Megalithic Skyscapes in Galicia

We present the results of our analysis of two singular Neolithic

monuments and two prominent megalithic groups in Galicia. The two singular

monuments are the dolmen of Dombate (Baio, Coruña county), perhaps the largest

megalithic chamber in Galicia (or at least the most investigated and well-known)

that houses an elaborate decorative program with engravings and paintings, and

Forno dos Mouros (Bocelo mountains, Coruña county), also housing paintings and

belonging to a bigger group aligned along an historical path following the

mountain ridge. Both chambers house interesting illumination effects. The group

analysis concerns the Barbanza (Coruña county) and Leboreiro, (Ourense county

and borderland with Portugal) necropoleis. There, we find that apart from chamber

orientation, location and spatial relations of the monuments within the landscape,

the monuments incorporate skyscape associations that complemented and

dialogued with that of the chamber orientations. Besides, if the particular

directions that we find are related to the movements of the sun and/or moon they

may indicate the appropriate ritual time for the dead. Of course, skyscape is not

the only or the main factor to explain the location of the mounds within the

necropolis but are part of a complex system of relations making those monuments

part of a cultural landscape. When taking all factors into consideration a complex

picture emerges where we can envisage the ways of construction of social time

and space in the megalithic period.