Burial ground more than 4,200 years old is latest archaeological find in Malaga province

A forestry officer has discovered a necropolis that has been buried among bushes and vegetation in the province of Malaga for more than 4,200 years. The regional ministry of culture has confirmed the discovery of a dozen megalithic tombs in Colmenar, estimating that their origin dates back to the Copper Age.

The site has been named the Megalithic Necropolis of Romeral de Colmenar. This heritage has not appeared on the archaeological map of the province for several reasons. One of them is that it is located in a very remote piece of land belonging to a farmhouse, accessible only by foot. A car would have to be left on a nearby dirt track, leading to a hill. The path runs right through the middle of the site itself, but it is almost imperceptible due to the undergrowth that has been ruling the area for centuries.

The poor visibility has led experts to suspect that the cemetery may be made up of more underground graves. The structures found have attracted attention due to their concentration at the highest point of the area and their orientation to the east, following the model of megalithic burial grounds. The tombs are marked by small dolmens or cists - rectangular funerary constructions inside which the deceased were placed.

Most of the stone spaces are about two metres long and barely more than half a metre wide, forming a tight space in which the bodies were 'fitted' in the supine position.

According to experts, the necropolis dates to the Copper Age (between 3200 and 2200 BC), but its exact age can only be determined via an archaeological excavation. The Colmenar necropolis has similarities with other sites in the province, such as the tomb of Morenito 1 in Ardales (a megalithic cist dating from the Bronze Age) and the megalithic tomb of El Tardón in Antequera (a collective burial site, also from the Copper Age). Furthermore, these ten tombs are just over a kilometre away from Tajillo del Moro in Casabermeja - a small funerary dolmen discovered in the late 1970s.

The Megalithic Necropolis of Romeral de Colmenar is in a good state of conservation. After completion of the scientific research, which will determine the full extent of this necropolis, the next step would be to include the site in the BIC (Bien de Interés Cultural - asset of cultural interest) heritage registry, where Colmenar has already been established as one of the sacred spaces of the Copper Age in the province.