28 August 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Builders of Massive 6000-year-old Menga Dolmen Likely Understood Geometry and other “Early Science” Concepts

Researchers say that a new analysis of the 6000-year-old stone Menga (also known as the Dolmen of Menga), supported by massive stone blocks and columns in southern Spain, requires advanced knowledge of physics, geometry, and geology.

This enormous prehistoric stone monument has been the subject of new research, which reveals it to be a “unique example of creative genius and early science” among Neolithic societies.

The results, which were released in the journal Science Advances, suggest that the Menga dolmen builders in southern Spain had more sophisticated engineering knowledge than was previously thought. This refutes the conventional wisdom that the building methods used during the Neolithic also referred to as the New Stone Age, were “primitive” in origin.

The engineering on display, the authors argue, reflects a process of trial, error, and learning similar to how scientists solve problems today.

“It is impossible to understand how a monument as sophisticated as Menga was built between 3800 and 3600 BCE without resorting to a notion of ‘early science,’ especially considering that, to this date, no precedents have been found in Iberia suggesting a gradual, steady increase in the development of engineering expertise through trial and error,” José Antonio Lozano Rodríguez and colleagues write in their published study.

“Our findings run entirely counter to the idea of ‘primitiveness’ or ‘rudeness’ that for a long time has underpinned both the popular and scientific understanding of Neolithic societies.”

Approximately 7000 B.C.E., or the beginning of the early domestication of plants and animals, marked the start of the Neolithic period in Europe and is characterized by the vast monuments known as megaliths.

Each of the 32 colossal stones that make up the Menga Dolmen, a megalithic monument, is many times bigger than the largest megaliths at Stonehenge, the most famous Neolithic wonder.

View inside from the entrance.

A single-chamber tomb, or dolmen, measuring approximately 25 meters (82 feet) in length and 5 meters (16.4 feet) in width, is formed by the stones embedded in the ground on a hilltop rising approximately 50 meters (165 feet) above the surrounding plain. About five times heavier than the largest piece of Stonehenge, the largest single stone weighs approximately 150 metric tons, or roughly the same as a blue whale. The megaliths weigh approximately 1,140 metric tons when combined.

For the better part of the twentieth century, scientists had generally agreed that the diverse Neolithic societies that appeared about 6,500 years ago lacked the scientific sophistication and knowledge necessary to construct monuments similar to those that started to appear in the succeeding millennia. Scientists have recently been forced to reexamine those conclusions, including what early scientific concepts these ancient builders might have used, in light of discoveries like the ancient stone monument of Gobekli Tepe in Türkiye.

After examining multiple facets of Menga, a group of researchers has concluded that its creators probably grasped the concept of friction and used a variety of scientific ideas, including geometry.

The researchers write, “Its extraordinary dimensions demanded sophisticated design and planning, a large mobilization of labor, and perfectly executed logistics.” Still, they note that it has never been studied by experts from such a diverse group of scientific disciplines.

The team notes in the paper that for stability, Menga’s builders set more than one-third of the wall stones deeply into the bedrock. They experimented with the arrangement of all 32 stones, discovering that they fit together akin to Tetris pieces.

Back of the chamber with well.

“The blocks were placed with high precision, locked with each other, so they support each other and the whole block,” says Leonardo García Sanjuán, a prehistorian at the University of Seville.

For fortification and waterproofing, a mound of smaller rocks and soil was placed on top of the roof. The heaviest stone, a 150-ton slab used on the ceiling, has a slight convex shape, which distributes its load to the sides, making Menga the earliest known structure to deploy the principle of the arch.

Minuscule pieces of fossilized algae, crustaceans, and mollusks discovered in the stones by these scientists and their forebears suggest the origins of the organisms were a sedimentary rock quarry located approximately 850 meters southwest. Given that Menga is located 50 meters lower than that quarry, the builders must have found a way to move the enormous stones downhill. While some researchers suggest that the stones were likely rolled over on a log bed, the authors contend that sleds would have made for a more comfortable ride for the pliable stone.

Sanjuán and colleagues suggest that taken as a whole, the evidence points to Menga’s builders having not only sophisticated planning and logistics skills but also a sophisticated understanding of structures and materials. They were aware of physical characteristics like friction, mass, and load-bearing capacity, as well as the geologic characteristics and locations of the accessible rocks. Additionally, they suggest that Menga’s builders used a solid understanding of geometry to fit all the stones together.

“I think we have been hesitant to call it science in the past because of prejudice,” Sanjuán says. “We did not see prehistoric societies as capable or worthy of having science.”

Science Advances

DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adp1295

Cover Image: Wikipedia

Related Articles

The inner wall was reached during the excavations of the tomb of the poet Aratos in the Soli Pompeiopolis Ancient City

13 August 2021

13 August 2021

The inner wall was reached during the excavations of the tomb of Aratos, the famous poet and astronomer of the...

5000-year-old fingerprint found in Orkney pottery

23 April 2021

23 April 2021

Fingerprints were found on a pottery dating back 5,000 years in the Orkney archipelago, located in the northern region of...

Archaeological Finding Traces Chinese Tea Culture Back To 400 BC

7 February 2022

7 February 2022

An archaeological team from Shandong University, east China’s Shandong Province, has found the earliest known tea remains in the world...

Mesolithic stone mace head found during excavation of a site near Buckingham

4 April 2023

4 April 2023

Archaeologists discovered an attractive Mesolithic stone mace head while excavation of a site near Buckingham. The work was done by...

Earliest Known East Anglian Gold Coin Found: A Fusion of Pagan and Christian Imagery

12 June 2025

12 June 2025

A rare gold coin dating back to the early Anglo-Saxon period has been discovered near Norwich, UK, by a metal...

Neanderthal Footprints Discovered On the Beach of Matalascañas (Huelva)

4 May 2021

4 May 2021

A stroll along the beach of Matalascanas (Huelva) in June of last year unearthed a spectacular scenario that occurred in...

A collection of 430 burial objects found in the tomb of a 3000-year-old Noblewoman in China

11 April 2024

11 April 2024

A tomb belonging to a noblewoman dating back about 3,000 years has been unearthed in North China’s Shanxi Province. The...

Archaeologists discovered the earliest Iron Age house in Athens and Attica

26 May 2023

26 May 2023

A research team from the University of Göttingen discovered the earliest  Iron Age house in Athens and Attica. Archaeologists from...

“Last Rhodes shipwreck” of Roman period found in Turkey’s Fethiye

5 March 2022

5 March 2022

Turkish researchers, a Rhodes shipwreck from the third century A.D. was discovered in the depths of the Gulf of Fethiye...

1300-year-old baby footprints found in excavations at the ancient city of Assos in western Turkey

3 September 2021

3 September 2021

1300 years ago, a baby stepped on baked bricks prepared to make a bread baking oven. The baby was probably...

Archaeologists discover a “Seleucid satrap tomb” in the ancient Greek (Seleucids) city of Nahavand in Iran

16 May 2022

16 May 2022

Archaeologists announced on Saturday that they discovered a tomb believed to be the tomb of a Seleucid satrap or general...

Maya Archaeological site for sale on Facebook has stirred controversy in Yucatán and across Mexico

31 March 2023

31 March 2023

Over 249 hectares of land for sale on Facebook Marketplace has sparked controversy in Yucatan and across Mexico. The property,...

Stunning Roman-looking sandal found deep in the snow in the Norwegian mountains

16 April 2022

16 April 2022

Global warming is leading to the retreat of mountain glaciers. Incredibly well preserved and rare artifacts have emerged from melting...

Remains of painkillers were found in 4500-year-old vessels during excavations at Küllüoba Höyük in Turkey

20 September 2022

20 September 2022

In the excavations of the Early Bronze Age Küllüoba Höyük (Kulluoba Mound) in Eskişehir, where the first urbanization structure of...

Environmentalists react to the rehabilitation works in the Assos ancient port

2 October 2021

2 October 2021

Among the continuing landscaping and restoration works at the historic city of Assos in the northern province of Canakkale, a...