Overview
About this site
Overview
The Dolmen of Azolape is a megalithic tomb in the municipality of Oderitz, in the Foral Community of Navarre, Spain, north-west of the village, at an elevation of 753 m at the foot of the Aralar massif. It belongs to the Larraun megalithic zone and has been associated with the Neolithic, the Copper Age and the Bronze Age.
It was discovered in 1951 by Jesús Elósegui Irazusta, and no excavation has been carried out.
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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
Azolape
60 m; until the end of 2017 this height could not be measured because of the weeds covering the monument.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen d'AzolapeCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen d'AzolapeCC BY-SA 4.0
The dolmen stands on a slight terrace surrounded by dense scrub. Its tumulus of medium-sized stones is 15 m in diameter and reaches a maximum height of 1.60 m; until the end of 2017 this height could not be measured because of the weeds covering the monument. In the centre is the funerary chamber, 3 m in diameter and 0.60 m deep. Of the orthostates of the chamber, only one remains in situ. The covering slab is broken into three pieces inside the chamber, with another piece on the south side of the tumulus.
Research historySources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen d'AzolapeCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen d'AzolapeCC BY-SA 4.0
The dolmen was discovered in 1951 by Jesús Elósegui Irazusta. No excavation has been carried out. A typological estimate in the catalogue gives 4000–3000 BCE.
VisitingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen d'AzolapeCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen d'AzolapeCC BY-SA 4.0
The route of the dolmens of Oderitz links four dolmens: Pagamendi, Azolape, Milaldapa and Pikabotz. The itinerary was laid out and waymarked in 2017, and the walk is about 2.9 km long.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Dolmens of Andalusia, Extremadura and Galicia
Spain has a great many megalithic tombs, and the Atlas's Spanish dolmens run from Andalusia in the south to Galicia in the north-west. The finest are at Antequera in Andalusia, where the Dolmen of Menga, dated to about 3750 to 3650 BCE, is among the largest ancient megalithic structures in Europe. It is 27.5 metres long, 6 metres wide and 3.5 metres high, built with thirty-two megaliths, the largest weighing about 180 tonnes. After the chamber was finished it was covered with soil and built up into the hill seen today; when it was opened in the nineteenth century archaeologists found the skeletons of several hundred people. The Dolmen of Viera stands 70 metres away, and the tholos of El Romeral lies about 4 kilometres off; the three were inscribed as the Antequera Dolmens Site, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in 2016.
In the south-west, the Dolmen de Soto at Trigueros in Huelva province is a Neolithic tomb estimated to date between 3000 and 2500 BCE, one of about 200 Neolithic burial sites in the province. It was found in 1922 when its owner, Armando de Soto Morillas, wanted to build a house; the German archaeologist Hugo Obermaier found eight bodies in a fetal position with artefacts, and its engraved and painted uprights have been studied more recently.
In Galicia and Portugal a dolmen is an anta, and in Catalan-speaking areas dolmens have folk names such as cova (cave), caixa (crate or coffin), taula (table) and arca (chest). These names are tradition: they record what people made of the monuments, not what they were built for.
When visiting Menga, look at the great capstones from inside the corridor, and at the way the mound was built up over the chamber.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Dolmen of Menga, Wikipedia: Dolmen of Viera, Wikipedia: Antequera Dolmens Site, Wikipedia: Dolmen de Soto, Wikipedia: Dolmen · CC BY-SA 4.0
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 1951
Il a été découvert en 1951 par Jesús Elósegui Irazusta (es).
Source - 2017
Cet itinéraire a été aménagé en 2017 et balisé, pour une marche d'environ 2,9 km.
Source - 2017
Son tumulus de pierres de taille moyenne mesure 15 m de diamètre, atteignant une hauteur maximale de 1,60 m (jusqu’à fin de l’année 2017, cette mesure était impossible à prendre en raison de la quantité de mauvaises herbes qui l’envahissait).
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.
Photographs
4 photographs, each with its author and licence
More photographs
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
Est. 4000–3000 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypical range for dolmens in Spain; this site has not been dated itself. Most dolmens date from the Late Neolithic period (4000-3000 BCE); the Dolmen of Menga in Andalusia dates to about 3750-3650 BCE.Source for this date
Where it stands
Spain
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 42°57′17″ N, 1°52′48″ WFor a GPS or map app: 42.95478, -1.88002
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
- 01Wikidata Q66115020wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Dolmen d'Azolape" (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): Dolmen d'AzolapeCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q66115020CC0