The Menga Dolmen

The Menga Dolmen is a corridor tomb in which a forecourt open to the exterior leads to a second, rectangular section that acts as a passage leading to the oval-shaped chamber. The transition from the corridor to the chamber is marked by a slight change in alignment on both sides. This dolmen is also built using the orthostatic technique and has a total length of 27.5 metres, including the initial part of the forecourt. The height gradually increases from 2.7 metres at the entrance to 3.5 metres at the far end. The maximum width of 6 metres is reached in the last third of the chamber, where the most recent excavations have uncovered a 1.5-metre-diameter, 19.5-metre-deep shaft cut into the sandstone. This shaft is aligned with the three pillars that coincide with the join of the roof stones. Each of the tomb’s sides was made up of 12 orthostats (upright stones), while the far end was closed off by a single stone. The roof is made up of five stones; a sixth, which would have covered the entrance, is now missing. The tomb is covered by a tumulus of 50 metres in diameter and faces northeast (azimuth 45º), in other words, to the north of the sunrise during the summer solstice. This is a completely anomalous orientation in this cultural context, although the explanation appears to be that it is aligned with La Peña, a mountain shaped like a human face.

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