dolmen del Tremedal
Datedc. 7050–6680 BCE
Photo Ángel M. Felicísimo · CC BY 2.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
The Dolmen del Tremedal is a megalithic site near Montehermoso, in the province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain, at an elevation of 409.0 m. The catalogue gives a typological estimate of 4000 to 3000 BCE.
It is the only dolmen of its region with a short passage, and its concentric layout of three rings and an entrance passage is exceptional there.
Read on Wikipedia2 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 del Tremedal
Its concentric arrangement, with three rings and an entrance passage, is unique and makes it exceptional in the whole region.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen du TremedalCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen du TremedalCC BY-SA 4.0
The Tremedal is the only dolmen of the region with a short passage. Its concentric arrangement, with three rings and an entrance passage, is unique and makes it exceptional in the whole region. The circular burial chamber resembles those of the dolmen of Cerro de la Barca and the dolmen of Prado de Lácara. It has lost its original covering mound, although the kerbs have been kept or replaced.
ConservationSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen du TremedalCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen du TremedalCC BY-SA 4.0
The monument was looted from an early date, and many of its stones were reused in neighbouring buildings. The gaps were filled with new stones during the excavation and restoration of 2003. These replacement stones are identified on the information panel at the entrance.
SettingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen du TremedalCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen du TremedalCC BY-SA 4.0
The Dolmen de la Gran Encina and the Gran Dolmen lie nearby.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen du TremedalCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Dolmen du TremedalCC BY-SA 4.0
Spain has a great many megalithic tombs. 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
- 2003
Ces lacunes furent comblées par de nouvelles pierres lors des fouilles et de la restauration de 2003, lesquelles sont identifiées sur le panneau d'information à l'entrée.
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
2 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
- 40°04′53″ N, 6°22′36″ WFor a GPS or map app: 40.08129, -6.37668
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.
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Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q28223798wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
- Dolmen del Tremedal Montehermoso.jpgÁngel M. FelicísimoCC BY 2.0
- Dólmenes de Montehermoso (30869251941).jpgÁngel M. Felicísimo from Mérida, EspañaCC BY 2.0
Report a correctionWrong date, name, photograph or source? Tell us and it will be put right.
Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
- Gran Dolmen de Montehermoso0.4 km NW
- dolmen de la Gran Encina0.5 km N
- Dolmen El Matón16 km NW
- dolmen of the House of the Moor, Casillas de Flores43 km NW
- Dolmen Lamoina II55 km E
- Menhir del Cabezo59 km SW
- Dolmen Maimón II63 km SW
- Anta da Pedra de Anta64 km NW
- Dolmen Juan Rol I65 km SW
- Dolmen El Teriñuelo85 km NE
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Dolmen du Tremedal" (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 du TremedalCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q28223798CC0