Menhir El Cabezudo
DatedEst. 2800–1800 BCE
Photo P. B. Obregón · CC BY-SA 4.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
The El Cabezudo menhir, also known as the Valdeolea menhir, is a Neolithic standing stone in the municipality of Valdeolea, in the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain. It is a sandstone monolith with a total height of 4.85 m and is one of the largest menhirs in Spain.
An engraved cross on the stone is probably early medieval. The monument was found fallen and broken, and was later restored and re-erected on its original site.
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
Menhir El Cabezudo
The menhir stands on top of a hill in El Olmo, in Las Quintanillas, a village of the municipality of Valdeolea.
SettingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (Spanish): Menhir El CabezudoCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Spanish): Menhir El CabezudoCC BY-SA 4.0
The menhir stands on top of a hill in El Olmo, in Las Quintanillas, a village of the municipality of Valdeolea. It is one of a group of at least eight menhirs set almost in a straight line with a south-east to north-west orientation.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (Spanish): Menhir El CabezudoCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Spanish): Menhir El CabezudoCC BY-SA 4.0
The stone is sandstone, 4.85 m high in total, of which 3.85 m is visible, and 1.20 m wide. Its weight is estimated at 5 tonnes.
A cross with dots is engraved on the stone. It is probably of the early Middle Ages (Alta Edad Media) and may have been cut to Christianise the monument, or to seal an agreement dividing the lands that can be seen from the site.
Research historySources for this section
- Wikipedia (Spanish): Menhir El CabezudoCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Spanish): Menhir El CabezudoCC BY-SA 4.0
The menhir was discovered lying a few metres down the slope, broken into two almost equal pieces. It was restored and set upright in its original position on a concrete foundation, under the direction of María Isabel García.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Iberian menhirs
In Spain menhirs of the western European megalithic type are relatively unusual compared with dolmens, but are common sights in the northern half of the country, where at least 500 have been reported. They are particularly common in the Basque Country, Navarre, northern Burgos and Palencia, Cantabria and the Pyrenees, usually standing alone or in small groups (cromlechs) in elevated places. Most appear to date back to the Stone Age. They are not usually associated with burials, though at the Menhir of Cuesta del Molino in Burgos burials were made at least 2,000 years after the menhir was raised. The Arlobi menhir is one of the most recent examples.
Portugal's highest concentration is in the Alentejo, where the Menhir of Meada is the largest on the Iberian Peninsula. The Menhir of Outeiro, near Reguengos de Monsaraz in the district of Évora, is the second largest in Portugal: a granite monolith 5.6 metres high, about a metre across and an estimated eight tonnes. It was found lying on its side in 1969 by Henrique Leonor Pina and José Pires Gonçalves and re-erected about 1970, and was classified as a national monument in 1971. A hollow in its top has been read as a urethra, so that the stone is taken as phallic; that is an interpretation, not a fact.
The Almendres Cromlech near Évora is the largest group of structured menhirs on the Iberian Peninsula, and one of the largest in Europe. It belongs to the "megalithic universe of Évora", with parallels in the Portela de Mogos cromlech. Its beginnings have been put as far back as the sixth millennium BCE, which would make it extremely early, and it was rediscovered in 1966 by Henrique Leonor Pina.
When visiting, look for stones on high ground and note which way they face.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Menhir, Wikipedia: Menhir of Outeiro, Wikipedia: Almendres Cromlech, Wikipedia: List of menhirs · 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.
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. 2800–1800 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypical range for menhirs in Spain; this site has not been dated itself. Standing stones are associated with the Beaker people of the European late Neolithic and early Bronze Age c. 2800-1800 BC.Source for this date
Where it stands
Spain
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 42°52′54″ N, 4°09′50″ WFor a GPS or map app: 42.88170, -4.16390
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 de La Cabaña4000–3000 BCE
Dolmen de Busnela4000–3000 BCE
Dolmen von El Moreco4000–3000 BCEPhoto: jacinta lluch valero from madrid * barcelona...., (España-Spain) · CC BY-SA 2.0
Dolmen von Las Arnillas4000–3000 BCEPhoto: Ángel M. Felicísimo from Mérida, España · CC BY-SA 2.0
- DolmenDolmen de la Nava Negra4000–3000 BCE
- Menhir (standing stone)Menhir of Collado de Las Llaves2800–1800 BCE
Dolmen de la Velilla4000–3000 BCE- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Bernalta-ii4300–1200 BCE
_*_Camara_de_enterramiento_(6679213315).jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q37790816wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
- Menhir El Cabezudo001.jpgP. B. ObregónCC BY-SA 4.0
- Menhir El Cabezudo002.jpgP. B. ObregónCC BY-SA 4.0
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
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Menhir El Cabezudo" (Spanish), 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 (Spanish): Menhir El CabezudoCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q37790816CC0