«Mámoa 87 de Serra Faladora» : un túmulo megalítico del Norte de Galicia

Abstract

The outstanding work of survey and digging accomplished by the late F. Maciñeira ¡n the first decades of the present century was unfortunately not continuad until recent years, when new excavations with a modern methodology, together with a reappraisal of the materials recovered by IViaciñeira are throwing new light to the characteristics of the megalithic burial in the far North of Galicia. In this paper we are dealing with the analysis of the artefacts found in the mound 87th of Serra Faladora, which in spite of its ruinous condition at the time of Maciñeira's discovery might be possibly ciassified under the iabel of passage grave, though with some remarkable features like the extreme eccentricity of the chamber and the presence of a pit dug into the bedrock under the mound and filled with stones and earth with traces of fire (fig. 2A). The material items found in the disturbed chamber are very much in agreement with the typical set of Galician megalithic grave goods: ground stone axes, flint blades and pottery with simple forms and no decoration (figs. 3-6). However, the mound 87th detaches itself from the local pattern because of the number and variety of goods which is larger than usual. At the same time, other features, like the absence of arrowheads, are in full agreement with the pattern in the northern área of Galicia. In all, the mound 87th seems to reflect, with some local traits, the spread of more elabórate forms of megalithic burial in vast áreas of the Northwest of the Iberian penisula around the middie of the 3"^ millenium b.C.