From the Mountain and the Sea: Provenance of the Stones of the Prehistoric La Pastora Tholos (Valencina de la Concepción, Seville, Spain)

La Pastora tholos is the most complete and characteristic megalithic monument of the Valencina de la Concepción-Castilleja de Guzmán mega-site. This monument was built using three types of rock, each with different functions and coming from three different places: Paleozoic quartzarenite, granite, a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Minerals (Basel) 2024-02, Vol.14 (2), p.194
Main Authors: Cáceres, Luis Miguel, Donaire, Teodosio, Ramírez-Cruzado, Samuel, Vargas, Juan Manuel, Muñiz, Fernando, Martín, Mónica, Rodríguez-Vidal, Joaquín, Ruiz, Francisco, Sanjuán, Leonardo García
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Boats
copper age
geoarchaeology
Geology
Granite
guadalquivir estuary
La Pastora tholos
Locating
Masonry
megalithic monument
Memorials & monuments
Monuments
Outcrops
Paleozoic
Quarries
Rafting
Rocks
Sandstone
Sedimentary rocks
Sediments
Social organization
Stone
Tertiary
third millennium BC
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Summary:La Pastora tholos is the most complete and characteristic megalithic monument of the Valencina de la Concepción-Castilleja de Guzmán mega-site. This monument was built using three types of rock, each with different functions and coming from three different places: Paleozoic quartzarenite, granite, and Tertiary calcareous sandstone. A detailed petrological study of the rocks of the tholos and outcrops of similar rocks in the surroundings has been carried out, locating the possible source areas in areas at least 30 km to the N of the monument for the quartzarenite, 15 km for the granite, and 15 km to the S for the sandstone. Therefore, the community that built the monument has a high knowledge of the nature by, which allows them to locate these resources, and a sufficient social organization to exploit them and move them to the mega-site. In this sense, the layout of the outcrops suggests the possible use of boats or rafts to facilitate their displacement, or at least part of their movement.
ISSN:2075-163X
2075-163X
DOI:10.3390/min14020194