Describing circles

Na parede oriental da Lapa do Fumo. Círculo gravado.

Placas de xisto

Uma obra fundamental para o estudo das placas de xisto:

Recurrent symbols

Estranho mundo o das placas de xisto: só faltava mesmo esta...

Gonçalves, V.S. (2006)

Veja também:

Recurrent designs

Recurrent ideas

Recurrent symbols

Em tempos e espaços completamente díspares.

Recurrent ideas

Some more shist plaques and image from a painted dolmen in the North of Portugal.

Interesting to remind that the alentejan dolmens, where schist plaques are sistematically present, display no paintings or carvings on the uprights. Mutatis mutandis, there are no shist plaques, on the northern areas of Iberia.

Recurrent symbols

Carvings on the irish monuments of Knowth and Fourknocks (image 1 and 2), paintigs on the galician dolmen of Dombate (image 3) and 2 alentejan schist plaques, randomly chosen

Recurrent designs

Some more images from the beautiful Burkina Faso (Tiébélé region) traditional architectures. Round houses, made with mud-bricks, are the most common type.

Curiously, the decorations of the houses strongly recall the portuguese prehistoric schist plaques (image 5) - as well as the angular motifs of megalithic art in the Bend of the Boyne (Ireland) area, or in the NW of Iberia.

The same basic motifs are also found in some of the Near East Neolithic sites...

http://www.catalhoyuk.com/database/catal/FeatureSheet.asp?num=560

Entoptic motifs?

Universal signs?

It is curious to note that these motifs could be somehow inspired on (or have some kind of link to) the basketry patterns (image 4). Some Tiébélé houses display also plastic motifs, loke crooks (image 1), breasts, snakes, in bas-relief. All these motifs are present in Alentejan neolithic contexts...

The Present Past

Traditional architecture from Burkina Faso, one of the sources of inspiration for the re-construction of the Jumiaf settlement.

The moon in the shadow

Alto de S. Bento: sunlight and shadow creating crescent moon