scroll
scroll
scroll

THE BURIAL MOUNDS OF CANDEÁN ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE

In our city 37 burial mounds have been discovered, most of them on the small plains of the surrounding mountains. We could highlight the mounds of Candeán, A Madroa, Alto de San Cosme, Alto de San Colmado and Rebullón, and Cotogrande. Many of them have suffered intense alterations and in some cases total destruction while others have disappeared for a variety of reasons, mainly due to people’s ignorance of their historical and cultural value.

The greatest concentration of mounds is in the parish of Candeán, to the north east of the municipality, very close to Redondela behind the foothills which go up from the south west to the north east towards the Alto de Coto Ferreira. The minimum height is roughly 300 meters above sea level, reaching almost 440 meters on the peak of Mount Vixiador.

The burial mounds are related to the archaeological area on Mount Penide, in the municipality of Redondela, one of the most significant concentrations of archaeological sites in Galicia.  Apart from a huge amount of funeral mounds (over thirty), there are also numerous rock carvings, a Celtic settlement and various areas where different materials of prehistoric origin have been found (above all fragments of pottery). 

Casa dos Mouros
Casa dos Mouros

Mámoa da Freiría I
Costa Freiría Mound 1

The monumental structure and special location of the burial mounds in the area makes us think that the people of the time wished to represent their society, their way of being and their thoughts, possibly through death. The fact that such large tombs were built 6,000 years ago indicates that they wished to show their existence by humanising the landscape with the clear aim of lasting in the future, of passing down to posterity.

Nowadays we cannot identify many mounds in the landscape because over the centuries mankind kept on using and modifying the land through different uses of his living space (pathways, building houses and other constructions, traditional agriculture, reforesting with new species of trees etc).

There used to be 18 burial mounds at Candeán a few years ago but five of them have since been destroyed. Their dimensions and shapes are varied and they lie throughout the parish from the Casa dos Mouros Mound (the southernmost mound, close to the Madroa football fields) to the Vixiador Mound (within the Forest Park of the same name and close to Redondela).  We will only visit 11 of them on the route we propose – the ones between the Neighbourhood and Cultural Association of Candeán and the Forest Park of Vixiador.

CONXUNTO FUNERARIO

Site Map


Chan do Labrador Mound.
Chan dos Touciños Mound 1
Chan dos Touciños Mound 2
Chan dos Touciños Mound 3
Chan dos Touciños Mound 4
Ferradouro Mound 1
Ferradouro Mound 2
Costa Freiría Mound 3
Costa Freiría Mound 2
Costa Freiría Mound 1
Vixiador Mound

GA36057017
GA36057016
GA36057143
GA36057130
GA36057006
GA36057142
GA36057141
GA36057140
GA36057005
GA36057018

 

 

Ferradouro I
Ferradouro II
Freiría I
Touciños IV
Freiría II
Freiría III
Labrador
Vixiador
Toucioños I
Touciños II
Touciños III

In our city 37 burial mounds have been discovered, most of them on the small plains of the surrounding mountains. We could highlight the mounds of Candeán, A Madroa, Alto de San Cosme, Alto de San Colmado and Rebullón, and Cotogrande. Many of them have suffered intense alterations and in some cases total destruction while others have disappeared for a variety of reasons, mainly due to people’s ignorance of their historical and cultural value.

The greatest concentration of mounds is in the parish of Candeán, to the north east of the municipality, very close to Redondela behind the foothills which go up from the south west to the north east towards the Alto de Coto Ferreira. The minimum height is roughly 300 meters above sea level, reaching almost 440 meters on the peak of Mount Vixiador.

O EXPOLIO DAS MÁMOAS

MATERIAL DIVULGATIVO

Poñemos á vosa disposición material divulgativo dirixido ao profesorado e ao alumnado co ánimo de facilitar a visita dos centros escolares á Área Arquelóxica e difundir información sobre o noso patrimonio e a necesidade da súa conservación polas xeracións vindeiras. O material foi creado polo equipo de investigadores que levaron a cabo a intervención na necrópole.

Tamén podedes consultar desde aquí diferentes publicacións e enlaces relacionados co patrimonio arqueolóxico.

 

 
boletin Vacaloura n 4
• Número 4 del boletín Vacaloura
Montes e Patrimonio Arqueolóxico
Octubre de 2006

Descargar PDF - 600 KB