Valencia de Alcántara a great number of dolmens and menhirs (more than forty), declared Cultural Interest Asset by the UNESCO and qualified as Recinto Megalítico or Megalithic Area for being the biggest and best preserved one Europe. They are indicated in various trekking routes.
A dolmen is a funerary monument where the dead were buried in an isolated manner or in group following a burial ritual and this has permitted to find in some cases some intact rests together with some objects belonging to the dead person.
Once the dolmen was finished constructed, the only thing left visible would be the gravestone on the top. The material used for these constructions is mainly granite even though there are some made of black slate.
DOLMENS IN THE REGION
There are two well differentiated areas inside our region.
Area Valencia de Alcántara – San Vicente de Alcántara. Here you will find granite dolmens, generally well preserved. In Valencia there are 41 in a radius of 15-20Km. They were declared in 1992 cultural asset and classified as archaeological area. Indicated in routes (see above).
Area Tagus International-Cedillo-Herrera de Alcántara-Santiago de Alcántara. Here the ones that exist are made of black slate and they are in a radius of 30-35Km. These can be visited and are indicated in informative leaflets.
