Dolmen de Axeitos
Datedc. 4000–3600 BCE
Photo Arturo Nikolai · CC BY-SA 2.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
Dolmen de Axeitos is a prehistoric megalithic dolmen just to the north-west of the village of Axeitos, in the parish of Oleiros, in the municipality of Ribeira, on the Barbanza Peninsula in the estuary of the Ría de Arousa, in the Province of A Coruña, Galicia, in north-western Spain. It is dated to 3600-4000 BC.
On 11 March 1978 it became a registered Bien de Interés Cultural landmark, in recognition of its historical and archaeological value.
Read on Wikipedia1 min readCC BY-SA 4.0
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
Dolmen de Axeitos
The date of 3600-4000 BC is given as a typological estimate, which places the monument in the fourth millennium BCE.
DatingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Dolmen de AxeitosCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Dolmen de AxeitosCC BY-SA 4.0
The date of 3600-4000 BC is given as a typological estimate, which places the monument in the fourth millennium BCE.
ConservationSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Dolmen de AxeitosCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Dolmen de AxeitosCC BY-SA 4.0
Because of its historical and archaeological value, the dolmen was registered as a Bien de Interés Cultural landmark on 11 March 1978.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Dolmen de AxeitosCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Dolmen de AxeitosCC BY-SA 4.0
Spain has a great many megalithic tombs, running 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.
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
- 1978
Because of its historical and archaeological value, on March 11, 1978 it became a registered Bien de Interés Cultural landmark.
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
8 photographs, each with its author and licence
More photographs
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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°36′00″ N, 9°01′00″ WFor a GPS or map app: 42.60007, -9.01677
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.
Casota do Fusiño4000–3000 BCE- DolmenMámoas de Raña4000–3000 BCE
Arca do Barbanza4000–3000 BCE
Casota do Páramo4000–3000 BCE
Dolmen de Argalo4000–3000 BCE- Dolmenmámoas do Chan da Cruz4000–3000 BCE
Lapa de Gargantáns3000–2000 BCEPhoto: Lameiro at Galician Wikipedia ( Original text: ) · Public domain
Mina da Parxubeira4000–3000 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
3 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q4267528wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
- 03Wikipedia: Dolmen de Axeitosen.wikipedia.org
Image files
- Dolmen de Axeitos.jpgArturo NikolaiCC BY-SA 2.0
- 2017 Dolmen de Axeitos. Oleiros. Ribeira. Galiza 02.jpgLuis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez (Lmbuga)CC BY-SA 4.0
- 2017 Dolmen de Axeitos. Oleiros. Ribeira. Galiza 03.jpgLuis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez (Lmbuga)CC BY-SA 4.0
- Dolmen de Axeitos (46405049772).jpgN O E L | F E A N SCC BY 2.0
- Dolmen de Axeitos - 48798563886.jpgNoel FeansCC BY 2.0
- Dolmen de Axeitos 2017.jpgFroaringusCC BY-SA 4.0
- Dolmen de Axeito 01.JPGNachosanCC BY-SA 3.0
- Petroglifos del Dolmen de Axeitos.jpgNachosanCC BY-SA 4.0
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Dolmen de Axeitos" (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): Dolmen de AxeitosCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q4267528CC0