Menhir of Mollet

The discovery

In April 2009, while work was being carried out in the Parc de les Pruneres, in the center of the city, a menhir was discovered buried 10 meters deep and lying. In the following days, an archeological intervention was carried out to find out if there were other materials buried, but nothing more was found from the same period.

What is a menhir?

The word menhir is Breton (men, “stone”; hir, “long”) and refers to a megalithic monument with a single block of stone planted on the ground. In some cases, the stone has been worked, engraved, or both. It can appear isolated, but also in the form of alignments or circles.

What is the Mollet Menhir like?

Sizes and composition
Length: 4.90 m. Width: 68 cm. Depth: 110 cm.
Weight: about 6 tons.
Geological composition: this is arcosa, a sedimentary rock formed from the erosion of granitic rocks, with characteristics that are not found in Mollet or in the immediate surroundings.

Engravings
On one side there are curvilinear and rectilinear engravings that form motifs of snakes, antlers and shields, such as that of Montmeló. On the opposite side is a human face in bas-relief. This type of menhir can be considered a menhir statue, a type of megalithic monument that in Catalonia was only known from the finds made in Ca l’Estrada, in Canovelles (Vallès Oriental), in 2004, but of which no preserved the face and megalith of the cista of Reguers de Seró, in Artesa de Segre (la Noguera), discovered in 2007.

The face of the Mollet Menhir has a nose and eyebrows or supraciliary arches that form a T-shaped motif, with the lateral ends extended downwards and framing the eyes. A similar representation of the human face is found in two prehistoric stelae of the Iberian Peninsula, that of the Concelho de Moncorvo in northern Portugal, and that of Asquerosa in Granada; In France, more than 200 menhir statues have been found in Provence, Lower Languedoc, Rouergue, the Marne and around Paris, Brittany and Corsica.

Other menhirs of the Baix Vallès

In the Baix Vallés, the menhirs of the Pedra Llarga of Palau-solità and Plegamans, the Pedra Serrada of Parets, the Pedra of Llinars of Montmeló and the Menhir of Castellruf of Santa Maria de Martorelles were known, the last two also with engravings. They are simple monoliths, not as big as Mollet’s. They were located in the late Neolithic and there are different interpretations of their meaning, such as the one that considers them landmarks or territorial boundaries or the one that sees human or religious representations.

Why is the Mollet Menhir so important?

  • Because its anthropomorphic character confirms that menhirs could represent human beings, which in some cases constituted true statues-menhirs.
  • Because it provides new arguments for the chronology of the late Neolithic of the Valles menhirs, which is approximately between 3300 and 2500 BC.
  • Because it helps us to expand our knowledge of the late Neolithic in Catalonia.
  • Because it gives consistency to a group of menhirs in the Baix Vallès.
  • For connections with menhirs from other parts of Europe for motifs and engravings.
  • Because of its unique characteristics and monumentality, it is one of the most important finds in recent years in southern Europe.

+information

Schedule

Hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Monday through Friday from 4 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The schedule must be confirmed in the summer and during holiday periods on the Library’s website.

Entrance through the Can Mulà Library
Alsina Street, 1 (Can Mulà Park)
08100 Mollet del Vallès

Arranged and/or commented visits
Tel. 93 544 50 99
educamabello@molletvalles.cat