Tombs and Geology: Physical constraints and funerary choices during the 4th-3rd- millennia BCE in Central-South Portugal.

Abstract

Within the project MEGAGEO (Moving Megaliths in the Neolithic) a review and inventory of the type of tombs has been conducted for the Central-South part of Portugal, crossing it with its geology background. This has highlighted that choices seem to have been conditioned to a certain level by physical conditions, as well as chronology of erection. Nevertheless, focusing the attention to some case studies of megalithic tombs and the provenance of its slabs it was possible to verify that availability of raw materials and agency might had different roles and importance in the moment of builder’s choices.