12.- Irukurutzeta

12.- Irukurutzeta
Only one slab of the original chamber is preserved, and around it there is a large stone burial mound, made with local basalts. In the center of the barrow is a large looting hole, and within this a single slab can be seen.

Measurements

The burial mound has a diameter of 19 meters and a height of 1.8 meters. The looting hole is 4 meters in diameter and 0.7 meters deep. The chamber slab length is 1.6 meters, width 1.2 meters and thickness 0.4 meters.

Research

J.M. found it. Barandiaran in 1920, and a year later it was excavated by T. Aranzadi, J.M. Barandiarán and E. Eguren. In 2018, it was excavated by J. Tapia. The structure and some materials have been published in various research works: Aranzadi, Barandiaran and Eguren (1922), J. M. Barandiaran (1953), J. Elósegui (1953), Cartas arqueológicas de Gipuzkoa (1982, 1990), J. M. Apellániz (1973 ).

Findings

Excavations have found various remains of materials from prehistory, despite the fact that the monument is badly damaged and mixed up. In the 1921 excavation, two pieces of spark stone were found, together with materials from the war against the French and from the modern era (coins, bullets). In the 2019 excavation, an arrowhead, sandpaper, two spark stone splinters and a piece of pottery were found, all of these also mixed with modern materials. The structure and some materials have been published in various research works: Aranzadi, Barandiaran and Eguren (1922), J. M. Barandiaran (1953), J. Elósegui (1953), Cartas arqueológicas de Gipuzkoa (1982, 1990), J. M. Apellániz (1973 ).

Highlights

In a graffiti painted on the slab, there is talk of burials that took place in 1878, and the coin is from 1793. This shows the antiquity of the looting work, but even so, it has been shown that there are possibilities of recovering materials from the prehistory.

Type
Dolmen
Date
Neolithic-Bronze Age (4,000-1,500 BC)
Town
Bergara
Location

Next to the top of Irukurutzeta, on the pass to the northwest.