I Nesco, UNESCO. Potato Pohtahtoe.

We can occasionally be guilty of stereotyping countries. Greece is for history (and food). France is for art (and food). Italy… honestly is principally the food (but the art isn’t bad either). It’s not actually true of course, every place has everything if you look around a bit. Spain was a bit of a wildcard for us because we had very few preconceived notions, although our general sense was “mix of castle-y history + tapas.” One of our itches that wasn’t being scratched was deep, ancient history. Whether we’re in Portugal, Ireland, or…. well, anywhere, we love a chance to poke around an old cairn or solar calendar made of stones. So, when Lisa happened on a little-noted megalithic archeological site when she was plotting our route back from Seville we figured “what the heck!” and added it to our drive back to Seville. Little did we know what we had in store for us.

The marker on the map just said “dolmens.” The picture that popped up was really cool, and that was enough to hook us in. What it turned out to be is a UNESCO World Heritage site called the Dolmen de Menga. (A single name covers three separate spaces.) We knew we were getting more than we bargained for just from the parking lot. If you’ve been following along on our adventures (or just been on your own) you know that parking at these sites typically ranges from “pull off on the side of the road” to “dirt patch next to a gate in a cattle fence”. This parking lot, however, was paved and striped, with two aisles that could handle probably 40 cars in all. What the heck? Then there was the interpretive center, very modern, with a water feature and statuary. This is not normal. The center was spacious, clean, and informative. There was even a 10-ish minute movie with recreations of how this site was constructed. It was as fascinating as it was surprising. So just what is this place?

All three subterranean spaces are carefully restored, which sometimes gets up our noses (mostly John’s) but we’re getting more chill about this, especially when great attention has been paid to a) highlight what’s new and what’s original, and b) the new bits blend as seamlessly as possible. Check on both counts here. The Dolmen of Menga is the largest known megalithic structure in Europe and orients (unusually) to the striking nearby peak, shaped like the head of a sleeping man. (It’s uncanny how clear that likeness still is after literally 1000s of years. There are a lot of mountains that we’ve been told look like faces, but this one was striking.) The Dolmen de Viera orients to the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes. Both are from about 3500 BCE. The nearby Tholos de El Romeral is newer (1800 BCE) and has a distinct orientation to the winter solstice (which we could easily see at this time of year).

As always we were struck by the implied importance of these sites. The construction almost certainly spread across lifetimes; the people who conceived the work didn’t live to see it finished, and had to know that was the case. (Funerals are the earliest ceremonies we have evidence for anywhere. Death wasn’t catching these people by surprise. I mean, maybe a mountain lion or something, but in general.) The whole complex was a great surprise to stumble over; we’d suggest you go on purpose.