Dolmen de Viera

The Dolmen de Viera, also called the Dolmen de los Hermanos Viera, is a megalithic tomb with a single chamber, found in Antequera, Málaga, Andalusia, Spain. It sits just 70 meters from the Dolmen of Menga and roughly 4 kilometers from the Tholos de El Romeral. The brothers Antonio and Jose Fuentes, locals from Antequera, uncovered it in February 1903; they also discovered El Romeral.

Built using orthostatic construction—large upright stones—the tomb features a long corridor made of 27 stones that leads to a rectangular chamber. This chamber is thought to have been used for burials, though only silica, bone tools, and ceramics were found inside. The chamber measures a little over 2 meters high and 1.8 meters wide, while the corridor is 1.85 meters high, widening from 1.3 meters at the entrance to 1.6 meters where it meets the chamber. The corridor stretches just over 21 meters long, and the stones themselves range from 20 to 50 centimeters thick. A mound or tumulus 50 meters in diameter covers the entire structure. Like many Iberian tombs, it is oriented slightly south of east (96 degrees), so that at the summer solstice, sunlight at dawn reaches the burial chamber.

Originally, the corridor’s left and right sides each had sixteen slabs; fourteen remain on the left and fifteen on the right. Five larger roof slabs are intact, with fragments of two others, and it appears three or four more are missing. The corridor ends with a single large monolith pierced by a square hole near its center. This monolith, along with three others, encloses the chamber. The side stones are notably more carefully worked than the roof stones, fitting precisely into recesses cut into the entrance and floor stones.

The Dolmen de Viera dates to the Copper Age, approximately 3510–3020 BC. It has been a National monument since 1923. The Council of Culture of the Andalusian Autonomous Government owns the site and manages it as part of the Conjunto Arqueológico Dólmenes de Antequera. Recently restored, it is open to the public. In 2016, the dolmens of Menga, Viera, and El Romeral were together inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site under the name Antequera Dolmens Site.