Dolmen del Coll de Medàs III
Also known asDolmen del Coll de Madàs III · Dolmen del Coll del Medàs III
DatedEst. 4000–3000 BCE
Photo Bertrand GRONDIN → ( Talk ) · CC BY-SA 3.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
What the sources say
Le dolmen du Coll de Madàs III est un site archéologique mégalithique qui se situe dans la commune de Cantallops, dans la province de Gérone en Catalogne (Espagne).
Il se trouve dans le massif des Albères, dans une zone protégée Natura 2000. Sa construction remonte à la période comprise entre 4000-3000 av. J.-C. Il se trouve à proximité du dolmen du Coll de Madàs I et du dolmen du Coll de Madàs II. Il est inscrit à l'Inventaire du patrimoine architectural de Catalogne.
Article in FrenchRead on Wikipedia4 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.
The full article
Dolmen del Coll de Medàs III: the whole story
In briefSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen du Coll de Madàs IIICC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen du Coll de Madàs IIICC BY-SA 4.0
Dolmen del Coll de Medàs III is a megalithic archaeological site in the municipality of Cantallops, in the province of Gérone in Catalonia, Spain. It lies in the Albères massif within a Natura 2000 protected area, close to Dolmen del Coll de Madàs I and Dolmen del Coll de Madàs II. It is listed in the Inventari del patrimoni arquitectònic de Catalunya.
This is a passage grave built from schist, with a short trapezoidal funerary chamber and a narrow passage. Its construction is dated to the second half of the IVe millénaire av. J.-C. The chamber has no vault, and no remains of paving were observed. Its inner dimensions are 2,90 × 0,90 m and 0,40 m high. The entrance has bevelled sides and no surviving transverse slabs, while the surviving uprights are firmly anchored in the rock. Access to the chamber has not been preserved, probably having consisted of a slab-lined corridor or a low wall. The single funerary head appears to be embedded in the rock.
The tumulus is visible only on the left side of the chamber. It was probably circular and may have been filled in front, since the slope begins 2 m from the chamber. It consists of blocks and slabs of schist and quartz, together with earth. It was discovered at the end of April 1994 by Jaume Justafré, an employee of the Parc naturel d'Albera and a member of GESEART. It has never undergone archaeological excavation.
The site is also known as Dolmen del Coll de Madàs III and Dolmen del Coll del Medàs III. Its dating is given as 4000 BCE to 3000 BCE by typological estimate. Spain has many megalithic tombs, and monuments of this kind are found across the country, from Andalusia in the south to Galicia in the north-west.
No English Wikipedia article exists for it; the full text below is the French article "Dolmen du Coll de Madàs III", shown in the original language.
Summary in EnglishSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen du Coll de Madàs IIICC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen du Coll de Madàs IIICC BY-SA 4.0
Dolmen del Coll de Medàs III is a dolmen in Cantallops, Spain. Wikidata describes it as: dolmen in Cantallops, Catalonia. A typological estimate: 4000 BCE to 3000 BCE. Elevation: 405 m. No English Wikipedia article exists for it; the full text below is the French article "Dolmen du Coll de Madàs III", shown in the original language.
HistoriqueSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen du Coll de Madàs IIICC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen du Coll de Madàs IIICC BY-SA 4.0
Il a été découvert fin avril 1994 par Jaume Justafré, un employé du Parc naturel d'Albera et membre de GESEART. Il n'a jamais fait l'objet de fouilles archéologiques.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen du Coll de Madàs IIICC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen du Coll de Madàs IIICC BY-SA 4.0
C'est un dolmen à couloir, avec une chambre funéraire trapézoïdale courte et un passage étroit, datant de la seconde moitié du IVe millénaire av. J.-C., construit en schiste.
La chambre est dépourvue de voûte et aucun vestige de dallage n'a été observé. L'entrée de la chambre présente des parois en biseau et ne conserve pas de dalles transversales. Les dimensions intérieures de la chambre sont de 2,90 × 0,90 m et 0,40 m de hauteur. La tête funéraire, unique, semble bien enchâssée dans la roche. Les orthostates de la chambre, conservés, sont bien ancrés dans la roche et sont verticaux. L'accès à la chambre n'a pas été conservé (vraisemblablement d'un couloir de dalles ou d'un muret).
Le tumulus n'est visible que sur le côté gauche de la chambre. Il devait être de forme circulaire et était probablement comblé à l'avant, car la pente commence à 2 m de la chambre. Il est composé de blocs et de dalles de schiste et de quartz, avec de la terre.
How this page was madeSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen du Coll de Madàs IIICC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen du Coll de Madàs IIICC BY-SA 4.0
The summary at the top of this page was written by MiniMax-M3 (2026-11-07) from the cited Wikipedia article “Dolmen du Coll de Madàs III”, translated from French. The numbers in it were checked automatically against the source text. The rest of the page is the article itself, the structured records and computed distances.
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
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°25′54″ N, 2°56′27″ EFor a GPS or map app: 42.43167, 2.94083
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.
Dolmen del Coll de Medàs I4000–3000 BCE- DolmenDolmen del Coll de Medàs IV4000–3000 BCE
Dolmen del Coll de Medàs II4000–3000 BCE- Dolmendòlmens del Coll del Medàs4000–3000 BCE
- DolmenDolmen de Coma de Gall4000–3000 BCE
- DolmenDolmen del Gorg Negre4000–3000 BCE
- DolmenSalt d'en Peió4000–3000 BCE
Dolmen de la Font del Roure4000–3000 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q56191886wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
- Coll de Medàs 2012 07 13 05.jpgBertrand GRONDIN → ( Talk )CC BY-SA 3.0
- Coll de Medàs 2012 07 13 09.jpgBertrand GRONDIN → ( Talk )CC BY-SA 3.0
- Coll de Medàs 2012 07 13 04.jpgBertrand GRONDIN → ( Talk )CC BY-SA 3.0
- Coll de Medàs 2012 07 13 08.jpgBertrand GRONDIN → ( Talk )CC BY-SA 3.0
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
- Dolmen del Coll de Medàs I<0.1 km NE
- Dolmen del Coll de Medàs IV<0.1 km E
- Dolmen del Coll de Medàs II0.1 km E
- dòlmens del Coll del Medàs0.2 km NW
- Dolmen de Coma de Gall0.8 km SE
- Dolmen del Gorg Negre1.1 km E
- Salt d'en Peió2.9 km SE
- Dolmen de la Font del Roure3.0 km E
- Dolmen de Fontanilles3.3 km SE
- Menhir de les Llines3.7 km S
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Text from the Wikipedia article "Dolmen du Coll de Madàs III" (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