A hidden treasure in the forest
The dolmen of Chan das Embarradas is one of the megalithic treasures of the municipality of Coristanco. Hidden in the thick forest, this monumental megalith sits right on the border between two private plots, coinciding with an ancient stone wall. This function of delimiting parishes or estates of megalithic monuments has been frequent in Galicia at least since the Middle Ages. Peasants systematically took advantage of these ancient prehistoric monuments to draw borders precisely because they are highly visible marks on the landscape.
However, the most interesting thing about the dolmen is that it presents three abstract designs engraved inside one of the vertical slabs, comparable to those found in Dombate (Cabana de Bergantiños) and Pedra da Arca (Dumbría-Vimianzo).
In this case, the dolmen has the classic structure with a chamber and an east-facing corridor. Curiously, the corridor was used to build the stone wall, already in historical times, with which it is perfectly aligned.
It preserves at least 7 vertical stones and a fragmented slab in the chamber that may have originally functioned as the roof of the dolmen. All the slabs are made of shale, but one of the vertical ones stands out from the rest for having a much darker color.
