The Matarrubilla stone at Valencina in Spain was transported more than 5300 years ago
L. García Sanjuán
A 2-tonne megalith in southern Spain was transported to its present location by a hitherto-unknown group of ancient seafarers over 5300 years ago.
The Matarrubilla stone is a solid slab of gypsum about 1.7 metres long by 1.2 m wide, sitting within a tomb-like structure at the Copper Age site of Valencina, near Seville.
It is located within a circular chamber called a tholos, with just enough room to stand around it. Given its unique composition and size, it is thought that the stone was used in rituals, but its provenance has been a mystery until now.
Luis Cáceres Puro at the University of Huelva in Spain and his colleagues performed chemical analysis on the slab and optically stimulated luminescence dating – which approximates the last time light struck sediments – on the soil beneath it to better determine its age and site of origin.
The results suggest the megalith was dragged to its current location between 4544 and 3277 BC, which is hundreds of years – possibly even 1000 years – earlier than previously thought. The new dates also suggest the rock was moved to Valencina long before the tunnel structure was built around it.
The stone’s composition most closely matches a quarry 55 kilometres away on the other side of the Guadalquivir river. At the time, there was a wide estuary between the two sites, suggesting the stone must have been transported by boat.
This is the first evidence of a megalithic stone being transported by boat in the Iberian peninsula, but large stones at other megalithic sites in Europe, such as Stonehenge in the UK and Carnac in France, are also thought to have been transported this way.
“The 4th millennium BC saw rapid evolution in coastal navigation,” says team member Leonardo García Sanjuán at the University of Seville. “The Matarrubilla stone basin is a good piece of indirect evidence, which, in our opinion, proves that these people had advanced raft, canoe or sailing-boat technology.”
Archaeological discoveries from other sites show that communities in the Mediterranean were already building sophisticated, seaworthy boats, he adds.
“The crossing of the formerly existing sea with such a huge stone proves once again the technical savoir-faire of the Matarrubilla builders,” says Ramón Fabregas Valcarce at the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain, who wasn’t involved in the study.
Valencina is one of the largest prehistoric sites in Europe, covering an area of more than 460 hectares. Among the site’s rarer artefacts are materials imported from far-flung regions, including amber, flint, cinnabar, ivory and ostrich egg.
“[Valencina] contains megalithic monuments, massive ditches, extensive burial records and refined material culture that reveals connections across Iberia, North Africa and the Mediterranean,” says Cáceres Puro.
Prior work in the area has unearthed numerous details indicating the site’s historical significance, including a centuries-long period from 2900 to 2650 BC when it was largely ruled by women.
“The current study adds intriguing further detail for one of Valencina’s major monuments,” says Alasdair Whittle at Cardiff University, UK.
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