Silves Museum - Vilarinha 3 Menhir

3D Model

A red sandstone monolith, excavated from the ridge above Vilarinha in Sao Bartolomeu de Messines Freguesia in the Central Algarve. This menhir is now displayed in the Silves Museum. There were four other menhirs also recovered from this ridge. However, these were taken back and re-erected at their original locations about 15 years ago and now form a section of the Vale Fuzeiros Archaeological Trail.

This particular stone was retained within the museum, I’d guess because of the quality of its carving. The stone has a seprentine design carved along its vertical axis. At the top the design terminates in a central disc, with two opposing curlicues either side. There are also two small symbols to the right and left resembling upside-down golf clubs. I noticed similar symbols on the menhirs of the Almendres Cromlech, Evora and apparently they occur on other monoliths nearby.

There is another, smaller, re-erected menhir back on the ridge which bears a similar but more eroded serpentine design.