Portugal and the Neolithic past

Portugal is the European country which has more megalithic and prehistoric monuments and sites than anyother country, it is a drean land for archaeologists.
There are a lot of monuments from other eras and from many other European cultures such as Celtic monuments in a very high quantity and concentrated to the north of Portugal all the way to the its center, Roman monuments from the south to the very capital of the country ( Lisbon ) and to the east near the border with Spain, Germanic archeological sites in the north and their architectural style is still very much visible in early christian churches when the Germanic tribe of the Vandals settled in Portugal with their origins in Sweden, migrating to the east of Europe and then into Portugal running away from the Huns. The Visigoths have also left a lot of culture, architecture and decendents and even from the Viking period we can find a lot of things in Portugal, and most curious of all, pottery with runes drawn and painted, dated from a period way before Europe has ever heard about the Norse peoples. Well the list goes on and on, but this is just the introduction of this post so you might see the rich culture that Portugal has, a country where most Europeans setteled since the Dawn of times, and even a few Asian, Arabic and African. But to where do i want to go with all ths talk? Well.. to explain that Portugal has always been the country faved by many since the Neolithic times, for quite plausible reasons, the weather, near the ocean for fishing, rich with flora and fauna, filled with wild Boars and Deer, very much hunted by the European peoples, Wolves, Foxes and Bears for fur ( these last ones unfortunately extinct ), great soils for agriculture, rich in diferente types of ore, which was one of the main reasons for Portugal having the best Celtic Blacksmiths of all Europe during the Bronze age and  Iron Age, also the main reason that led the Romans to plan their invasion against the Celts and the Lusitanian people. and for some spiritual reason that is yet to be discovered. The spiritual reason is what i want to talk about today, but more in a Archaeologist point of view, and than again, more in a normal observer of the landscape and its places of this fine country.
We all know that in Neolithic times, people used to raise great megalithic structures, Dolmens to place their dead and for spiritual/ritual purposes, Menhirs to mark the land or the borders of a tribe's land, to mark places where underground water flows, to extract it, places of cult and we know now that each of these Menhirs aren't placed randomly, their are all perfecly placed where the ley lines pass, the very energy of the earth, so Menhirs are like making acupuncture to earth itself, concentrating the energy of the earth into those places, which makes the soils fertil and attracts a lot of rain to the place because the electricity accumulated in the zone, works just like a magnetic force affecting the water particles in the clouds, pulling them, which makes them fall. There are also a lot of stone circles, Cromlechs and all the other Neolithic monuments  we know of. At this point you might ask, why is this so relevant? There are thousands of this all over Europe, why is Portugal so special about this? Well, there sure are thousands of Neolithic monuments all over Europe, but not as concentrated in one place as in Portugal, in other countries there might exist places with many of these monuments, but all over those countries these are too scattered, while in Portugal it's all over the place, there are even tiny villages filled with these structures in the surroundings with more than 90, you may find these monuments almost in every village and town, along the road, in the middle of forests, mountains or disguised as chapels. If you are a lover of the Neolithic period than you will love the town of Évora, one of the places of Portugal where Neolothic monuments are too much concentrated, in its surroundings there are more than 300 of these, including the famous Almendres Cromlech, a megalithic complex, the largest existing group of structured Menhirs of all Iberian Peninsula, and one of the largests in Europe, a primitive astronomical observatory, oriented to different directions associated with the Equinoxes.
Clearly Portugal was the country most faved by many people to settle not only for it's natural resources and riches but also for some spiritual purpose, the country is filled with Neolithic funeral monuments and burial mounds, not only from the inhabitants but also from other foreign people, and Évora might have been a very special place for these people, it is clearly the place for spiritual gathering, for religious purposes, to trade, to live, a place of knowledge and understanding and people wanted to be placed in the land after their death, there are thousands of Dolmens there. Watching the landscape and all these monuments when you are alone, you actually have the feeling that you are surrounded but thousands of people, and in a fraction of a second time freezes and all birds seize to sing, the wind stops and the leafs go quiet, and you can hear the whispers of those who once walked those lands.

Note: The artwork to illustrate this post is a drawing of a Menhir made by me. If you have any questions for me or if you want to see my artistic works, check out my Facebook page and make a Like if you can by following this link --> http://www.facebook.com/ArithHarger

About Culture

The thing that distinguishes and differentiates an ethnic group, it is not the colour of their skin, but their original culture. Culture encompasses a set of features that identify the humans beings from a specific region, those features are, religion, beliefs, spirituality, gastronomy, architecture, history, geographical factors, arts and language. Everything influences the humans, even the seasons of the year.A good example of a country rich in history and culture is, Portugal, where many diferent people and many diferent cultures had passed and left their permanent mark within each individual, just like the many tribes of the Lusitans. whose architecture differs greatly from north to south, for geographical and seasonal reasons.These tribes were strongly influenced, from the north to the center and into the coastline of Portugal, by the germanic people, such as the Celts, Vandals ( Wandalns ), Saxons, Vikings, Swabians and the Visigoths, that leaft their mark among the Lusitanian people, archaeological and  religious marks, and the Romans had a great influence on Portugal as well, particularly in the creation and expansion of the cities of Lisbon and OPorto, and the Romans in turn, have adopted the Lusitan Pagan Gods.
Portugal was also influenced by the Arabian people, that forever changed the concept of agriculture in Portugal, in the regions further south, and still today, their architecture is still visible in the regions of Algarve.

Every people, every tribe, has their own culture, that is evolving and changing and shapin over the course of history, but always influenced by others, with the help of trade, war and politics, but these influences are not natural, these influences occur due to forcing others to change. Many people have lost their cultures due to the implementation of values ​​and rules that were not theirs, and the biggest exemple of that in the human history is, the coming of Christianity, that forcibly opened the way to the regions of Europe, forcing everyone to adopt these religious beliefs, and this had strong effects on the loss of identity of every men and women in Europe, and this loss took place because freedom was plucked from each individual, was forgotten and was not respected.The essence of each individual, his own soul, his character and personality, are influenced by culture and what they have acquired from other cultures and coexistence and study of the same.
A culture only exists if freedom is maintained, for each people anywhere in the world, because taking away freedom of being what we have always been, is the biggest factor in the extinction of an ethnic group and the loss of cultures and customs.

Arith Härger