6,000 year old tombs found in the centre of Spain
In the centre of Spain, archaeologists have found an ancient burial complex that is about 6000 years old. It is located near the town of Illescas in the province of Toledo and is called Valdelasilla.
The find is important not only for its age. For a long time it was believed that the first large funerary monuments of Europe appeared in coastal areas, and then such traditions spread inland. But Valdelasilla is far from the sea and dates from the end of the 5th millennium B.C. This means that the inhabitants of the interior of the Iberian Peninsula could have built complex funerary sites at about the same time as coastal communities.
Details
Valdelasilla was discovered in 2020 on a hill near Illescas. Archaeologists excavated not an individual grave, but an entire burial space that had been used for a long time, from the late Neolithic to the Copper Age.
In the centre of the complex was a large circular burial chamber about 6 metres in diameter. Around it was a ditch about 36 metres in diameter. Nearby were smaller burial chambers about 2-3 metres wide. They were built not of huge stone slabs, as in the most famous megaliths, but of wood, clay, tamped earth and small stones.
The remains of at least 46 people were found in 11 burial structures. Radiocarbon analyses of the bones showed that the earliest use of the necropolis dates from about 4336 to 4062 BC.
Burial rites changed over time. At first people were probably buried in a more orderly and individual way. Later came collective burials and secondary burials - when the bones of the dead were rearranged, sorted or specially placed inside tombs after a time.
This shows that Valdelasilla was not a random cemetery, but a place of memory, where generations returned. It wasn't just a place where the dead were buried - it was a place to keep in touch with ancestors and mark an important place in the landscape.
Archaeologists have also found objects associated with burial rites: pottery, flint implements, beads, shells and traces of red mineral pigment. Such finds help us realise that the ceremonies around the tombs may have been elaborate and repeated more than once.
Why it matters
Valdelasilla is changing the way the first major funerary monuments appeared in Europe. Whereas inland areas of the Iberian Peninsula were often seen as areas where such ideas came later from the coast, the picture now looks different.
The finding shows that people far from the sea were also able to create elaborate and durable places for the dead early on. Perhaps the first monumental tombs of Europe did not arise from a single centre, but in several regions almost simultaneously.
This is also important for understanding the Neolithic. Such monuments speak of communities that already knew how to plan space, build durable structures, conduct collective rituals and keep the memory of ancestors in one place for many generations.
Background
Megalithic and early monumental tombs are one of the main signs of the changes that were taking place in Europe during the Neolithic. People were moving towards farming and herding, living more sedentary lives, developing new lands and increasingly creating permanent sites for rituals and burials.
For a long time, the origin of such monuments has been attributed primarily to coastal regions, where communities could exchange ideas and things more quickly by sea. Valdelacilla complicates this scheme: central Spain turns out not to be a late periphery, but an active participant in the early funerary tradition.
The complex itself should not be presented as a "Spanish Stonehenge". It is not a stone circle for mass tourism, but an early necropolis with chamber tombs, a moat and traces of long use. Its value lies precisely in the fact that it shows an early stage in the development of monumental funerary practices.
Source
Rosa Barroso Bermejo et al, "New Dates for the Emergence of the Megalithic Phenomenon on the Iberian Plateau: The Funerary Practices of Valdelasilla, Toledo (Spain)," Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 2026.
In the study, archaeologists examined the necropolis of Valdelasilla in Illescas, Toledo province. The authors described a central circular tomb, a surrounding moat, small burial chambers, and the remains of at least 46 individuals. Radiocarbon dating showed that the earliest phase of the complex dates to the late 5th millennium BC, making it one of the oldest known monumental necropolises in the interior of the Iberian Peninsula.