Canal Extremadura TV

Discover the traces of the Tartessians and the marks they left in the southwest of the Iberian peninsula. Dating back to the 9th century BC, this mysterious pre-Roman civilisation adopted a fusion of Phoenician culture and that of the indigenous populations who lived on the banks of the Guadalquivir. They may even have extended to Portugal, although in recent years research has focused on another area: the Middle Guadiana Valley. Several sites in Extremadura are yielding valuable information about this lost culture and revealing the extent of its architecture, goldsmithing, commercial exchanges, religious beliefs and incipient writing system.

The dolmen of Guadalperal is not alone in its liquid tomb. On the course itself of the River Tagus, other reservoirs have flooded more vestiges of the earliest cultures that built great architectural works… Five thousand years ago, or even before that, a very strong belief system drove its construction, the almost titanic effort to work, move and assemble its large stone parts. And in 1925, just a few decades ago, the impressive structure was excavated and brought to light. The dolmen was revealed as never before in the summer of 2019 and is inundated with visitors until the water returns. Experts tell us its intense story.

Coinciding with the opening to the public of the Roman Theatre of Medellin (Badajoz), this documentary was filmed to capture how the remains, excavations, and the subsequent restoration and conversion into a museum have been turned into a site that can be visited. For this we will have the testimony of its protagonists: archaeologists, neighbours and institutions. This process, which lasted four decades, managed to bring to light one of the jewels of the heritage of Extremadura that changed everyday life in the municipality of Las Vegas Altas.