Dolmen von Roknia
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Overview
About this site
Overview
The necropolis of Roknia is a vast megalithic complex at Roknia, in the wilaya of Guelma, in north-eastern Algeria. It counts more than 3,000 dolmens, laid out over a length of about 2 km along the edge of a cliff, and is one of the main megalithic sites of North Africa.
The site was classified as a historical monument of Algeria on 20 December 1967. No archaeological excavation has been carried out there since Algerian independence.
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Article
Dolmen von Roknia
The surroundings are rocky and rugged, and the numerous funerary monuments extend over a wide area.
SettingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Nécropole de RokniaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Nécropole de RokniaCC BY-SA 4.0
The necropolis lies on the line of wilaya road 122, which links Hammam Debagh to Roknia. From Hammam Debagh the site is reached after about 9 km of road, at a signposted fork that indicates a distance of 1.8 km to the necropolis. The surroundings are rocky and rugged, and the numerous funerary monuments extend over a wide area. There are two main types of monument, rock-cut tombs (hypogea) and dolmens, the latter consisting of a horizontal covering slab resting on two vertically set stones.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Nécropole de RokniaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Nécropole de RokniaCC BY-SA 4.0
The megaliths of Roknia are mainly dolmens, forming a vast prehistoric necropolis. They are grouped chiefly on the heights and slopes overlooking the valley, and some are arranged around circular enclosures of stones. The dolmens generally have a quadrangular burial chamber made of vertical slabs supporting a covering slab, and the dimensions of the chambers vary from monument to monument.
The necropolis also contains burials cut directly into the rock of the cliff, called haouanet in the eastern Maghreb. The coexistence of megalithic monuments and rock-cut funerary chambers reflects the diversity of burial practice represented at the site.
Research historySources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Nécropole de RokniaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Nécropole de RokniaCC BY-SA 4.0
The first research on the necropolis dates from the nineteenth century. General Louis Faidherbe undertook investigations on the site in 1867, before the excavations of Jules René Bourguignat in 1868, which covered several dolmens and documented the structure of the burials and the objects associated with them. For a long time these early investigations formed most of the archaeological documentation available for Roknia, and the site remains insufficiently studied by modern excavation. A fence and an entrance were put up in the 1980s but have since been destroyed, and a single guardian is responsible for watching over the whole site.
FindsSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Nécropole de RokniaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Nécropole de RokniaCC BY-SA 4.0
Bourguignat's excavations of 1868 yielded bones, pottery and jewellery, in a form recalling the megalithic culture of Atlantic Europe. They also produced items of adornment, notably rings, bracelets and finger rings, a large group of ceramic vessels in various shapes, and objects of bronze and gilded silver. The artefacts found at Roknia are kept in the Bardo museum in Algiers and at Saint-Germain-en-Laye in France.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Dolmens
A dolmen is a single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually made of two or more upright stones supporting a large flat horizontal capstone, or table. Most date from the Late Neolithic period, 4000 to 3000 BCE, and were sometimes covered with earth or smaller stones to form a tumulus. In many dolmens the covering has eroded away, leaving only the stone skeleton. The word entered archaeology when Théophile Corret de la Tour d'Auvergne used it to describe megalithic tombs in his book of 1796.
Dolmens go by many names. In Portuguese and Galician they are antas, in Dutch hunebedden, in Danish dysser, in Swedish dösar, in Basque trikuharri, in Welsh cromlechau, in Cornwall quoits, and in Korean goindol, "propped stone". In Catalan-speaking areas folk names include cova (cave), caixa (crate or coffin), taula (table), arca (chest) and cabana (hut). The German Hünengrab and Dutch hunebed carry the word Hüne, "giant", and evoke giants buried there; that is an old explanation for monuments too large for ordinary people, and it is folklore, not evidence.
They are found in Europe, the Caucasus, the Levant, Korea and India. They are not all of one age or culture. In Europe most belong to the Neolithic, but in the Levant they are of the Early Bronze Age and in Korea they were built from the Bronze Age to the early Iron Age. The Levantine tradition is a different, unrelated one from that of Europe.
The Atlas uses this article for dolmens in countries that do not have their own article, such as Switzerland and Belgium. Dating is by typology, with absolute dates available only where a tomb has been excavated.
When visiting, look for the capstone and its supports, for traces of a mound or kerb around them, and for the direction in which the entrance faces.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Dolmen, Wikipedia: Portal dolmen, Wikipedia: Funnel beaker culture · CC BY-SA 4.0
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 1867
Le général Louis Faidherbe entreprend des recherches sur le site en 1867, avant les fouilles de Jules René Bourguignat en 1868. Ces dernières portent notamment sur plusieurs dolmens et permettent de documenter la structure des sépultures ainsi que le mobilier qui leur est associé.
Source - 1868
Lors des fouilles de Jules René Bourguignat en 1868, on y a trouvé des ossements, des poteries et des bijoux, sous une forme rappelant la culture mégalithique de l'Europe Atlantique.
Source - 1967
Le site est classé monument historique d'Algérie le 20 décembre 1967. Aucune fouille archéologique n'a cependant été effectuée depuis l'indépendance de l'Algérie.
Source - 1980
Une clôture et une entrée furent dressées dans les années 1980, mais ont été détruites depuis.
Source
See it in 3D
An interpretive reconstruction of the monument, standing on the real ground at its exact point, under the sun for that place and season. Drag to look around it.
The reconstruction is ours, not a survey: it shows what a monument of this type looks like, at the size the record gives for this one.
Where it stands
Algeria
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 36°33′00″ N, 7°14′00″ EFor a GPS or map app: 36.55000, 7.23333
Access is as our sources describe it; we have not visited the site to check.
Nearby
The closest sites in the Atlas, by straight line.
- DolmenRoknia Necropolis4500–1800 BCE
Dolmens of Eles- NuragheNuraghe Sa guardia de su turcu1900–730 BCE
- NuragheNuraghe Turritta1900–730 BCE
- NuragheNuraghe S’Acqua sa canna – Monte Arbus II1900–730 BCE
- NuragheNuraghe 'e Mori1900–730 BCE
- NuragheNuraghe Crisioni1900–730 BCE
Nuragic complex of Grutti 'e Acqua1900–730 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
1 source behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q3556388wikidata.org
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Around this place
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Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Nécropole de Roknia" (French), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; authors are listed in the page history. Reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikipedia · Edit history and authors
- Wikipedia (French): Nécropole de RokniaCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q3556388CC0