Diachrony and the Big Picture: Chabola de la Hechicera, a Peculiar Orientation and a Sacred Landscape

Chabola de la Hechicera (Sorceress’ Shack) forms part of a small cluster of passage

graves in the vicinity of the river Ebro and the Sierra de Cantabria, in the Rioja

Alavesa wine region. Michael Hoskin measured the orientation of most of these

graves in the late 90s (Hoskin, Tombs, temples and their orientations. A new perspective

on mediterranean prehistory. Ocarina Books, Bognor Regis, 2001) showing

that, contrary to the general custom across most of Iberia and particularly in this

area of north-central Spain, the corridors opened towards the south or south-southeast.

We explore in this paper why Chabola de la Hechicera has that peculiar orientation and whether its location can be connected to the sighting of that mountain. In particular, we will explore if this prominent spot could be related to astronomical features providing a connection with a sacred landscape for the people who built this megalithic burial chamber.