Polished Stone Axe, Montemor-o-Novo

Provenance and description: The Anta Grande da Comenda da Igreja is a megalithic funerary monument, north of Montemor-o-Novo, built in the transition from the 4th to 3rd millennium BC. It is one of the largest neolithic funerary structures in the Iberian Peninsula, presenting a polygonal chamber with stones of about 6m in height and the corridor with 11m in length. It was excavated at the end of the 19th century and in the 80’s of the 20th, from which an important set of votive objects was recovered from which this polished stone axe belongs. It was manufactured from an amphibolite block cut from a conical shape. It presents partial polishing on the bead and total on the edge. It is part of the collection of the museological reserves of the National Museum of Archeology and is currently exhibited in the Museum of the Convent of S. Domingos, in Montemor-o-Novo. Inventory number: CSD 0530