Rock engravings in Monte da Caminha about to be classified as a national monument

Cultural Heritage, IP will propose to the Secretary of State for Culture the classification of the rock engravings of Monte de Góios, in Caminha, as a national monument, says the announcement published today in Diário da República.

According to the publication, the decision is based on a proposal from the Architectural and Archaeological Heritage section of the National Council of Culture, which received the agreement of the director-general of the Directorate-General for Cultural Heritage (DGPC), on December 29, 2023”.

The area to be classified covers the parishes of Lanhelas and Vilar de Mouros, municipality of Caminha.

The public consultation on the classification proposal lasts 30 working days, and observations from interested parties must be presented to the Culture Unit of the Northern Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR-N) within 15 working days.

According to information available on the Câmara de Caminha website, now consulted by Lusa, “testimonies of rock art have been known in Monte de Góios since the end of the 19th century, which culminated in the classification of Laje das Fogaças as a Monument National already in 1974”.

“However, it was within the scope of the evaluation of the Environmental Conformity Report of the Execution Project (Recape) of the A28 motorway, road connection to Caminha, that archaeological prospecting work was carried out which resulted in the identification of several new engraved rocks, distributed along the western slope of Monte de Góios, which contributed to the recognition of the area as an authentic sanctuary of rock art”.

According to the municipality, “these important testimonies of human action can be framed within a long chronological period, from Prehistory, more specifically from the end of the Upper Paleolithic, to the most recent historical periods”.

“The rich iconographic collection identified at Monte de Góios is composed of representations that tend to be anthropomorphic, zoomorphic and geometric, made by perforation or abrasion. These manifestations constitute an important legacy of the cognitive and/or spiritual life of the populations that occupied the territory and represent an important window into our past”, says the municipality.