'Spanish Stonehenge' revealed: 5,000-year-old megalithic temple is exposed at the bottom of a barren reservoir after more than 50 years underwater
- The site features 144 granite blocks which stand more than six-foot tall
- It has reappeared in Spain after being submerged under a reservoir for 50 years
- A severe and prolonged drought has seen the structure reemerge
- Scientists are calling for the site to be protected and studied before it is lost again indefinitely
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A 5,000-year-old monument has reappeared in Spain after being submerged at the bottom of a reservoir for 50 years.
The megalithic site features 144 granite blocks which stand more than six-foot tall and has been dubbed 'Spanish Stonehenge'.
Its similarity to the UNESCO World heritage site in Wiltshire is striking, but the Iberian version is made of smaller rocks.
It was thought to be condemned to the history books in the 1960s when a Spanish general ordered the construction of a hydroelectric dam in Peraleda de la Mata, near Cáceres in Extremadura.
However, a severe and prolonged drought has seen the structure emerge as the the last drops of water vanished from the barren basin.
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The megalithic site features 144 granite blocks which stand more than six-foot tall and has been dubbed 'Spanish Stonehenge'. The stones range in age from 4,000 to 5,000 years old and it has reappeared in Spain after being submerged at the bottom of a reservoir for 50 years
Western Spain is being ravaged by a year-long drought and the Bronze Age structure, thought to be an ancient temple, can now be seen.
Hugo Obermaier, a German priest and amateur archaeologist, first found the site in 1925.
Due to the unfortunate decision-making of General Franco who opted to consign the site to obscurity when he commissioned a valley bordering the Tagus river to be flooded.
But before its rediscovery and subsequent demise, it is thought the stones would have centred around a central chamber for sun worship.
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