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<\/div>The interior of the monument in Spain known as the Menga dolmen<\/p>\n
Miguel \u00c1ngel Blanco de la Rubia<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n
Neolithic people seem to have understood sophisticated concepts in science, such as physics and geology, using this knowledge to construct a megalithic monument in southern Spain.<\/p>\n
Called the Menga dolmen, it is among the earliest of such structures, dating to between 3600 and 3800 BC. Its roofed enclosure was constructed from 32 large stones, some of which are the biggest used in this sort of monument. The heaviest one weighs in excess of 130 tonnes, more than three times as much as the heaviest stone at Stonehenge in the UK, which was erected more than 1000 years later.<\/p>\n
\u201c[In the Neolithic Period], it must have been very powerful to experience this building made with these enormous stones,\u201d says Leonardo Garc\u00eda Sanju\u00e1n<\/a> at the University of Seville in Spain. \u201cIt still stirs you. It still causes an impression even today.\u201d<\/p>\n Garc\u00eda Sanju\u00e1n and his colleagues have now performed detailed geological and archaeological analyses of the stones to infer what knowledge Menga\u2019s builders would have needed to construct the monument, which is in the city of Antequera.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Paradoxically, they found that the rocks are a type of relatively fragile sandstone. While this means a greater risk of breaking, the team discovered that this was compensated for by shaping the stones so they locked into a very stable overall structure.<\/p>\n Neolithic people would have needed some way to make the blocks fit very tightly together, says Garcia Sanju\u00e1n. \u201cIt\u2019s like Tetris,\u201d he says. \u201cIf you look at the precision involved and how well each stone locks with each other, you have to think that they had an idea of angles, however rudimentary.\u201d<\/p>\n The researchers also found that the 130-tonne stone, which was placed horizontally on top to form part of the roof, had been shaped so that its surface rises in the centre and declines towards the edges. This distributes force in a similar way to an arch, improving the roof\u2019s strength, says Garc\u00eda Sanju\u00e1n. \u201cTo the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that the principle of the arch has been documented in human history.\u201d<\/p>\n Menga \u2013 whose purpose is unknown \u2013 is also aligned to produce distinct patterns of light<\/a> in the interior during the summer solstice and has stones that are protected from water damage by several layers of carefully beaten clay, which adds to evidence supporting the builders\u2019 knowledge around architecture and engineering.<\/p>\n \u201cThey knew about geology and the properties of the rocks they were using,\u201d says Garc\u00eda Sanju\u00e1n. \u201cWhen you put all this together \u2013 you know, engineering, physics, geology, geometry, astronomy \u2013 it is something we can call science.\u201d<\/p>\n There are Neolithic structures in France that rival Menga in size, but how they were built is less well understood, says Garc\u00eda Sanju\u00e1n. \u201cAs it stands today, Menga is unique in Iberia and in western Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s surprising about this is the level of sophistication,\u201d says Susan Greaney<\/a> at the University of Exeter, UK. \u201cThe architectural understanding of how the weight distribution works, I\u2019ve not seen that anywhere else before.\u201d But she adds that this is perhaps less a demonstration of an understanding of science than of architecture and engineering.<\/p>\nArticle amended on 27 August 2024<\/h4>\n