Published 17:36 IST, September 21st 2019
Spanish Stonehenge re-emerges from water after 50 yrs due to drought
Depleting water levels due to hot summer in Europe, Spanish Valdecañas Reservoir has revealed a stone monument which was submerged underwater for 50 over years
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Climate change has started showing its effect across the globe in ways we never imagined. Droughts, Floods, Famine, Hurricane, Quakes all are a direct or indirect result of climate change which is induced by man. In one such incident of depleting water levels due to extremely hot summer in Europe, Spain’s Valdecañas Reservoir has revealed a stone monument which was submerged underwater for over 50 years. Extreme drought in the Extremadura area of Spain has brought to the surface, the Dolmen de Guadalperal — one of the major megalithic monuments of the Iberian Peninsula, which has been submerged underwater for nearly six decades.
Last seen in 1963
The monument was last seen in 1963 before submerging underwater of the Valdecañas reservoir — a hydraulic structure in western Spain built under Franco’s regime. The site dates to around 2,000 BCE to 3,000 BCE, consisting of 144 stones, some reaching as high as 2 meters (6 feet). Some stones are carved with serpent-like images. The megalithic monument is arranged in a circle-like pattern similar to that of the Stonehenge in England.
Purpose unknown
The purpose of Dolmen of Guadalperal isn’t clear, but Angel Castaño, a member of Raíces de Peralêda—a group dedicated to the preservation of the site, believes that it served as a religious site and a trading hub, according to an international daily, The Local. Angel Castaño said that they grew up listening to the legends of the treasure hidden beneath the lake and now they have got the opportunity to view them. He had seen parts of them peeking out during the low water levels but he has seen them for the first time in entirety.
Castano is working with the group Raices de Peraleda to move the dolmen before it starts raining and they re-submerge underwater, he has said that the monument is extremely porous in nature and is sensitive to further erosion, hence they need to work carefully on it.
Similar incidents of discovery due to global warming have been documented in the past. In 2010, the melting ice caps had revealed 3,400-year-old pre-Viking hunting gear in Norway. In another event 1991, a 5400-year-old iceman was found after ice caps melting on the mountains along the Italian-Austrian border.
17:04 IST, September 21st 2019