Dolmen del prado de Lácara

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Dolmen del prado de Lácara
Native name Mérida, Spain
Spanish Cultural Heritage
Official name	Dolmen del prado de Lácara
Type	Non-movable
Criteria	Monument
Designated	1912
Reference no.	RI-51-0000106
Location of Dolmen del prado de Lácara in Spain

The

In keeping with other Extremaduran megaliths, the Dolmen del prado de Lácara is located in a natural holm oak pasture, occupying a small hill that rises above the surrounding area and where it is close to several water features, including the Lácara river which runs to the east of the monument. In the surroundings there are abundant granite outcrops that at the time provided the necessary raw material to build the tomb.^[4] These particularities of its location have led researchers such as Enrique Navascués to think that in addition to being a burial place and a symbol of the town that erected it, these megaliths could also be territorial demarcations or reference landmarks in the planning of this territory in prehistory. There has also been speculation about its strategic location in relation to nearby roads and transit areas.

Despite all the theories, the truth is that this megalith is relatively isolated, since the closest dolmens, such as Carmonita or Cueva del Monje, are between 13 and 15 km away, making it difficult to establish that it formed a part of an organized set of collective burials. In any case, it is usually considered that the dolmens in the vicinity of Mérida may constitute an eastern prolongation of the dense megalithic nucleus of

The chamber and the access corridor are almost twenty meters long and are oriented in an east–west direction. The corridor is divided into three sections: an atrium and two antechambers, well delimited by pairs of vertical slabs on both sides. The atrium next to the entrance is a kind of vestibule with a trapezoidal floor plan, probably originally without a roof, which acts as an access ramp to the first antechamber and perhaps also as a ceremonial space for the deposit of offerings. The two antechambers are linteled structures with a height that varies between 1.1 and 1.6 meters, which narrow slightly as we approach the final chamber.

There are still vestiges of the earthen mound that covered almost the entire described building so it is possible to know its original appearance and dimensions. It has been inferred as an artificial promontory with an elliptical plan, made from reddish earth and a wall of rounded pebbles surrounded the outer edge, acting similar to an annular retaining wall. Its diameter oscillates between 28 and 35 meters, while its current height is 3.5 m, although originally there must have been much more material in the area.^[7]

History

The continued use of the dolmen and the various looting it has suffered make it impossible to establish an estimate of the number of corpses it housed, or the characteristics of the complete grave goods. Along with small bone fragments charred by fires, the archaeological excavation of the dolmen provided various objects. These are common trousseau pieces in these collective tombs: spherical or hemispherical ceramic containers,

The megalithic complex has been reused in various historical periods, as it was used as a dwelling in Roman and Medieval times, something that irreversibly affected the burials and grave goods that were originally deposited inside. In the same way, its stone structure has suffered various attacks, such as serving as a quarry and being dynamited at the end of the 19th century, an event that José Ramón Mélida collects in his Monumental Catalog and from which marks such as holes for drill holes or breaking wedges are left in various slabs on the site.[11] Fortunately, its robustness and the fact that these events only affected some parts of the structure, have allowed its imposing original appearance to be imagined even today.

The existence of this dolmen has been known for centuries and there are bibliographical references to it from the end of the 19th century, the oldest of which is due to the scholar

• List of Bien de Interés Cultural in the Province of Badajoz
• Alcantara Dolmens

References

Sources

• Almagro Basch, Martín (1959). "Excavaciones en el sepulcro de corredor megalítico de Lácara, Mérida (Badajoz)" (PDF). Revista de Estudios Extremeños. Diputación Provincial de Badajoz.
• versalita, Martín; versalita, Javier (2000). "Un altar rupestre en el prado de Lácara (Mérida): apuntes para la creación de un parque arqueológico". Extremadura Arqueológica VIII: El Megalitismo en Extremadura (Homenaje a Elías Diéguez Luengo): 423–442.
• VV. AA. (2006). "Mérida". Monumentos artísticos de Extremadura. Vol. II (3ª ed.). Mérida: Editora Regional de Extremadura.

39°02′59″N 6°25′15″W / 39.0498°N 6.4209°W / 39.0498; -6.4209