Another “Spanish Stonehenge” appears in Southern Spain: These are the treasures found in the stone monument
In the gentle hills of Andalusia, a remarkable discovery has emerged: a tomb more than five millennia old.
Archaeologists from the University of Cádiz have unearthed a prehistoric structure—a dolmen—across multiple excavation seasons, revealing not only its architectural form but also a wealth of artefacts that shed light on how our ancient European ancestors lived.
Unlike many fragmented relics of the past, this dolmen remains remarkably intact. Its chamber stretches roughly 13 metres in length, flanked by stone walls nearly two metres tall, and capped with a manmade mound of soil and stones above. Inside, researchers found a carefully curated assemblage of objects: arrowheads, seashells, amber, and ivory.
Eduardo Vijande Vila, the project’s co-director, said in a statement that “the true potential of this structure lies in its extraordinary state of preservation, which will allow us to gain a detailed understanding of the lifestyles and beliefs of these communities,” Vijande Vila says.
What’s surprising about the artefacts is that ivory and marine shells, for instance, are not native to inland Andalusia.
Their presence suggests robust exchange networks linking settlements; University of Cádiz prehistory scholar Juan Jesús Cantillo told ArkeoNews: “These finds show that Late Prehistoric communities in the Iberian interior were far from isolated. They participated in extensive trade routes that linked coastal and inland areas, circulating goods, ideas and cultural values.”
The fascination with Andalusia’s newly unearthed dolmen is a result of another find elsewhere in Spain.
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In Cáceres, a drought recently revealed the “Spanish Stonehenge”, a stone circle usually hidden beneath the Valdecañas reservoir. First found in the 1920s and later flooded by mid-20th-century dam projects, the site resurfaces only when water levels drop severely.
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