Pedra 10

What are insculptures?

Insculptures are carvings on stone surfaces. They can be found on flagstones, dolmens and menhirs. Insculptures are carved between the end of IV millennium and the middle II millennium.

These carvings have a limited number of motifs that are repeated in big quantity. The more common shapes are cruciform, anthropomorphic, circles, cup marks and grooves. They are always created by percussion with a hard tool.

They have been found at the end of the XIX century. Although at first it was thought that they were created in the XVIII century, later were considered to be part of the Iberian age. But at the end of the twenties they were linked to the dolmens and menhirs. The controversy of their dating continues in the seventies and eighties, when scholars relate them to the middle-age and modern eras, based on the cruciform carvings that link them to a Christianisation.

In spite of this debate, we can talk about prehistorical carvings because they have been found on dolmen flagstones covered with a tumulus. Also in excavations in the village of Ca n’Isaach, lone cup marks and cup marks with grooves have been found. That dates them at the end of IV BC or the beginning if III millennia BC. Insculptures are always found in areas near megalithic monuments or over the very same stones.