Mounds

To reach there, from the town of A Bandeira (N-525) take the PO-204 regional road that goes towards Vila de Cruces and at Campomarzo turn left towards the Sanctuary of Abades. The mound is located near the road just above the railway cutting built over the AVE (High Speed Train) tracks.

The excavation work resulting from the passing of the High Speed ​​Line Ourense-Santiago, through the parish of Abades, uncovered an intact megalithic chamber and the remains of a complex construction system. The monument was built in the style of the time that is to say, stones were placed to form a sort of box and covered with a large slab. The chamber was buried under a mound of earth, which gave it its rounded shape.

Carbon dating tests places the construction of this settlement between 4340 and 4260 BC, making it one of the oldest megalithic chambers recorded to date in Galicia.

To understand the value of a chamber to its builders, we must bear in mind that metal  was still an unknown element, so the  hundreds of cubic meters of soil which form the mound had to be moved using sticks, bones, wicker baskets and esparto bags. The covering stone weighs 2950 kilos.

Inside the chamber, under pieces of broken cover slab, remained evidence of a lone burial. Although the acidity of Galician soils prevents the conservation of such ancient bones, an amber and variscite necklace was found in the center of the chamber, displayed as if it had been placed on a human body. A small hoe blade, chisel and sharpener completed the grave belongings.

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