Dolmen de Viera

The Dolmen de Viera at Antequera (Andalusia ) is one of the most important buildings of Neolithic architecture in Europe. In addition to the Cueva de Menga and the Dolmen de about 2.5 miles away El Romeral it forms a unique ensemble of Stone Age buildings.

Location

The Dolmen de Viera is just 70 meters from the Cueva de Menga in the east of Antequera.

Dating

The dating of the building is unclear - the older research advocated an age of about 4,000 to 4,500 years ago, during one assumes a much earlier date and thus a significantly higher age of about 5800 years lately. In any case, the buildings of the Cueva de Menga and the Dolmen de Viera should not only spatially but also temporally close to lie down together. The dolmen was discovered in 1903 /05 by the brothers Antonio and José Viera and bears her name.

Architecture

Within one made ​​of small stones piled up and covered with earth tumulus of about 50 meters in diameter, a formerly about 21 feet long, hewn from the exact and butted large stone blocks ( megaliths ) ran erected transition (width about 1.30 to 1.60 meters; height 1.85 meters ), ending on a transversely positioned Megalithstein whose center is formed by a 60 × 80 cm large rectangular opening that is sometimes referred to as soul hole. ( Height 2.05 meters in width and a depth of about 1.80 meters ) behind an over the transition only slightly enlarged square grave chamber is located. The always unlocked gear was oriented to the southeast, that is, at about the peak of sun in June, whose rays then at dawn still illuminate the aisle.

A part of the tumulus is the passage of time - have been removed so that the megaliths were exposed to the elements in the front transition region, which has led to considerable destruction - probably from rain and wind. The restoration of the input range refers to the original dimensions roughly and also shows the half-destroyed orthostat Jewels.