Archaeologists discover 6,000-year-old megalithic complex in Toledo

Archaeologists excavating the La Chorrera site in Los Yébenes, near Toledo, have discovered a 6,000-year-old megalithic complex. The findings, part of the Entre Dos Tierras project directed by Arturo Ruiz Taboada of the University of Madrid, reveal that the site is a thousand years older than previously estimated.

The complex features a burial mound, or tumulus, containing a double megalithic ring. This includes a cromlech approximately 12 meters in diameter, which originally featured a central menhir that may have exceeded two meters in height. While 24 stones once formed the circle, only five remain standing today.

Researchers indicate the site served as a prehistoric funerary monument and a space for rituals and community gatherings. It remained active for nearly 4,000 years, spanning the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods through the Iron Age. The site is part of a larger symbolic landscape that includes rock shelters with schematic paintings and various menhir alignments oriented toward the central monument.