Arquiña de Vilaseco

Today only the earthen tumulus of this megalithic monument can be seen, as well as some of the dolmen stones which break through the surface at its highest point. The dimensions of the mámoa make us believe that we find ourselves in the presence of one of the largest megaliths of the Costa da Morte. The fact that this dolmen has managed to stay covered seems to indicate a good state of conservation throughout the entire structure. In fact, the ground plan of the chamber can be made out from the upper part of the tumulus, lacking its capstone and south-facing passage,  and which still conserves at least one of its capstones broken into two pieces.

An interesting aspect is the stone wall which divides properties extending just above the Arquiña. This is repeated in other monuments on the route such as Pedra Cuberta and Arca do Rabós. It confirms that the mámoas and dolmens continued to be used for purposes other than funerary ones long after the disappearance of the societies which constructed them. The antas were not only a wellspring of legends and myths for traditional Galician rural society, but were also used to demarcate the boundaries of parishes, properties, hunting grounds, etc. In Galicia, during the Middle Ages, a large number of documents such as agrarian contracts and land sales made reference to megalithic monuments as territorial markers. When boundaries were set, fixed elements in the landscape such as rivers, roads, and mountains were relied upon, as well as archeological sites like mámoas, dolmens, castros and even petroglyphs.