Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Dec 1;13(1):21184.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-47423-y.

The provenance of the stones in the Menga dolmen reveals one of the greatest engineering feats of the Neolithic

José Antonio Lozano Rodríguez  1   2 , Leonardo García Sanjuán  3 , Antonio M Álvarez-Valero  4 , Francisco Jiménez-Espejo  5 , Jesús María Arrieta  6 , Eugenio Fraile-Nuez  6 , Raquel Montero Artús  3 , Giuseppe Cultrone  7 , Fernando Alonso Muñoz-Carballeda  4 , Francisco Martínez-Sevilla  8
Affiliations

The provenance of the stones in the Menga dolmen reveals one of the greatest engineering feats of the Neolithic

José Antonio Lozano Rodríguez et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

The technical and intellectual capabilities of past societies are reflected in the monuments they were able to build. Tracking the provenance of the stones utilised to build prehistoric megalithic monuments, through geological studies, is of utmost interest for interpreting ancient architectures as well as to contribute to their protection. According to the scarce information available, most stones used in European prehistoric megaliths originate from locations near the construction sites, which would have made transport easier. The Menga dolmen (Antequera, Malaga, Spain), listed in UNESCO World Heritage since July 2016, was designed and built with stones weighting up to nearly 150 tons, thus becoming the most colossal stone monument built in its time in Europe (c. 3800-3600 BC). Our study (based on high-resolution geological mapping as well as petrographic and stratigraphic analyses) reveals key geological and archaeological evidence to establish the precise provenance of the massive stones used in the construction of this monument. These stones are mostly calcarenites, a poorly cemented detrital sedimentary rock comparable to those known as 'soft stones' in modern civil engineering. They were quarried from a rocky outcrop located at a distance of approximately 1 km. In this study, it can be inferred the use of soft stone in Menga reveals the human application of new wood and stone technologies enabling the construction of a monument of unprecedented magnitude and complexity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
3D Model of Menga drawn with AutoCAD showing the biofacies (microfacies) present in the stones. The fourth pillar, currently missing, has been added, while capstones C-2, C-3, C-4 and C-5 have been removed in order to show the interior of the monument (Lozano Rodríguez et al.). (a) Pillar P-3 with examples of biofacies (a1–a3 observed in hand specimen). (b) Orthostat O-15 with examples of biofacies (b1–b4 observed petrographically) and in hand specimen (b5). (c) Orthostat O-8 with examples observed petrographically (crossed polars) (c1,c2). (d) Orthostat O-5 with examples observed through the petrographic microscope (d1,d2). The star-shaped symbol indicates the place where a section was made for the petrographic study. Qtz: Quartz (designations after Kretz,).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic design of Menga showing the distribution of facies in the stones. (a) Without the capstones. (b) With the capstones (P: Pillar; C: Capstone; O: Orthostat) (Modified from Lozano Rodríguez, et al.).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Detailed geological map on DTM of the area surrounding Menga, made with Adobe Illustrator based on new field data incorporated to pre-existing geological maps DTM data. The blue line A-A' represents the direction of the stratigraphic diagram in Fig. 4a.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(a) Stratigraphic correlation of the Upper Tortonian sedimentary materials in the Los Remedios neighbourhood and Cerro de la Cruz. (b) View of the small outcrop of type 1 and 2 stones (submarine canyon), embedded by erosion in the shoals materials, preserved at Cerro de la Cruz. (c) Stratigraphic section at Los Remedios neighbourhood, showing the submarine canyon materials below the shoals. (d) Detail of the matrix-supported marine materials with large amounts of pisoliths and minor bryozoans and red algae or lamellibranchs. (e) Overview of the submarine canyon materials at Cerro de la Cruz, above the fan-deltas. Note the subvertical tectonic fracturing, which is perpendicular to the valley, displaying little tectonic penetration at metric scale, which favoured the extraction of large blocks. (f) Detail of well-cemented sedimentary materials at Los Remedios neighbourhood, with smaller amounts of pisoliths and local bryozoans and red algae or lamellibranchs.
Figure 5
Figure 5
(a) Geological map of tectonic jointing on DTM, showing the location of Menga and Viera and the likely quarrying areas at Cerro de la Cruz. (b) Stereographic representation of the groups of joints. (c) Overview of the tectonic fracturing present in quarry areas #2 and #3. (d) Groups of joints observed in Quarry #1. (e) Example of a possible discarded megalithic stone at Quarry #1. Maps made with Adobe Illustrator based on new field data incorporated to pre-existing geological maps DTM data.
Figure 6
Figure 6
(a) Overview of Menga, Viera, Los Remedios neighbourhood and Cerro de la Cruz from the NE, showing the location of submarine canyons, the factory zone, lobes outcrops (red star) and possible quarrying areas. The direction of stone transportation from the quarries to Menga hill is suggested. (b,c) Detail naked eye of bioclastic calcirudite (lithology Type 1) of in Menga's orthostat O-10, and quarry #2 respectively. (d,e) Petrographic microphotography of orthostat O-5 (lithology Type 1), and quarry #2 respectively. (f,g) Detail naked eye of bioclastic calcarenite (lithology Type 2) of in Menga's pillar P-3, and quarry #2 respectively. (h,i) Petrographic microphotography of orthostat O-18 (lithology Type 2), and quarry #2 respectively. (j,k) Detail naked eye of bioclastic micro-breccia (lithology Type 3) of in Menga's capstone C-2, and quarry #3 respectively. (i,m) Detail naked eye calcareous breccia (lithology Type 4) in Menga’s capstone C-1, and quarry #1 respectively. All photomicrographs are crossed polars light.
Figure 7
Figure 7
(a) Artistic representation of quarrying activities for the extraction the capstone C-5 in Cerro de la Cruz Quarry #2. Drawing: Moisés Bellilty under guidance of José Antonio Lozano Rodríguez and Leonardo García Sanjuán. (b) Aspect of the thickness and shape of the C-5 capstone, the support on part of the O-10 orthostat and the tumular structure. University of Malaga excavation. Ferrer-Marqués, 1984. Conjunto Arqueológico Dólmenes de Antequera. (c) Convex morphology of the top of the C-5 capstone and the thickness of the tumular structure. University of Malaga excavation. Ferrer-Marqués, 1984. Conjunto Arqueológico Dólmenes de Antequera.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Parker Pearson M, et al. Megalith quarries for Stonehenge’s bluestones. Antiquity. 2019;93:45–62. doi: 10.15184/aqy.2018.111. - DOI
    1. Parker Pearson, M. et al. Long-distance landscapes: from quarries to monument at Stonehenge. In Megaliths and Geology: Megálitos e Geologia: MEGA-TALKS 2: 19–20 November 2015 (Redondo, Portugal) (eds. Rui Boaventura; Rui Mataloto and André Pereira.) 151–170 (2020). 10.2307/j.ctv1zckz4z.11.
    1. Cáceres LM, Muñiz F, Rodríguez-Vidal J, Vargas JM, Donaire T. Marine bioerosion in rocks of the prehistoric tholos of La Pastora (Valencina de la Concepción, Seville, Spain): Archaeological and palaeoenvironmental implications. J. Archaeol. Sci. 2014;41:435–446. doi: 10.1016/j.jas.2013.09.001. - DOI
    1. Cáceres LM, et al. Natural “megalithic art” at Valencina (Seville): a geoarchaeological approach to stone, architecture, and cultural choice in Copper Age Iberia. Archaeol. Anthropol. Sci. 2019;11:4621–4641. doi: 10.1007/s12520-019-00870-z. - DOI
    1. Borja Barrera, F. & Borja Barrera, C. Los materiales constructivos pétreos de Montelirio. in Montelirio: un gran monumento megalítico de la Edad del Cobre (eds. Fernández-Flores, A., García Sanjuán, L., Díaz-Zorita, Bonilla, M.), 2016, ISBN 978–84–9959–236–7, pp. 143–163 (Consejería de Cultura, 2016).