Investigations of the nearly 6,000 year old dolmen of Cañada Real, in the megalithic necropolis of Los Molares, about 40 kilometres southeast of Sevilla in what is now southwest Spain, found prehistoric red paint over a large part of the interior of the stone uprights, in addition to small schematic figures, fingerprints, prehistoric engravings, and two anthropomorphic stone stelae. Analysis of pigment samples determined that they correspond to a reddish iron ore.
     Red pigment was very common in funeral rites. Skeletons in the Cañada Real dolmen reveal that the bodies of the deceased were coloured at the time of burial. Ceramic, flint, a stone adze, stone necklace beads, and other grave goods were discovered there in 1968.
     According to archaeologist Ramirez Moreno, "the use of pigments in prehistoric Andalusian megaliths has been a constant in the funerary field since the Neolithic, with the first megalithic constructions on the Iberian Peninsula in the 4th millennium BCE." Another example of this the Alberite I Dolmen in Cadiz, about 50 kilometres south of Cañada Real, where both cinnabar and iron oxide were used.
     A room in the Historical Interpretation Center of the 14th century Castle of Los Molares is dedicated to the megalithic necropolis. In the coming months, work will begin to conserve the dolmen as a tourist attraction.

Edited from ABCdesevilla (18 November 2021)