A megalithic complex, unprecedented in the central Iberian Peninsula, has been discovered in Los Yébenes (Toledo).

The team from the 'Entre dos tierras' project , which studies settlement and cultural development during the Bronze Age in the Montes de Toledo , has discovered a megalithic complex in Los Yébenes (Toledo), initially related to ritual and funerary practices, which is unprecedented in the central Iberian Peninsula.

The megalithic complex, which was discovered during excavations carried out in July at the La Chorrera site, places it in a location "of extraordinary importance in the peninsular archaeological panorama," the Los Yébenes City Council highlighted in a press release on Thursday.

He also explained that the core of the discovery is a semicircular megalithic structure , approximately 40 meters in diameter, formed by two rings of stone alignments.

At the centre of the complex is the main tumulus of the site , a space surrounded by stones carefully arranged in an east-west orientation, which suggests that it had a ritual and funerary function from the Neolithic to the Iron Age .

Unprecedented discovery in the central peninsula

To date, no remains of a habitat have been found at the site, which reinforces the hypothesis that it was a ritual space used for three millennia.

In this sense, the initial analyses currently being conducted point to a chronology extending from the Neolithic and Chalcolithic to the Second Iron Age, making it a prehistoric aggregation center unprecedented in the center of the Peninsula. Furthermore, the monumental complex is linked to four shelters with schematic rock paintings , whose proximity to the megalithic complex could allow, for the first time, the precise dating of these manifestations of prehistoric art.

The project team spent four years excavating at the 'Montón de Trigo' site and this year moved the work to 'La Chorrera'.

It is also located in a natural setting characterized by an abundance of springs and water resources , which reinforces its symbolic and ritual value, according to the Los Yébenes City Council, which is participating in the 'Between Two Lands' project, together with the Toledo Provincial Council and the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM).

The project team, led by archaeologist and UCM professor Arturo Ruiz Taboada , has been excavating for four years at the nearby 'Montón de Trigo' site and this year moved the work to 'La Chorrera', where the megalithic complex was discovered.