Spanish Stonehenge of Guadalperal: a 5000-year-old Megalithic Structure

Dolmen of Guadalperal

Intro

The Dolmen of Guadalperal, also known as the “Spanish Stonehenge”, is an ancient megalithic monument located near the town of Cáceres in the Extremadura region of western Spain.

The site, which dates back to the late Neolithic period, around 4,500 to 3,500 BCE, although other estimates for the site place the construction at a much earlier time between 5000-7000 BCE consists of a large central chamber with three smaller chambers around it and a number of standing stones.

The Dolmen of Guadalperal is a remarkable example of Neolithic architecture, and it has been the subject of numerous scientific studies over the years. The monument is believed to have been used as a burial site, and it may also have served as a place of worship or other ritual activity. It is thought that the monument was built to honour the dead and to commemorate the passing of generations.

Discovery

The Dolmen of Guadalperal was discovered by the German priest and archaeologist Hugo Obermaier between 1925 and 1927.

Obermaier was the chaplain of the house of Alba, to whom those lands belonged. There he spent long periods of time digging and studying the “treasure”, as it was called by the archaeologists of the time due to the number of items found from different periods.

The local authorities at the time did not give the slightest importance to the discovery. In fact, the Neolithic remains were already known by the residents of the area, although they were unaware of their value.

Hugo Obermaier’s studies were not published until 1960. Three years later, the area was flooded by the construction of the Valdecañas Reservoir, a project to bring water and electricity to less developed parts of the region.

Spanish Stonehenge

The Spanish Stonehenge of Guadalperal consists of a group of about 150 large stones arranged in a circle in a vertical arrangement.

The stones are made of quartz and weigh up to 1500 kilograms, making them some of the heaviest of their type in Europe.

The Stones at the Dolmen of Guadalperal are preceded by an access corridor about 21 metres long and 1.5 metres wide. Experts believe that originally the structure was covered by a dome above the corridor. During the spring equinox, the sun entered through the gallery and illuminated one of the menhirs that blocked the corridor.

Uses

Like many of its European counterparts, it is believed the Spanish Stonehenge was used to commemorate the dead and also may have acted as a centre for various ceremonies in the area.

In addition to burial, the Guadalperal dolmen could have had other uses: to carry out religious rites, meetings or to keep the treasure of the community

The president of the Association Roots of Peraleda, Ángel Castaño has an interesting theory of his own. He believes that the shape of the Dolmen of Guadalperal is a map of the Tajo (Tagus) River. He spoke to members of the National Institute of Cartography and they seem to agree with him that the shape of the riverbed seems to coincide with the Neolithic monument.

And it is speculated that just opposite, there could be another similar one. The Tagus was always a very mighty and navigable river for different civilizations. Now there are bridges to cross it but, in the past, our ancestors did it at some of the points where the river opened and, in summer, there was less water, like the Vado de Alarza. They could cross it on foot or on horseback.

Re-Discovery

In the early 1960s, the waters of the recently built Valdecañas reservoir began to cover the most fertile land in the north of Cáceres. It was the golden age of dams, of the large hydroelectric plants that swept away towns and villages throughout Spain.

The megalithic monument was submerged in the process. The tips of the tallest stones would sometimes appear as the water levels went down.

In 2019, Europe suffered from intense droughts and the waters of the Valdecañas Reservoir receded to its lowest point in fifty years. NASA was able to spot the Spanish Stonehenge from space and since then, local residents and a number of associations have petitioned the Spanish government to move and preserve the megalithic monument and its historical value before the water is submerged again under water.