Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2024

Recent years have witnessed significant advancement in the understanding of prehistoric behavior, leading to the discovery of new assemblages that challenge established knowledge within the discipline. This study presents a newly discovered Paleolithic art site in the northeast region of the Iberian Peninsula, specifically within the Simanya Gran cave complex. Excavations conducted since 2019 have revealed Neanderthal human remains and a complex litho-stratigraphic sequence dating back to the Middle Paleolithic, indicating human occupation spanning multiple periods. The documented graphic device (engravings and painting) exhibits thematic and formal characteristics comparable to Paleolithic art found in Spain and France. Through stylistic and contextual analysis, the paper proposes a tentative chronology for the graphic evidence, situating it within the mid-late Magdalenian period. Furthermore, the study explores the concept of graphic territories, suggesting that the distribution of similar graphic motifs across distant regions reflects intense socio-cultural interactions among prehistoric human groups. The significance of this discovery extends beyond its immediate geographic location, contributing to a broader understanding of Paleolithic art in the Mediterranean region and highlighting the importance of continued research in this field.

In this paper we analyze cave and portable graphic expressions of Tito Bustillo cave (Asturias, Spain) in relation to their archaeological context. We use an integrative approach that considers graphic expressions , archaeological objects and organized underground spaces as integrative parts of the Upper Palaeolithic human behaviors in the caves. We conclude that Tito Bustillo is an outstanding case of humanized cave, in which the underground space was humanized through graphic expressions, permanent structures, topographic marking systems and other daily-life activities since the beginnings of the Upper Palaeolithic. During the Middle and Upper Magdalenian this process of humanization significantly increased, as shown by the development of a large living site sharing spaces with the most decorated areas of the cave.

El bien incluido en la Lista de Patrimonio Mundial está formado por dieciocho sitios: Altami-ra, en la lista desde 1985, y diecisiete cuevas inscritas en 2008 como una extensión del bien original. Estos lugares constituyen uno de los más importantes conjuntos con arte paleolítico del mundo. Localizado en cuevas, desde la entrada a las partes más profundas de estas formaciones kársticas, despliegan todos los elementos necesarios para garantizar la autenti-cidad y la integridad del bien: la investigación realizada desde el último tercio del s. XIX ha do-cumentado una amplia variedad de las representaciones, técnicas y temas que caracterizan a este fenómeno, cuya cronología abarca unos 30.000 años. Otra característica destacable del arte paleolítico cantábrico es el buen estado de conservación de las manifestaciones parietales. Preservadas durante milenios en el medio ambiente protegido de las cuevas pro-fundas, es nuestra obligación conservarlas para las generaciones futuras. En consecuencia, las autoridades responsables de los sitios desarrollan una serie de medidas administrativas y protectoras que tratan de eliminar o, al menos, disminuir los riesgos de deterioro. Esto puede variar en cierto grado dependiendo de un factor importante: la apertura de las cuevas al pú-blico, lo que hace su gestión más compleja. The World Heritage property is formed by eighteen sites: Altamira, on the List since 1985, and seventeen caves inscribed in 2008 as an extension of the original property. These sites constitute one of the most important ensembles of Palaeolithic art in the World. Located in caves, from the entrances to the deepest parts of these karst formations, it displays all the necessary elements to guarantee the authenticity and the integrity of the property: research carried out since the last third of the nineteenth century has documented a wide variety of the representations, techniques and themes that characterise this phenomenon , whose chronology spans about 30 Ky. Another remarkable feature of Cantabrian Cave Art is the good state of conservation of the parietal manifestations. Preserved in the protected environment of the deep caves for millennia, it is our obligation to conserve it for future generations. Accordingly, the authorities responsible for the sites deploy a range of administrative and curative measures which try to eliminate or, at least, diminish the risks of deterioration. These vary to some extent depending on an important factor: the opening of the caves to the public, which makes their management more complex.

PLoS ONE 13(10):e0204651, 2018

The south of Iberia conserves an important group of Palaeolithic rock art sites. The graph-isms have been mostly attributed to the Solutrean and Magdalenian periods, while the possibility that older remains exist has provoked extensive debate. This circumstance has been linked to both the cited periods, until recently, due to the transition from the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic in the extreme southwest of Europe as well as the non-existence of some of the early periods of Palaeolithic art documented in northern Iberia. This study presents the results of interdisciplinary research conducted in Las Ventanas Cave. These results enabled us to identify a new Palaeolithic rock art site. The technical, stylistic and temporal traits point to certain similarities with the range of exterior deep engravings in Cantabrian Palaeolithic rock art. Ventanas appears to corroborate the age attributed to those kinds of graphic expression and points to the early arrival of the Upper Palaeolithic in the south of Iberia. Importantly, the results provide information on the pre-Solutrean date attributed to trilinear hind figures. These findings challenge the supposed Neanderthal survival idea at one of the main late Middle Palaeolithic southern Iberian sites (Carigu Èela) and, due to the parallels between them and an engraving attributed to this period in Gibraltar, it raises the possibility of interaction between modern humans and Neanderthals in the extreme southwest of Europe.

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2021

Our knowledge about Paleolithic art has been changing substantially and new discoveries and dates are modifying some traditionally accepted considerations. In this context, the geographic spread and the end of this graphic-artistic cycle are two of the main topics of the current scientific debate. The discovery and study of rock art in Cova Eirós, located in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, whose walls display geometric / stylized animals with linear interior fills, widens the territory of Paleolithic rock art in North Iberia beyond the traditional Franco-Cantabrian core. This find is framed in the successive discoveries made in the last 20 years that break with the perception of the Franco-Cantabrian region as being the core of the Paleolithic art. Moreover, the formal and stylistic features of some motifs from Cova Eirós allow to ascribe them to the final stages of the Paleolithic-style portable and rock art, classified as Style V or fini-Paleolithic; a pan-European tradition that began ~ 12,000-11,500 BP and lasted up to ~9,500-9,000 BP, in correspondence with the last hunter-gatherer groups.

Antiquity, 2020

Detailed description of the iconographic ensemble [The figure mentions in this text refer to the figures in the main article.] The depictions have been described according to their position in the cave (Figure 1). They are grouped in a single topographic unit containing seven panels with a total of 35 graphic units. Panel 1 The rock surface of the roof is formed by a sub-vertical ridge of limestone and it is convex in shape with a rough texture. Graphic Unit 1. Located 7.50m from the entrance and 0.74m above the floor. It is a dotshaped pigment stain. The technique employed was drawing in red. It is 55mm high and 35mm wide. Panel 2 This is a vertical panel sloping slightly towards the interior of the cave. In places, it is quite smooth, whereas in others the surface is irregular. It is 0.87m from the wall on the eastern side. The surface is formed by limestone and layers of calcite and it is sinuous with a rough texture (Figures 3 & 4). Graphic Unit 2. Linear representation, 0.60m above the floor. Composed by five straight lines, in some cases parallel to each other. The technique is drawing in red. Its maximum dimensions are 70mm high and 0.19m wide.

The Côa Valley Palaeolithic open air rock art was made public during the second half of the 1990s. The discovery of this first art of the light, only previously hinted by a few sites in the Iberian Peninsula, was announced amidst a controversy that had international repercussions. In the Côa Valley a battle was fought between the conservation of a unique heritage and the construction of a large hydroelectric project that was threatening it. Conservation won, due to the efforts of the Portuguese citizens and of the international scientific community. The site was classified as a National Monument in 1997 and as World Heritage the following year. The controversy and modern recognition of this rock art ensemble was mainly caused by its Palaeolithic cycle. However, as surveys continued it was clear that in the same sites, and sometimes in the same panels, there were rock art motifs from other phases than the Palaeolithic. The Côa Valley has today one of the longest rock art cycles. Over 800 engraved panels are grouped in more than 40 sites, along the last 12 miles of the River Côa, and around its confluence with River Douro. Beginning in the Upper Palaeolithic, regional artistic practice continued throughout post-glacial phases. It comprises examples of sub-schematic and schematic motifs of the first agriculturalists, an ichnographically rich Iron Age rock art, ending in an historic phase, when it was produced mainly by millers, between the 17th century and the 1950s. Basing our analysis in its natural context, we shall present here the general features of this vast ensemble of Holocene rock art, in the context of the populations that produced and used it.

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 28, 2019

Evidence of the potential occurrence of Palaeolithic red paintings has been found in several caves in Cantabria since the 1980s. Awareness of those references led us to propose a research project aiming at exploring the caves with the most recent methods and techniques of graphic data acquisition and processing to the Government of the Autonomous Community. Encouraged by the discovery of Cueva Auria in 2015, the project started in 2016. In a first stage, seven caves were selected for study with the systematic integrated application of lasergrammetry, photogrammetry, microphotography and multispectral imagery. This high-resolution study has been able to confirm the existence of six new Palaeolithic cave art sites in Cantabria. The preliminary results of the project, programed to last for another two years, are most interesting from a scientific perspective. The new cave art sites, as in the case of Cueva Auria, can be assigned to an archaic phase within Palaeolithic Art, that is to say, to a pre-Magdalenian age. With the exception of El Rejo Cave, where the main panel includes some animal figures, and an imprint of a hand of La Brazada Cave, none of the new assemblages contain either zoomorphic or human representations. Apart from parietal testimonies which could be linked to the human frequentation of the caves and not properly, to the category of graphic expressions (such as stains, small marks, imprints and other coloured traces), these small ensembles constitute an interesting group of cave art sites mainly formed by isolated dots or integrated in geometric compositions, discs, spots, isolated or paired strokes, and, in two cases, by complex rectangular signs. The new discoveries imply a significant increase in the number of Palaeolithic Cave Art sites in the Cantabrian region, which could be related to other assemblages in the same region and other proximate areas. All together, they demonstrate the great variability of the regional parietal record in the Early Upper Palaeolithic. We can be optimistic that further research, applying the systematic approach developed by this project, will continue to improve knowledge of pre-Magdalenian cave art in northern Spain.

La Peña de Candamo was discovered by the scientific community in 1914, being one of the first known caves in the Cantabrian region, and declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2008. The only monographic study of its parietal art was led and published by E. Hernández Pacheco in 1919, showing exceptional complexity and graphic density. In 2007, a new research project was launched to update all the information related to the cave's parietal art from a multidisciplinary perspective. Within this context, and starting from the radiocarbon tests made by J. Fortea in the late 20 th century, tests have been conducted at the Gif-sur-Yvette to date a series of black dots located on the 'Engraving's Wall'. The fact that the results are different to those published to date leads to the discussion as to which to accept based on the followed methodologies and protocols. Likewise, the implications of these results in the decorating of the cave and their place within the artistic production of the region during the Upper Palaeolithic period are also analysed.