Heat and low rainfall have driven reservoirs to ever lower levels
The hydraulic reserves of Spain continue to show the impact of the last months of drought. In the same way that high temperatures and lack of rain have seriously affected the flow of European rivers, reservoirs in the south of the continent reflect the scarcity of water and are at increasingly low levels.
As a consequence, in a swamp in the province of Cáceres, what is known as the ‘Spanish Stonehenge’a circle of dozens of megalithic stones that were usually submerged in the Valdecañas reservoir in Extremadura.
In recent years, due to climate change, low water levels made it possible to see part of the monument during the driest times.
a collective tomb
The origin of the Guadalperal dolmen -the name of the monument- dates back to 5,000 BC. The function of the circle of rocks, according to the archaeologist Enrique Cedillo, was that of a “collective grave”. Thus, it was the site of numerous funerary actions during “the more than 2,000 years that he was buried there & rdquor ;.
Despite its remote history, yes, the monument was not discovered until 1926, the date on which the discovery by the German archaeologist Hugo Obermaier is dated. Later, the area was flooded in 1963 in the context of a rural development project. Since then, it has only become visible four times.
a historic opportunity
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Although the reason why it is back in sight is very worrying, Cedillo points out that this is a “unique opportunity to reassess a site that had not been valued in its fair measure.”
At the time, with the transformation of the area into a swamp, it was not given the necessary importance to be a construction of these characteristics. Now, after being declared “Asset of Cultural Interest”, there is a new opportunity to do so.