The authors of the new study described how ancient people brought tons of stones to the construction site of Europe’s largest megalithic structure. Dolmen de Menga (Dolmen de Menga) is located in Andalusia (Spain), near the city of Antequera and is the largest megalithic structure in Europe. This is a tall burial mound called a tumulus. Dolmen dates back to the first half of the 4th millennium BC.

Its length is 27.5 meters, its width is six meters and its height is 3.5 meters. It consists of 32 megaliths, the largest weighing about 180 tons. For comparison: the heaviest elements of Stonehenge weigh about 25 tons. This megalithic tomb was opened in the 19th century, and according to the memories of archaeologists working there, many human skeletal remains were unearthed from the burial chambers. They have not survived to this day, so scientists can only assume that the rulers of the region were buried in a huge mound.

The only thing our contemporaries have for research are dolmen stones. And that’s not all that little. After all, the geological characteristics of the stones show which quarry they were extracted from and how far this quarry is from the construction site. This shows how difficult the task of quarrying and transporting stone was, which provides information about the cultural and technical capabilities of prehistoric societies.

In the magazine Scientific Reports A study containing the results of the examination of Meng dolmen stones was published by a group of archaeologists, historians and geologists. To learn more about the composition of the stones, the researchers used petrographic and stratigraphic analysis methods.

The authors found that dolmen stones are predominantly calcarenites, that is, limestones. Such stones, on the one hand, are suitable for processing, but on the other hand, they are very fragile, so they are difficult to transport. Perhaps the first feature was more important to people living in southern Spain about six thousand years ago.

Scientists explored the area around the Meng dolmen within a radius of three kilometers. The researchers took samples of existing limestone rocks and compared them to megalithic material. As a result, scientists concluded that the dolmen stones were taken from the Cerro de la Cruz quarry located above the mountain slope.

If their conclusion is correct, the stones were moved over a distance of one kilometer over an area with a (very large) slope of 22 degrees. According to the researchers, this is not possible without significant engineering structures.

The structure of the tomb is quite complex: it consists of actual burial chambers and a wide open corridor. The megalith was built so that on the day of the summer equinox, an observer on the dolmen terrace would see the sunrise over the highest mountain in the vicinity. Previous studies have highlighted this fact as evidence of astronomical observations in Neolithic communities.

According to the authors of the new study, the process of building dolmens tells much more about the development of society than a beautiful view from the terrace. Excavating and transporting the massive stones from Cerro de la Cruz to the tomb site required intense planning, delicate logistics and enormous labor costs.

Scientists believe that ancient builders used a large number of typical wooden structures: they were conceived and built here for specific works. They believe that different ramps were built under different stones. Without them, transportation of stones weighing up to 180 tons at a significant angle would not only be dangerous for builders, but would also inevitably lead to the destruction of transported rock fragments.

The authors of the article noted that the construction of the Menga dolmen was a unique achievement, considering the size, number (more than 30) and fragility of the stones, as well as the construction of ramps. megalithic engineering in prehistoric Iberia and possibly Europe.