SOTO DOLMEN IN TRIGEROS

Google Maps:
37.352195, -6.751170

Type of site:
Dolmen with decorated orthostats

Place of location: Cabecillo del Zancarrón
Village/Town: Trigueros
Municipality: Trigueros (Huelva)
Region: Andalucía
State: Spain
Telephone: (+34) 959 305 075 / (+34) 627 940 357
Website: http://www.dolmendesoto.org/
E-mail: promociontrigueros@gmail.com

Natural Environment:

Trigueros is located very close to the city of Huelva, in an area of countryside situated at an average altitude of 76 m. The dolmen, located to the east of the town, is situated on a rather flat terrain with small hills, between the rivers Tinto and Odiel. It is an area with an abundance of water and vegetation and very suitable for the development of agriculture.

Archaeological evidences in the site:

Guided visits can see the mound on the outside and the inside. This megalithic monument is a “long passage grave”, measuring nearly 21m long and it is the longest dolmen in Huelva and one of the longest in Iberia. It consists of a chamber and “V”-shaped corridor which widens inside. Dolmen de Soto is one of over 200 megalithic monuments in the province of Huelva, of a kind that were built in western Europe in the Neolithic and Bronze Age. They are sepulchral constructions, generally for collective burials. The grave goods were quite poor and consisted of stone artefacts such as polished axe-heads and flint knives, as well as hand-made pottery, a conical bone bracelet, some marine fossils and several beads. The fact that the finds were more abundant in the other nearby dolmen suggests that this one was little-used and was soon abandoned and covered by earth.

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Opening Times:

http://www.trigueros.es/opencms/opencms/trigueros/content/turr/info/info_dolmen–de-soto.html

Booking and access:

http://www.trigueros.es/opencms/opencms/trigueros/content/turr/info/info_dolmen–de-soto.html

Nearby cultural destinations:

The interesting historical-artistic locations of Moguer and Niebla are less than 20km away, as well as the beautiful Gothic-Mudejar church of San Antón in Trigueros. The dolmen group of El Pozuelo is 10km from Valverde del Camino, in the municipality of Zalamea la Real, near the village of Pozuelo.

Nearby natural destinations:

Natural Park of Sierra de Aracena and Picos de Aroche; Doñana National Park.

Accommodations (Tourism Website):
https://www.hostaltrigueros.com/
Restaurants (Tourism Website):
http://www.trigueros.es/es/turismo/gastronomia/

Age of the artistic representations:

The dolmen and its rock art are dated in the Chalcolithic period, between 3800/3000 and 2500 BC. It is difficult to date more precisely because of the scarce grave goods, which had probably disappeared by the time the site was discovered and excavated by the land owner.

General description of the destination:

An artificial mound, 75 m in diameter covers the dolmen. It is a passage grave, 20.9m long. Several of the standing-stones have engravings, with one of the largest repertoires in the Iberian Peninsula. The motifs include simple lines, cup-marks, and other signs; as well as daggers, an idol and anthropomorphs, including two that Obermaier interpreted as a mother and daughter. By chance, the remains of a woman and child were found beneath the stone with the engravings. Although most of the engravings are on both walls of the passage and the chamber, one of them is on one of the flagstones that covered the entrance to the chamber.

History of the site:

The funerary use of the Zancarrón area must have been known since time immemorial. The site was discovered by the land owner, Armando de Soto, when he was digging the foundations for a house in 1922. The excavations began in the same year. The shape of the entrance and the chamber have undergone the greatest alterations, as the standing-stones for the entry were found scattered around in 1923, and two or three of the flagstones that covered the chamber are missing. In 1924 Obermaier published a book giving details of the excavation and the characteristics of the dolmen (Boletín de la Sociedad Española de Excursiones). While few excavations have been carried out since then, the burials and the engravings have been studied. The site was listed as a National Monument in 1931, although the first conservation work did not begin until 1957. In 1981 and 1982, the architect Ismael Guarnier and the archaeologist Fernando Piñón drafted a project for the excavation and restoration of the dolmen. In 1986 a fallen standing-stone was uplifted and in 1987 the Government of Andalusia purchased the land and improved the protection and access to the site. Finally, in 1990, a new project by the architects Guillermo Duclós Bautista and Juan Manuel Real Molina was aimed at the definitive protection and development of the site, which is still unfinished. The site is protected as a Property of Cultural Interest.

Museographic resources description:

Dolmen of Soto has a modern and well-integrated in the landscape Interpretation Centre, where it is possible to know some important aspects of its history and signification in the Prehistory of the SW of Iberian Peninsula as well as its restoration process and the rock art that the monument hosts.