Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)
Linatza
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
What the sources say
Linatza Oñatin dagoen tumulu bat da, Aretxabaletarekiko mugan bertan ia, Orkatzategiko Estazio Megalitikoan.
Article in BasqueRead 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.
The full article
Linatza: the whole story
In briefSources for this section
- Wikipedia (Basque): LinatzaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Basque): LinatzaCC BY-SA 4.0
Linatza is a megalithic mound in Oñati, on the border with Aretxabaleta, within the Orkatzategi Megalithic Station. It is reached from a road in the Ugastegi district of Aretxabaleta, 950 metres from Santakurtz basilica. The Urtao tumulus lies 440 metres to the north.
The mound has a diameter of 7,50 metres and a height of 0,70 metres. At its centre is a crater measuring 2m in diameter and 0,50 metres in depth. It was built using limestone from the surrounding area.
The mound was discovered in 1980 by Fidel Alcala, Luis del Barrio and Txomin Ugaldek. No excavation has been carried out. Its date is estimated from its form as a type, placing it between 4300 BCE and 1200 BCE.
Mounds of this kind in the Basque Country are usually distinguished from dolmens because they have no chamber, though they appear to have served the same purpose of collective burial. Around 800 dolmens and about 500 mounds are known in the region. Such monuments are often placed in highly visible positions, such as mountain ridges, and are built from local materials.
No English Wikipedia article exists for it; the full text below is the Basque article "Linatza", shown in the original language.
Summary in EnglishSources for this section
- Wikipedia (Basque): LinatzaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Basque): LinatzaCC BY-SA 4.0
Linatza is a megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones) in Oñati, Spain. A typological estimate: 4300 BCE to 1200 BCE. No English Wikipedia article exists for it; the full text below is the Basque article "Linatza", shown in the original language.
AurkikuntzaSources for this section
- Wikipedia (Basque): LinatzaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Basque): LinatzaCC BY-SA 4.0
Fidel Alcala, Luis del Barrio eta Txomin Ugaldek aurkitu zuten 1980. urtean. Ez da indusketarik egin.
KokapenaSources for this section
- Wikipedia (Basque): LinatzaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Basque): LinatzaCC BY-SA 4.0
Aretxabaletako Ugastegi auzoko bidetik iritsen da. Santakurtz baselizatik 950 metrotara aurkitzen da. 440 metro iparraldera Urtao tumulua aurkitzen da.
DeskribapenaSources for this section
- Wikipedia (Basque): LinatzaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Basque): LinatzaCC BY-SA 4.0
7,50 metrotako diametroa du eta 0,70 metrotako altuera. Erdian kraterra du, 2m-ko diametroa eta 0,50 metrotako sakonera dituena.
Inguruko kareharriez eraiki zuten tumulua.
How this page was madeSources for this section
- Wikipedia (Basque): LinatzaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Basque): LinatzaCC BY-SA 4.0
The summary at the top of this page was written by MiniMax-M3 (2026-11-08) from the cited Wikipedia article “Linatza”, translated from Basque. 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
Iberian tumuli
Most of the Atlas's Iberian mounds lie in the northern highlands, especially the Basque country, where prehistoric collective graves are found in great numbers. Archaeologists there separate dolmens, which have a stone chamber covered by a mound of stones and earth, from "tumuli" or mounds that have no chamber but were used in the same way, for collective burial. Roughly 800 dolmens and about 500 mounds are known in the Basque Country, though some of the mounds may be dolmens waiting to be excavated.
Both kinds are placed in spots of great visibility, often on mountain ridges, and are built of local materials; the larger ones tend to be in lowland areas and the smaller ones in mountain zones. The dead were placed in the chamber or under the mound over generations, and older remains were moved aside to make room for newer ones, which is why very few Basque monuments have a clear layered record. Megalithic burial arrived in the late Neolithic, was in constant use in the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, and in some mounds continued as late as the Iron Age.
Across Iberia the picture changes with the Bell Beaker phenomenon of the late Chalcolithic, which brought individual graves, often under mounds, in contrast with the collective graves that came before.
Dating is difficult, because few mounds have been excavated and the collective burials were disturbed, so the Atlas gives broad typological ranges.
When visiting, look for low circular mounds of stone on high ground in pasture, often with a ring of larger stones or a dip in the centre where a chamber may have collapsed, and for neighbouring stone circles on the same ridge.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Basque prehistory, Wikipedia: Tumulus, Wikipedia: Bell Beaker culture, Wikipedia: Dolmen · CC BY-SA 4.0
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.
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 megalithic mounds 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 last vestiges of the Mediterranean megalithic tradition date to c. 1200 BC.Source for this date
Where it stands
Spain
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 43°00′14″ N, 2°27′55″ WFor a GPS or map app: 43.00382, -2.46536
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.
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Urtao4300–1200 BCE
Urtapotolueta I4000–3000 BCE- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Urtapotolueta Ii4300–1200 BCE
Aitzgain Ii4000–3000 BCE
Aitzgain4300–1200 BCE- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Asuntzeta Ekialdea4300–1200 BCE
Asuntzeta Mendebaldea4300–1200 BCE- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Puntiaga4300–1200 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q133514957wikidata.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
Text from the Wikipedia article "Linatza" (Basque), 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 (Basque): LinatzaCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q133514957CC0