Megalith (abstract root)The Copper Age
Borda Cuartillo 3
DatedEst. 4300–1200 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
Borda Cuartillo 3 is a megalith in Isaba-Izaba, Spain. It lies at 42.9073° N, 0.8991° W, at an elevation of 1262 m.
Catalogue recordSources and licences
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
Borda Cuartillo 3
ContextSources for this section
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
Most of the Atlas's Spanish "megalith" records lie in the Basque country and Navarre, in upland pasture where prehistoric graves are found in great numbers. The Basque Country has a multitude of megaliths, described as dolmens or as mounds, sometimes confusingly. They are burials of a collective nature, placed in spots of great visibility, often on the tops of mountain ridges, and are built of local materials. Around 800 dolmens and about 500 mounds are known, though some of the mounds could be dolmens awaiting excavation. Dolmens have a chamber of flat stones under a roof stone, covered with stones and earth; the chambers are either simple or with a corridor, and the corridor type is limited to the Ebro valley. The largest dolmens are in lowland areas and the smaller ones in the mountains. The regional background, “Megalithic monuments of the Basque highlands”, is given below.
DatingSources for this section
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
No scientific date has been published for this site. Monuments of this type in Spain are generally dated 4300 BCE to 1200 BCE; the site itself may fall inside or outside that range.
Megalithic construction in southern Spain c. 4300 BC and in Malaga and Guadiana c. 3500 BC; the Mediterranean megalithic tradition ends by c. 1200 BC.
Setting
34 other recorded monuments lie within 10 km (4 within 1 km, 16 within 5 km), 7 of them of the same type. In Isaba-Izaba, Spain, 8 of the 29 recorded monuments are of this type.
The nearest recorded monuments are Borda Cuartillo 2 (0.0 km south-west, megalith); Borda Cuartillo 1 (0.0 km west, megalith); Adazidoia (0.5 km north-east, dolmen); Adazidoia tumuloa (0.8 km north, megalithic mound).
ProtectionSources for this section
Sources for this section
Heritage status: Archaeological site in Nafarroa.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Megalithic monuments of the Basque highlands
Most of the Atlas's Spanish "megalith" records lie in the Basque country and Navarre, in upland pasture where prehistoric graves are found in great numbers. The Basque Country has a multitude of megaliths, described as dolmens or as mounds, sometimes confusingly. They are burials of a collective nature, placed in spots of great visibility, often on the tops of mountain ridges, and are built of local materials. Around 800 dolmens and about 500 mounds are known, though some of the mounds could be dolmens awaiting excavation. Dolmens have a chamber of flat stones under a roof stone, covered with stones and earth; the chambers are either simple or with a corridor, and the corridor type is limited to the Ebro valley. The largest dolmens are in lowland areas and the smaller ones in the mountains.
Few Basque dolmens have clear stratigraphy, because older remains were swept aside to make room for new burials. Even so it is known that megalithic burial arrived in the late Neolithic, was in frequent use in the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, and in some mounds continued as late as the Iron Age.
The standing stones and stone circles are later. Menhirs and cromlechs seem to belong to the Iron Age, when cremation became dominant. The individual burial in a cromlech is the most abundant, but limited to the Pyrenean region, where 851 of them are documented. They are 3 to 7 metres across, with the burial at the centre; the body was not burned inside the circle but at a nearby spot, and only a handful of ashes was carried to the monument.
When visiting, expect to walk: the monuments are on upland ridges, and a circle or mound is often hard to see until you are close.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Basque prehistory, Wikipedia: Dolmen, Wikipedia: Cromlech, Wikipedia: Menhir · CC BY-SA 4.0
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
Est. 4300–1200 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypical range for megaliths in Spain; this site has not been dated itself. Megalithic construction in southern Spain c. 4300 BC and in Malaga and Guadiana c. 3500 BC; the Mediterranean megalithic tradition ends by c. 1200 BC.Source for this date
Where it stands
Spain
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 42°54′26″ N, 0°53′57″ WFor a GPS or map app: 42.90731, -0.89915
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.
- MegalithBorda Cuartillo 24300–1200 BCE
- MegalithBorda Cuartillo 14300–1200 BCE
- DolmenAdazidoia4000–3000 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Adazidoia tumuloa4300–1200 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Inzaga4300–1200 BCE
- DolmenAsolaze4000–3000 BCE
- DolmenSakulo4000–3000 BCE
- DolmenRoizu 1 bera4000–3000 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q66122136wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Compiled from open records (Wikidata, CC0; OpenStreetMap, ODbL) and a regional background article based on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Wikidata Q66122136CC0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0