Prehistoric and archaeological sites in Spain
Río Verde Roman Villa
The ancient site at Rio Verde was once part of the great Roman city of Cilniana. It now houses the remains of a late 1st century AD Roman villa. Sadly all that is left is the floor and a small portion of the walls of the villa. However, fortunately for us it is a floor unlike any other - embellished with black and white mosaic tiles in patterns never before seen in a Roman Villa, and intricately encased by a border of the ...
Founded: 0-100 AD |
Location:
Marbella, Spain
Ses Païsses
Ses Païsses is a Bronze Age talayotic settlement in northeastern Majorca. It is one of the most important and best-preserved prehistoric sites in the Balearic Islands, although it is largely overgrown with woodland, mainly Quercus ilex (holm oak), making it impossible to see the site as a whole. The Ses Païsses settlement is thought to have begun as a cylindrical talaiot, or 'turriform', built during t ...
Founded: 900-800 BCE |
Location:
Artà, Spain
The Binicodrell de Darrera talayots
According to ancient texts, Binicodrell was a large Talayotic period settlement (1000-700 B.C.). Today, only two talayots remain, of which the northern one is in a better condition; it has a zigzag shaped access ramp leading inside, although researchers disagree on whether it was built at the same time as the talayot. The southern talayot, on the other hand, is quite dilapidated.You can still find fragments of pottery on ...
Founded: 1000-700 BCE |
Location:
Es Migjorn Gran, Spain
Archaeological Site of Atapuerca
The Archaeological Site of Atapuerca is located near the city of Burgos. The property contains a rich fossil record of the earliest human beings in Europe, from nearly one million years ago and extending into the Common Era. It constitutes an exceptional scientific reserve that provides priceless information about the appearance and way of life of these remote human ancestors. The Sierra de Atapuerca sites provide uniqu ...
Founded: 800000 BCE |
Location:
Atapuerca, Spain
Torralba d'en Salort Talayotic Settlement
A prehistoric settlement dating from the Naviforme period (1700-1400 B.C.), in which the foundations of a circular cabin can still be seen. The main features are two talaiots, the taula enclosure, a hypostyle room, some caves dug out of the ground and the remains of other buildings used as dwellings. The taula and its enclosure are among the largest and most beautiful on the island. The building dates from the 4th-3rd ce ...
Founded: 1700-1400 BCE |
Location:
Alaior, Spain
Santa Criz de Eslava
Santa Criz is a Roman archaeological site, located in the foothills of the Sierra de Arbiñaga. There has been an Iron Age fort already before Romans arrival. The Roman forum and surrounding town was established in the first century BCE during Augustus Caesar. To the south of the city is a necropolis. It occupies about 2000 m².
Founded: 1st century BCE |
Location:
Eslava, Spain
Castro de Castromaior
Castro de Castromaior in Portomarin is one of the most popular archaeological sites in the northwest of the peninsula. In this castro, developed in the Iron Age, it was inhabited between the fourth centuries BC and first century AD until three different populations, until its abandonment with the first Roman approaches. Of him they emphasize his big dimensions, since it counts on an area of approximately 5 hectares ...
Founded: 4th century BCE |
Location:
Portomarín, Spain
Capocorb Vell
The prehistoric village of Capocorb Vell was one of the largest in Majorca. Nowadays there remain five talayots (Talaiotic culture flourished in Majorca between around 1300 and 800 BC) and 28 dwellings. At Capocorb Vell, about 10km south of Llucmajor, you can see five talaiots and wander around the ancient village, 100m above sea level just inland from the coast. The Talaiotic people kept sheep and the sound of sheep bel ...
Founded: 1100 BC |
Location:
Llucmajor, Spain
Tito Bustillo Cave
The Tito Bustillo Cave is a prehistoric rock shelter located in the small town of Ribadesella. The cave was inhabited by humans (cro-magnon) before the year 10,000 BC. Due to the collapse of the rock, the original entrance to the cave was sealed thousands of years ago, which made it possible for preservation of objects, tools and wall paintings that were discovered in 1968. Based on those objects found in the cave, it is ...
Founded: 33000-10000 BCE |
Location:
Ribadesella, Spain
Dolmen de Dombate
Dolmen de Dombate is arguably the one of the most valuable megaliths located in Spain. Not only due to the relative good conservation of the monument, but also for several peculiarities that make it unique. The monument is actually two Tombs constructed in two different time frames, one over the other. The dolmen (dated 3900 BC) is composed of a 24m diameter, 1,8m high barrow which does not seem to have totally covered th ...
Founded: 3900 BCE |
Location:
Galicia, Spain
Bobastro Castle Ruins
Bobastro is the ruins of an old castle in the Province of Málaga. The castle was of Roman origin, but rebuilt by Umar ibn Hafsun during his rebellion against the Caliphate of Cordoba in the 9th century. There had been a structure at the site since Roman times. In 880 AD, Umar ibn Hafsun settled in the ruins of the old castle of Bobastro near Ardales, in which he incited the muwallads and mozarabs to join his cause again ...
Founded: 9th century AD |
Location:
Ardales, Spain
Dolmen de Cabaleiros
Dolmen de Cabaleiros is dated to third millenium BCE. It has seven corner stones and 4x3,4m wide roof stone.
Founded: 3000 BCE |
Location:
Tordoya, Spain
Torre d'en Galmés Talayotic Settlement
Torre d’en Galmés is the largest settlement in Menorca. Its hilltop location made it the ideal spot for keeping watch over the land on most of the island"s south coast. In chronological terms, it was occupied from the Naviforme period (1700-1400 BCE), and you can still see an underground chamber from this period near the area where water was collected, right through until the late Roman era, although some remains ...
Founded: 1700 BCE |
Location:
Alaior, Spain
Torretrencada Talayotic Settlement
Torretrencada is a Talayotic settlement (1000-700 BCE) that was occupied until the Roman conquest in 123 BCE. Several of its monuments can still be seen. They include the talayot a seriest of artificial burial caves dug out of the rocky ground and burial chambers carved in the rock, probably dating from the high medieval period. The taula is one of the most beautiful on the island, with a reinforcement pillar at the back, ...
Founded: 1000 BCE |
Location:
Ciutadella de Menorca, Spain
Rafal Rubí
The Rafal Rubí navetas are two tombs of the same type as the Naveta des Tudons, but these are smaller and are unusual in that they are very close to one another. They are group burials with a perforated stone slab at the entrance to the inner chamber, which is split into two levels. Of the two navetas, the east one is in better condition, as the front was restored in the late 1960s, when an archaeological dig was also c ...
Founded: 1000 BCE |
Location:
Alaior, Spain
Siega Verde
Siega Verde is an archaeological site in Serranillo, Villar de la Yegua. It was joined to the Côa Valley Paleolithic Art site in the World Heritage List in 2010. The site consists of a series of rock carvings, discovered in 1988 by professors Manuel Santoja, during an inventory campaign of archaeological sites in the valley of the Águeda river. Subjects include equids, aurochs, deer and goats, among the most com ...
Founded: 18000 BCE |
Location:
Villar de la Yegua, Spain
Las Eretas
Between 1993 and 1996, several archaeological excavation campaigns at the site of Las Eretas partially unearthed the urban fabric of a fortified village from the Early Iron Age, the most significant structural remains of which included the wall and towers that defended it, and several dwellings built around a street and public square which facilitated pedestrian traffic inside the fortress. The protohistoric village with ...
Founded: 6th century BCE |
Location:
Berbinzana, Spain
Cala Morell Settlement
The settlement of Cala Morell is a Menorcan pretalayotic archaeological site situated on a 35-meter-high coastal headland which closes the northeast side of Cala Morell"s bay. This promontory is protected by a dry-stone wall, which is found in the area where the promontory connects to solid ground. Radiocarbon dating of the site offers an approximate chronology of its occupation between 1600 and 1200 BC. Arou ...
Founded: 1600-1200 BCE |
Location:
Ciutadella de Menorca, Spain
Trebalúger Talayot
A Talayotic period settlement (1000-700 B.C.) in Trebalúger was a spectacularly large talaiyot; it is 28 metres in diameter at its widest point. It has an elliptical layout and was built on a high rocky outcrop on the site of an earlier structure from the Naviforme period dating from 1350 B.C., with the bases of the pillars still preserved inside. At the front of the monument, near the entrance, you can see the remains ...
Founded: 1000 BCE |
Location:
Es Castell, Spain
So na Caçana
So na Caçana dates from the Talayotic period (1000-700 B.C.) and remained occupied until the arrival of the Romans. It contains up to ten large structures. At first it was thought to be a settlement but archaeological excavation work uncovered up to three taula enclosures, which suggested it was more likely to have been a sanctuary and ceremonial site that may have been used by more than one community.The main features o ...
Founded: 1000-700 BCE |
Location:
Alaior, Spain