A small dwelling for the Moors
A Fornela dos Mouros is one of the most unique dolmens in A Costa da Morte. It has no mámoa (earth mound), nor corridor and its chamber has a peculiar shape of a very simple hut formed by three vertical stone slabs and a fourth that serves as a roof. These characteristics are very similar to another of the important megaliths of this territory, the Casota de Freáns (Vimianzo).
Its “reduced” size is also unusual, at least relative to other megaliths, at only 1.35 meters high and 2.70 meters wide. This circumstance, together with the fact that it is located on a very stony ground, not suitable for burials, led some researchers to think that it might not be a dolmen.
In any case, its simple shape is reminiscent of megalithic cists, later than the classic chamber and corridor dolmens, generally dated to the second millennium BC, at the beginning of the Bronze Age. These monuments would have functioned as individual burials and usually lacked the monumentality of large corridor dolmens.
