The Menga dolmen is a huge funerary mound that is part of the megalithic complex of Antequera (Málaga). Located on a gentle hill facing the lowlands of the Guadalhorce River, its position is the only one that allows you to look at both the sunrise and the Peña de los Enamorados (874 meters) from its central chamber at the same time. .
The enclave was one of those that had the most abiotic resources (water, air, sunlight, nutrients, humidity…) from Prehistory in the south of the Iberian Peninsula. And that is why the place was already frequented by humans even before the construction of the great dolmen about 5,700 years ago.
Researchers from the universities of Alcalá, Seville, Granada and Salamanca claim, in an article published in the magazine Scientific Reports, that this is one of the most impressive engineering works of the Neolithic period, with a cornerstone that has a weight close to the 150 tons (the second largest ever used in a Neolithic dolmen).
The incredible monument is a huge tomb – its total dimensions reach 27.5 meters – with an atrium, a corridor and a large funerary chamber six meters wide and 3.5 meters high that contained the skeletons of several hundreds of people.
Researchers describe the overall structure as “the most colossal stone monument erected in its time in Europe.” After analyzing the large blocks, the study authors discovered that ancient builders also chose to work with soft stone, the work of which required a great deal of technical skill and logistical organization.
Using a variety of petrographic and stratigraphic analysis techniques, archaeologists discovered that the Menga stones are “mainly calcarenites, a poorly cemented detrital sedimentary rock comparable to those known as ‘soft stones’ in modern civil engineering.”
These stones are particularly difficult to transport without damaging them, meaning that whoever erected the Menga ensemble must have planned the project meticulously. “Working with these large and fragile slabs must have involved an enormous investment not only in the work of the stone, but also in the work of the wood and the manufacture of ropes,” the specialists detail.
“Large quantities of wood must have been used – continue the authors of the study – to build the scaffolding that was used both in the extraction process and also to prepare the roads along which these enormous stones were transported.”
The tomb, furthermore, was carefully oriented to provide “three main locational advantages.” For example, the position of the dolmen aligns perfectly with the nearby mountain known as Lovers’ Rock and the sunrise, “producing a complex pattern of light and shadow within the chamber.”
The site’s location, slightly below the quarry that provided the raw materials, a kilometer away, allowed the ancient builders to transport the huge boulders in a constant downhill trajectory. Finally, the substrate at the top of the hill is considerably more stable than the nearby soft clay soils, providing a firmer and more secure foundation for the dolmen.
Despite these advantages, the porosity of the stones used to construct the tomb would normally have left them vulnerable to water damage. To overcome this problem, Menga’s designers isolated the largest stones with enormous mounds made of “alternating layers of carefully interlocked sandstones and pressed earth.”
Taking all these innovations into account, the experts conclude that “the construction of the dolmen – declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2016 – represents a unique achievement that shows the advanced levels of megalithic engineering in prehistoric Iberia and possibly in Europe” .
