The monument has a polygonal chamber with seven pillars and a longer axis of 4 metres. It still retains the covering. The corridor, including its remodellings, reaches a length of more than 14m and is orientated at 139º. During the 3rd millennium BC, the Neolithic monument had three tholoi-type tombs added, two on the right and one on the left of the corridor, converted into access to these new burial chambers. Two of these added chambers include a coating of upright slate slabs and an elevation of the false dome in rows of overlapping stones, while the third consists of stone rows from the base. In the chamber of the original monument, the contexts were poorly preserved, with only a few ceramic fragments and decorative elements collected. In contrast, the contexts excavated in the lateral tholos to the left of the corridor (Olival da Pega 2b) were well preserved, with an abundance of votive materials, including blades, lamellas, arrowheads, dart tips, halberds, polished stone utensils, bone pins, necklace beads, several dozen complete vases, a copper dagger, a zoomorphic figurine (fox?), moulded phalanges and decorated slate slabs. In addition to several human remains recovered, a level of in situ cremations was identified halfway through the chamber’s stratigraphy.

Anta 2 do Olival da Pega is one of the four megalithic monuments of Neolithic construction (4th millennium BC) with tholos-type tombs attached during the Chalcolithic (Copper Age – 3rd millennium BC). The others are Anta 2 da Comenda, Anta 1 da Farisoa and Anta 2 da Cebolinha. This late reuse of megalithic monuments through reformulation and architectural additions is a particular feature of the Reguengos de Monsaraz megalithic group. It reflects the long operating chronology of many dolmens and their agency over communities long after being built. As references to ancestry, these structures represent a search for roots that could translate into a need to legitimise new forms of social organisation and territorial management.

Archaeological excavations between 1990 and 1997.

Gonçalves, V. S. (1999)- Reguengos de Monsaraz. Megalithic Territories. Lisbon. CMRM.