Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – The Menga Dolmen, located in Antequera, Málaga, Spain, has lengthy been a topic of scientific inquiry as a consequence of its outstanding dimension and antiquity amongst European megalithic constructions.
Megalithic constructions are the oldest type of monumental stone structure. The primary European megalithic chambers appeared in France within the fifth millennium B.C. Menga, the oldest nice dolmen in Iberia, dates from 3800-3600 B.C. Its 150-ton capstone is the most important transported megalithic stone in Iberia and one of many largest in Europe.
Menga Dolmen. Credit score: Adobe Stock – José L. Hidalgo
This Neolithic monument, positioned on the Piedras Blancas website, is assessed as a tumulus, particularly a protracted barrow type of dolmen. Its entrance is characterised by an imposing trilith, and carbon courting locations its development between roughly 3750 and 3650 B.C.
Earlier analysis has established the Menga Dolmen as one of the most significant engineering accomplishments of the Neolithic period. Nonetheless, the strategies employed in its development have remained a subject of debate. Just lately, a multidisciplinary crew comprising historians, geologists, physicists, and archaeologists from numerous Spanish establishments has proposed a speculation to elucidate how a Neolithic tradition might have erected this historic construction, incorporating stones weighing as much as 150 metric tons.
Earlier analysis has proven that Neolithic builders of the monument possessed important engineering expertise. These expertise have been important for transporting and positioning huge stones, enabling the construction to endure for millennia in near-original situation.
The dolmen contains stone partitions and a ceiling supported by stone pillars, all bigger than these utilized in Stonehenge. All through historical past, many theories have tried to clarify how a primitive society might erect such a monumental and complicated construction. Researchers recommend that staff extracted stones from a website about one kilometer away and transported them on sledges alongside a wood trackway. After excavating a part of the hill, staff moved the rocks to the development website to type partitions, anchoring every stone into the bedrock utilizing counterweights and ramps.
(A) Panoramic view of town of Antequera, with the situation of the Cerro de la Cruz quarry, the Viera and Menga dolmens, the Tholos of El Romeral, and the Piedras Blancas at La Peña de los Enamorados. (B) Entrance to Menga. (C) Inside of the dolmen from the second pillar. (D) Inside of Menga, and three pillars at the moment preserved. (E) Dolmen chamber. Credit: (A) and (B) correspond to the principle writer; (C) and (E) have been supplied by the Antequera Dolmens Archaeological Web site on behalf of the Andalusian Regional Authorities (Miguel Ángel Blanca de la Rubia); (D). Credit score: Science Advances (2024). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adp1295
Employees used levers to place the stones barely inwardly, lowering the roof’s dimension and giving the monument a trapezoidal form. They then put in pillar stones utilizing the same methodology. The development concluded with inserting huge stones atop the construction to function a roof.
The researchers famous that constructing the monument required excessive precision to accurately align and match all parts. The stones have been interlocked to make sure long-term stability and sturdiness.
“In Prehistoric Europe, the development of enormous megaliths represents an period of nice technological innovation, because it incorporates advanced types of engineering and unparalleled inventive genius.
It’s unimaginable to grasp how a monument as subtle as Menga was constructed between 3800 and 3600 BCE with out resorting to a notion of “early science,” particularly contemplating that, to this date, no precedents have been present in Iberia suggesting a gradual, regular enhance within the improvement of engineering experience by means of trial and error.
On the premise of the proof at hand, Menga is likely one of the first nice monumental buildings ever engineered with colossal stones. Not solely no precedents existed in Iberia for such a monument when Menga was constructed but in addition no comparable monument was later made all through all of Late Prehistory. Or no less than, we now have no report left,” the scientists write within the research.
The research was printed within the journal Science Advances
Written by Conny Waters – AncientPages.com Employees Author
