A huge megalithic complex of more than 500 standing stones has been discovered in southern Spain which could be one of the largest in Europe, archaeologists told AFP Thursday.
The stones were discovered on a plot of land in Huelva, a province which flanks the southernmost part of Spain’s border with Portugal, near the Guadiana River.
But before granting the permit, the regional authorities requested a survey in light of the site’s possible archaeological significance — and revealed the presence of the stones.
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It is likely that the oldest standing stones at the La Torre-La Janera site were erected during the second half of the sixth or fifth millennium BC, he said.
At the site, they found a large number of various types of megaliths, including standing stones, dolmens, mounds, coffin-like stone boxes called cists and various enclosures.
The height of the stones was between one and three metres (3-10 feet).
At Carnac in northwestern France, which is one of the most famous megalithic sites in the world, there are some 3,000 standing stones.
“Finding alignments and dolmens on one site is not very common,” she told AFP.
An alignment is a linear arrangement of upright standing stones along a common axis, while a cromlech is a stone circle and a dolmen is a type of megalithic tomb usually made of two or more standing stones with a large flat ‘capstone’ on top.
Many of the stones are buried deep in the earth.
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