Dolmens in Valencia de Alcántara

The 48 dolmens listed in the municipal district of Valencia de Alcántara comprise one of the most important collections of megalithic dolmens in Spain and Europe.

Divided into three sectors or groups, they date from between the Neolithic and the Chalcolithic period –otherwise known as the Copper Age– that is, between the fourth and third millennium before the common era. Most of the dolmens (over 30) are built of large granite blocks, and the rest are made of slate slabs. These funerary monuments in Valencia de Alcántara display a wide variety of construction types (dolmens with a single chamber, a chamber with a long or short corridor) as well as varying states of conservation. These are either individual or collective burial sites which were once endowed with a rich assortment of burial goods– carved or polished tools, pottery, precious metalwork and anthropomorphic idols among other items– most of which are today conserved in the Cáceres Museum.