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Image Credit: ATLAS, University of Sevilla
DNA Study Sheds Light on Menga Dolmen Medieval Burial in Spain
New genetic research has provided fresh insight into a man buried during the Middle Ages in Dolmen de Menga in southern Spain, while leaving open important questions about the beliefs of those interred there.
The Dolmen de Menga is a major megalithic monument dating to the 4th millennium BC. Although built in the Neolithic period, it continued to attract attention long after prehistory. In 2005, archaeologists discovered two later burials in its entrance area, dating respectively to around the 8th or 9th century AD and the 10th or 11th century AD.
Analysis of the later burial identified an adult male over the age of 45. DNA evidence indicates that he had ancestry linked to European, North African, and Middle Eastern populations. Researchers noted that such ancestry was not unusual in southern Iberia, where long-distance contacts across the Mediterranean had been established for centuries and later intensified during the period of Al-Andalus.
The second burial, also believed to belong to a man over 45, was too poorly preserved for detailed genetic analysis. Even so, both burials offer valuable evidence for the medieval reuse of an ancient monument whose original funerary significance had long preceded them.
The religious identity of the two men remains uncertain. Both were buried in simple pits without grave goods, and their bodies were positioned in a way that appears to combine different symbolic traditions. Their faces were oriented toward the southeast, in the direction of Mecca, yet their placement also aligned with the internal axis of the prehistoric monument itself rather than following local Islamic burial patterns exactly.
This unusual arrangement has led researchers to suggest that the individuals may have viewed the ancient dolmen as a place of special meaning. Rather than fitting neatly into a single religious category, the burials may reflect a more complex worldview shaped by overlapping Islamic and older local traditions.
The study adds to growing evidence that prehistoric megalithic monuments in the Iberian Peninsula were not simply abandoned after antiquity, but in some cases continued to hold cultural or spiritual significance deep into the medieval period.
Published on: 07-04-2026
Edited by: Abdulmnam Samakie
Source: Live Science