The interior of the monolith in Spain referred to as the Menga dolmen
Miguel Ángel Blanco de la Rubia
Neolithic individuals appear to have actually comprehended advanced principles in science, such as physics and geology, utilizing this understanding to build a megalithic monolith in southern Spain.
Called the Menga dolmen, it is amongst the earliest of such structures, dating to in between 3600 and 3800 BC. Its roofed enclosure was built from 32 big stones, a few of which are the most significant utilized in this sort of monolith. The heaviest one weighs in excess of 130 tonnes, more than 3 times as much as the heaviest stone at Stonehenge in the UK, which was set up more than 1000 years later on.
[In the Neolithic Period]it should have been extremely effective to experience this structure made with these huge stones,” states Leonardo García Sanjuán at the University of Seville in Spain. “It still stirs you. It still triggers an impression even today.”
García Sanjuán and his coworkers have actually now carried out comprehensive geological and historical analyses of the stones to presume what understanding Menga’s contractors would require to build the monolith, which remains in the city of Antequera.
Paradoxically, they discovered that the rocks are a kind of reasonably delicate sandstone. While this indicates a higher danger of breaking, the group found that this was made up for by forming the stones so they locked into an extremely steady general structure.
Neolithic individuals would require some method to make the blocks fit extremely securely together, states Garcia Sanjuán. “It’s like Tetris,” he states. “If you take a look at the accuracy included and how well each stone locks with each other, you need to believe that they had a concept of angles, nevertheless simple.”
The scientists likewise discovered that the 130-tonne stone, which was positioned horizontally on the top to form part of the roofing, had actually been formed so that its surface area increases in the centre and decreases towards the edges. This disperses force in a comparable method to an arch, enhancing the roofing system’s strength, states García Sanjuán. “To the very best of our understanding, this is the very first time that the concept of the arch has actually been recorded in human history.”
Menga– whose function is unidentified– is likewise lined up to produce unique patterns of light in the interior throughout the summertime solstice and has stones that are safeguarded from water damage by a number of layers of thoroughly beaten clay, which contributes to proof supporting the contractors’ understanding around architecture and engineering.
“They learnt about geology and the residential or commercial properties of the rocks they were utilizing,” states García Sanjuán. “When you put all this together– you understand, engineering, physics, geology, geometry, astronomy– it is something we can call science.”
There are Neolithic structures in France that competing Menga in size, however how they were constructed is less well comprehended, states García Sanjuán.