Economy crisis saves Spanish ruins but buries future

Spain's pre-historic burial chambers have survived invasion, war, a long dictatorship and a property bubble which paved over vast tracts of the country.

But the economic crisis which ended the building boom that buried some of the country's greatest archaeological treasures under shopping malls and new housing may also be bad news for those hoping to provide lasting safeguards for Spain's remaining tholos dolmens or passage tombs.

The Aljarafe region outside the city of Seville in southern Spain, with a rich Arabic and Christian history, is believed to house Europe's most extensive grouping of tholos dolmens, dating back some 5,000 years.

Many of these archaeological treasures were buried under new construction during a decade-long building craze that swept across Spain and left 1.5 million vacant homes when it ended.

A debt crisis ravaging Spain's economy has saved some of the dolmens by freezing funds for construction. But the credit crunch also means scarce money to explore these little-known Copper Age settlements and turn them into tourist centers.

"It's as if we had a gold mine under our feet; all we need is the investment muscle to reap the benefit. I don't see this latent potential in any other industry or sector," Juan Manuel Vargas, a local archaeologist said.

Vargas is head archaeologist in Valencina de la Concepcion... [Read more] / Source

La crisis económica salva las ruinas españolas pero entierra el futuro

Las cámaras de los enterramientos prehistóricos de España han sobrevivido invasión, guerra, una larga dictadura y una burbuja inmobiliaria que arrasó vastas extensiones del país.

Pero la crisis económica que terminó con el boom inmobiliario que sepultó algunos de los mayores tesoros arqueológicos del país bajo viviendas y centros comerciales también puede constituir malas noticias para aquellos con esperanzas de proporcionar salvaguardas duraderas para los restantes dólmenes tipo tholos o sepulcros de corredor de España. La región del Aljarafe junto a la ciudad de Sevilla, en el sur España, con una rica historia árabe y cristiana, se cree que alberga la agrupación más extensa de dólmenes tipo tholos de Europa, datados en unos 5.000 años de antigüedad... [Leer más]