page_title: Artificial caves of Casal do Pardo
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Artificial caves of Casal do Pardo / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: Artificial caves of Casal do Pardo, Palmela, Setubal District, Portugal. Noticeboard illustrating the caves as they were originally, together with some of the artifacts found
context_page_description: The four Artificial caves of Casal do Pardo, also known as the Caves of Quinta do Anjo, were neolithic tombs. They are situated in Palmela municipality in the Setúbal District, of Portugal, about 25 km south of the capital of Lisbon. These caves were classified as a National Monument of Portugal in 1934.
context_section_description: The fact that the tombs were dug into the soft limestone with stone tools is evidence that they predated the use of copper. The entrances opened on to a corridor, leading to an ante-chamber and a large hemispherical chamber with a circular hole above, through which corpses could be lowered when the chamber and corridor were full. The hole was then covered with a lid. Rock-cut tombs are very common in the Mediterranean. Similar caves in Portugal include the Necropolis of Carenque, and the Artificial caves of Alapraia, both to the west of Lisbon.
   
  The excavations at the caves have discovered a wide variety of items, including microliths, arrowheads, axes and adzes of polished stone, and flint blades, as well as a variety of polished stone artifacts, ritual objects, limestone idols, shale items and bone buttons. Jewellery and pendants were also identified, with some in gold, as well as ceramics, including some from the bell beaker culture decorated with dotted or linear markings. Items found at the site were catalogued in 1965 by the German archaeologist, Vera Leisner.  One problem faced in improving knowledge of the site and its findings is that the items taken by the early archaeologists were not related to the location and context in which they were found. Consequently, modern-day archaeologists have been unable to discover their original contexts. 
  Burials with bell beaker pottery have been found chiefly in the access corridors. Bell beaker vases and bowls generally occurred in the latter half of the 3rd millennium BCE. The vases were shaped like an inverted bell, while the bowls found at the site and at the nearby Castro of Chibanes followed a distinctive decorative incision technique that has become known as the “Palmela type”. The site also contained many sculpted baetyls, or sacred stones, including representations of the phallus. Metallic items discovered all contained traces of arsenic. A few small gold items were found, together with leaf-shaped arrowheads in copper. Items of personal adornment were made with shells, ivory, shark teeth, bone (including for buttons), lignite, and minerals.
caption: Artificial caves of Casal do Pardo. Noticeboard illustrating the caves as they were originally, together with some of the artifacts found
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