Studies in Iberian Archaeoastronomy: (4) the Orientations of Megalithic Tombs of Eastern Catalunya

Hoskin Michael Allan Elizabeth and Gralewski Renate , “Studies in Iberian archaeoastronomy: (1) Orientations of the megalithic sepulchres of Almeria, Granada and Málaga”, Archaeoastronomy (supplement to Journal for the history of astronomy), no. 19 (1994), S55–82; “(2) Orientations of the tholos tombs of Almería”, Archaeoastronomy , no. 20 (1995), S29–40; “(3) Customs and motives in Andalucía”, Archaeoastronomy , no. 20 (1995), S41–48; and Hoskin Michael , “Andalucía: Astronomía y prácticas funerárias en el mediodía ibérico”, Arqueoastronomía hispana, ed. by Belmonte J. A. (Madrid, 1994), 133–58.

Hoskin Michael Allan Elizabeth and Gralewski Renate , “The tombe dei giganti and temples of Nuraghic Sardinia”, Archaeoastronomy, no. 18 (1993), S1–26; idem, “Orientations of Corsican dolmens”, Journal for the history of astronomy, xxv (1994), 313–17; idem, “Further orientations of Corsican dolmens”, Journal for the history of astronomy, xxvi (1995), 247–252; Zedda Mauro Hoskin Michael Gralewski Renate and Manca Giacobbe , “Orientations of 230 Sardinian tombe di giganti”, Archaeoastronomy, no. 21 (1996), S33–54; Hoskin Michael and Zedda Mauro , “Orientations of Sardinian dolmens”, Archaeoastronomy, no. 22 (1997), S1–16.

Chevalier Yves , L'architecture des dolmens entre Languedoc et Centre-Ouest de la France (Bonn, 1977).

Hoskin Michael and José Juan Núñez Morales , “The orientations of the burial monuments of Menorca”, Archaeoastronomy, no. 16 (1991), S15–42; Hoskin Michael , “Baleares: Arqueoastronomía de la cultura talayótica”, Arqueoastronomía hispana (ref. 1), 159–81.

Tarrús J. and Chinchilla J. , Els monuments megalítics (Girona, 1992), 88–91, has a convenient list of monuments of all kinds; for ease of identification we adopt their numbering in Tables 1–3. Tombs that we visited but to which we were unable to assign an orientation by type were: Baleta Mas III (#22), Estanys III (#25), Tancat Prat (#45), Castellana (#157), and Les Pedres Dretes s'en Lloveres (#141, see ref. 13 below).

Tarrús and Chinchilla , Els monuments megalítics, 46–51.

See ref. 12 below.

Chevalier , op. cit. (ref. 3).

Tarrús i Galter Josep Dòlmens i menhirs: 111 monuments megalítics de l'Alt Empordà i Vallespir oriental (Figueres, 1988), and Dólmens i menhirs: 48 monuments megalítics de les Gavarres i el Massis d'Ardenya (Figueres, 1990).

Hoskin , “Studies …, (3)” (ref. 1), passim.

See the works cited in ref. 2.

Tarrús and Chinchilla , Els monuments megalítics, 48: “Les galeries catalanes deriven dels sepulcres de corredor empordanesos, potser per contactes amb les galeries de l'Aude francès durant el neolitic final…”.

Les Pedres Dretes s'en Lloveres, at Santa Cristina d'Aro, is considered by Tarrús to be a probable Catalan gallery, but is omitted here because this is doubted by other archaeologists ( Cruañas Esteva Luis , Sepulcros megalíticos de Las Gabarras (Gerona), i (Girona, 1964), 12), for several reasons. Today only three stones survive; one appears to be a backstone and the other two would then be sidestones, though it is not certain of which side they would be part. Earlier this century there were two more stones, but no record was made of their location. The supposed backstone faces 304°, which happens to be the direction of midsummer sunset.

For example, the seven ‘sepulcros de corredor’ close to the Basque town of Laguardia also have orientations between southeast and south (work in progress).

Hoskin and Morales N. , op. cit. (ref. 4), Table 3 and Fig. 7.

Ruggles C. L. N. , “A new study of the Aberdeenshire recumbent stone circles, 1: Site data”, Archaeoastronomy, no. 6 (1984), S55–79; Ruggles and Burl H. A. W. , “A new study of the Aberdeenshire recumbent stone circles, 2: Interpretation”, Archaeoastronomy, no. 8 (1985), S25–60.

Hoskin and Morales N. , op. cit. (ref. 4), S15–24.

Hachero Gornés Simó , “Nous monuments funeraris del món pretalaiòtic de Menorca”, in X jornades d'estudis històrics locals: La prehistòria de les illes de la Mediterrània occidental, ed. by Bordoy Rosselló G. (Palma de Mallorca, 1992), 419–41.

Trias Calvo M. Conesa Coll J. and Ayuso Guerrero V. M. , “El dolmen de S'Aigua Dolça: Sepulcro colectivo del Pretalaiótico”, Revista de arqueología, no. 191 (March 1997), 18–29.

Dr William H. Waldren, of the Deiá Archaeological Museum and Research Centre, Mallorca, who has pioneered the early prehistory of the Balearics, speaks of an “arc of immediate influence … extending from the region of Almeria in the south, along the Valencia coast and northward into Catalonia and the Pyrenees, reaching into the Laguedoc and Provence of France” (Early prehistoric settlement in the Balearic Islands (Deiá, 1982); cf. his “The prehistoric sanctuary of Son Mas”, Complutum extra, vi (1996), 191–215, Fig. 1).