Science is Fun Fridays!!


Dolmen De Guadalperal - Spanish Stonehenge

A drought occurring in the Valdecañas reservoir of the Tagus River has revealed the 7,000 year old monument for the first time in over 50 years.

German archaeologist Hugo Obermaier had excavated the site in the 1920's.  The area was flooded in 1963 with the construction of a dam.

 
Though it appears to be an open air structure, it is believed that it was originally enclosed with a roof, and was a place of burial and worship of the sun.  Like Stonehenge in the UK, it is oriented around the summer solstice.


Teams want to relocate the monument before it floods again and suffers further erosion.

Obermaier found Roman remains, such as a coin, ceramic fragments and a grinding stone - they also found axes and flint knives as well as houses, charcoal and ash stains, suggesting a settlement was nearby.


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