Known as the dolmen of Zambujeiro, the dolmen of Aguiar is located a few meters away from the urban perimeter of the village and is one of the most ancient testimonies of the human presence in the Municipality of Viana do Alentejo.

The structure is located in an highlight area in what concerns Megalistism, having as a great reference, the Almendres Cromelech (Évora), identified in the Cartographic Map of Portugal in 1964 by the archeologist Henrique de Pina. The constructions of this type of structures in Westwern Europe emerged in the South of Portugal and they date back to 6th millenium before our era.

Dolmens, or “antas” in Portuguese, are funerary structures that appeared during the Neolitic period; through the analyis of the existing edification, we can conclude that the dolmen of Aguiar is a simple closed dolmen, with an architechture of poligonal chamber, composed by a vertical mainstay (the  headboard stone is the first to be placed, followed by the others) and by a mainstay placed horizontally over the chamber and designated by “table”, “hat” or “lid”. In what concerns the dolmen of Aguiar, it stands by the side of what still remains of the construction, as a consequence of its neglect and possible loot.

Considering the present configuration of the chamber, it might even be possible to conclude that it might not, originally, have been built in the same exact place where it now stands, but this is an assumption that is difficult to prove. Still in what concerns assumptions, it is possible to figure out that the structure had, in its original composition, a higher number of mainstays, therefore it is not possible to infer about its real dimensions.

To seal the structures, these were covered with dirt found in its sorroundings, thus forming the so-called “mamoa” or tumulus. The aim was to make a reference to a woman’s womb, because the material culture indicates that the populations believed in the return to life after death, the so-called “mith of the eternal return”.