Roknia Necropolis
Also known asRoknia megalithic necropolis
DatedEst. 4500–1800 BCE
No licensed photograph yetWe have no photograph we may publish for this site, so the interpretive 3D view leads instead.
Overview
About this site
Overview
Roknia is a necropolis of dolmens in the Guelma region of north-east Algeria. It is recorded in the Atlas as the Roknia Necropolis, also called the Roknia megalithic necropolis.
It consists of more than 7000 dolmens spread over an area of 2 km. The catalogue gives an estimated date of 4500 to 1800 BCE, based on typological comparison.
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Where it sits in time
The site's dated range, placed against world reference points.
The scale is logarithmic: each step to the left is about ten times older than the last.
Article
Roknia Necropolis
The dolmens are scattered across an area of 2 km, and their number is given as more than 7000.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): RokniaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): RokniaCC BY-SA 4.0
The necropolis lies in the Guelma region of north-east Algeria. The dolmens are scattered across an area of 2 km, and their number is given as more than 7000.
DatingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): RokniaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): RokniaCC BY-SA 4.0
No absolute dating is recorded for the site. The estimated range of 4500 to 1800 BCE rests on typological comparison with other monuments of the same kind.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): RokniaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): RokniaCC BY-SA 4.0
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 dolmens in general 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.
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
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.
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
Est. 4500–1800 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypological estimate, not a date for this site: a dolmen in North Africa is normally dated between 4500 BCE and 1800 BCE (Atlas typological table).Source for this date
Measured facts
- Location
- Guelma region, northeastern AlgeriaSource: Location
- Dolmen count
- More than 7000Source: Dolmen count
- Area
- 2 kmSource: Area
- Site type
- NecropolisSource: Site type
Where it stands
Algeria
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 36°32′53″ N, 7°13′47″ EFor a GPS or map app: 36.54810, 7.22963
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.
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Roknia" (English), 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 (English): RokniaCC BY-SA 4.0
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