'Spanish Stonehenge' emerges from watery grave for second time in past 3 years
'Spanish Stonehenge' emerges from watery grave for second time in past 3 years
Enlarge / The Dolmen of Guadalperal completely visible in July 2019 due to a low water level in the Valdecañas reservoir Valdecanas.
Pleonr /CC BY-SA 4.0
Last week, we told you about the flurry of recent news stories that resurfaced in 2018 about the re-emergence of so-called "hunger stones" due to extreme drought conditions in Europe. We also noted that Europe is again in the midst of a historically severe drought. Today an ancient site known as 'Spanish Stonehenge' - submerged underwater by a reservoir for decades - was fully exposed for the second time since 2019 due to low water levels in the reservoir .
The site is also known as the Dolmen de Guadalperal, a circular grouping of 150 large vertical granite stones (called orthostats) dating from 2000 to 3000 BCE. However, Roman artifacts recovered from the site - a coin, ceramic fragments and a grinding wheel - suggest that it could have been used even earlier. A team led by German archaeologist Hugo Obermaier discovered the monument in 1926 near a town called Peraleda de la Mata.
Among the artifacts recovered were 11 axes, flint knives, ceramics, and a copper awl. A nearby settlement probably housed the people who built the monument, given the presence of houses, patches of charcoal and ash, pottery, and stones for sharpening axes. Obermaier restored some of the granite stones to their proper place and made reproductions of the engravings, which were published in 1960.
The vertical stones form an ovoid chamber (dolmen) connected to a long corridor (21 meters or 69 feet). At the entrance to the hallway is a large standing stone, or "menhir", carved with what appears to be a serpent. The chamber was covered with a mound of earth and gravel surrounded by another circular ring.
The exact purpose of the site remains a matter of debate, but it was most likely used as a solar temple, a trading post along the Tagus, or a burial enclave. By Atlas Obscura:
When intact... people would have entered through a dark, narrow hallway adorned with carvings and other decorations, probably carrying a torch. This would lead to an access portal to the more spacious main chamber, which was about 16 feet in diameter, where the dead would be interred. It is also likely that the monument was oriented around the summer solstice, allowing, for a few moments a year, the sun to shine on the ancestors of the community. Building such a large space, with such heavy materials, would have taken a lot of effort and ingenuity.
In 1963, the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco ordered the construction of a dam to create the Valdecañas reservoir. The massive project meant that underdeveloped parts of Spain now had water and electricity, but the dolmen and remains of the Roman town of Augustobriga have been buried under water, along with an inhabited town . (Residents have been relocated.)
Enlarge / The Dolmen of Guadalperal completely visible in July 2019 due to a low water level in the Valdecañas reservoir Valdecanas.
Pleonr /CC BY-SA 4.0
Last week, we told you about the flurry of recent news stories that resurfaced in 2018 about the re-emergence of so-called "hunger stones" due to extreme drought conditions in Europe. We also noted that Europe is again in the midst of a historically severe drought. Today an ancient site known as 'Spanish Stonehenge' - submerged underwater by a reservoir for decades - was fully exposed for the second time since 2019 due to low water levels in the reservoir .
The site is also known as the Dolmen de Guadalperal, a circular grouping of 150 large vertical granite stones (called orthostats) dating from 2000 to 3000 BCE. However, Roman artifacts recovered from the site - a coin, ceramic fragments and a grinding wheel - suggest that it could have been used even earlier. A team led by German archaeologist Hugo Obermaier discovered the monument in 1926 near a town called Peraleda de la Mata.
Among the artifacts recovered were 11 axes, flint knives, ceramics, and a copper awl. A nearby settlement probably housed the people who built the monument, given the presence of houses, patches of charcoal and ash, pottery, and stones for sharpening axes. Obermaier restored some of the granite stones to their proper place and made reproductions of the engravings, which were published in 1960.
The vertical stones form an ovoid chamber (dolmen) connected to a long corridor (21 meters or 69 feet). At the entrance to the hallway is a large standing stone, or "menhir", carved with what appears to be a serpent. The chamber was covered with a mound of earth and gravel surrounded by another circular ring.
The exact purpose of the site remains a matter of debate, but it was most likely used as a solar temple, a trading post along the Tagus, or a burial enclave. By Atlas Obscura:
When intact... people would have entered through a dark, narrow hallway adorned with carvings and other decorations, probably carrying a torch. This would lead to an access portal to the more spacious main chamber, which was about 16 feet in diameter, where the dead would be interred. It is also likely that the monument was oriented around the summer solstice, allowing, for a few moments a year, the sun to shine on the ancestors of the community. Building such a large space, with such heavy materials, would have taken a lot of effort and ingenuity.
In 1963, the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco ordered the construction of a dam to create the Valdecañas reservoir. The massive project meant that underdeveloped parts of Spain now had water and electricity, but the dolmen and remains of the Roman town of Augustobriga have been buried under water, along with an inhabited town . (Residents have been relocated.)
Enlarge / The Dolmen of Guadalperal completely visible in July 2019 due to a low water level in the Valdecañas reservoir Valdecanas.
Pleonr /CC BY-SA 4.0
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