Dolmenes

Descriptions of the Dolmenes

Just outside Antequera you can visit three dolmens: Menga Dolmen and Viera Dolmen, which are both located just outside the town, and El Romeral Dolmen a few km away. All three dolmens are different in age and design, and are free to visit. They represent some of the largest and most complete megalithic structures in Europe.

The Menga Dolmen is famous for its significant geographical location – on the summer solstice, 21 June, the morning sun shines over the peak of the Peña de los Enamorados and straight along the dolmen’s entrance corridor. This very exact positioning would have had mystical importance for the prehistoric tribes who built the dolmen thousands of years ago.

The Antequera Dolmens Site was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list on 15th July 2016 (including the landmarks of El Torcal de Antequera and Peña de los Enamorados)  “outstanding examples of megalithic architecture and… amongst the most recognized and quoted in the world.”

The dolmens were built by farmers who lived in the fertile Guadalhorce valley during the Neolithic period and Copper Age from 5000 to 2200BC. The closest Neolithic settlement to the dolmens is Cerro de Marimacho, the small hill 200m to the east, from where the stones would have been transported; Neolithic cave settlements also existed at El Torcal and Sierra de Molina. It would have taken the combined resources of many settlements to quarry and transport the stones, and construct these enormous burial sites. The Menga and Viera dolmens were probably built between 3500 and 3000BC, while El Romeral was constructed later – in about 2500BC. Considering the structures are at least 5000 years old, they are in remarkably good condition.

To bring with you:

• Camera
• Water