Spanish Stonehenge uncovered on avocado plantation

Archaeologists have uncovered what they believe to be one of the largest megalithic sites in Europe on a farm in southern Spain.

The Spanish henge is similar to Stonehenge.

Archaeologists have uncovered what they believe to be one of the largest megalithic sites in Europe on a farm in southern Spain. It was used, like Stonehenge, to observe and celebrate astronomical events such as equinoxes and solstices, they believe.

The site, dating back at least 7,000 years, contains more than 500 standing stones and two stone circles similar to the one on Salisbury Plain.

Researchers from the universities of Huelva and Alcala de Henares said that the complex, on a hill on the left bank of the Guadiana River, had been reused and repurposed for nearly three millennia, and also included dry-stone enclosures that may have served as ritual or burial sites.

It was found on the La Torre-La Janera farm, near the border with Portugal, after the owners presented plans to convert it into an avocado plantation. The local authority said they would have to commission an investigation of the few megalithic stones that were known to exist on the land and that had already suffered damage when eucalyptus trees were grown there in the 1970s and when a wind farm was constructed on it in 2008.

The resulting 18-month study, begun in January 2020, included aerial surveys with drones and computer analysis and proved to be spectacular: a total of 526 menhirs (standing stones) were identified and several quarries and tools found nearby.

Investigators believe the earliest stones carved from greywacke – a sandy rock made up of mica, feldspar and quartz – date back to the 6th millennium BC.

The researchers said that, like Stonehenge, which was erected about 3,100BC, the stones appeared to have been continually repurposed over the next 3,000 years.

They wrote in the journal Trabajos de Prehistoria: “It is a unique site so far in the Iberian Peninsula … Communal activities around the menhirs and dolmens could have served to fix the territory of the ancestors, foster intergroup bonds of cohesion and create a memory of the place for a long period of time.”

The stones were of various shapes and sizes, between 1 and 3.5 metres long. Some are half-finished blocks, suggesting they were abandoned after cracks or other deficiencies were found, while others show signs of sculptural work and have been aligned in rows, arranged in circles or used to form dolmens – ancient burial chambers or sites for ritual offerings.

While the earliest menhirs are crude, with little sign of workmanship by human hand, the stone circles and alignments that were erected 1,000 years later show signs of sanding and polishing and of more sophisticated methods to keep them standing, involving platforms and bases.

“The presence of enclosures, platforms and megalithic holes could attest to the durability of the site as a ritual [or] ceremonial centre in later timelines,” the researchers said. “They were located in previously-used sites that repurposed approaches, techniques and menhirs from older stages.”

The two stone circles, or cromlechs, were found on the brow of hills with clear views toward the east, leading investigators to conclude that they were positioned as an astronomical clock or calendar to mark significant dates. The stones are formed in a U-shape that resembles other circles found in Portugal.

The source of the stones was found near by. The investigation uncovered 46 mines with abandoned quartzite hammers and half-finished blocks.

The researchers have now secured permission to fully investigate the site over the next five years.

The Times