Archaeology Spain

Ardales's interpretation centre is designed as a hyphen between us and the history of the cave that we discover at the end of the visit. In the large circular hall, you can see the reproduction of a ground excavation site while, all around, panels summarize the main knowledge we have of our ancestors: the places where they lived, the traces found and the great stages of human evolution. On the floor, the exhibition focuses on the presentation of the cave and archaeological discoveries in the region. A space even allows to move virtually into the cave via a 3 D reconstitution.

Inaugurated at the end of 2014, this small interpretation centre consists of a few areas representative of a primitive habitat forming an introduction to the Neolithic world. Daily life, tooling, cooking, housing… Everything has been reviewed and made accessible to the general public. Many photographs and a small documentary show on-line the information on the huts.

Two small pieces present the main archaeological discoveries of the cave: bones, vases, bracelets, tombstones, which form a sample of the historical richness of a shipyard still being searched.

Located in the former convent of the "Victoria", this museum has been hosting deposits from around the world since 1982, such as those of Los Castellares, Castillo Anzur, Fuente Alamo… It is organized around two sections: Archaeology and ethnography. In the cloister, Roman mosaics from Fuente Alamo are noted. In its part, the ethnography refers to the Puente Genil industrial de from the end of the th and early th centuries and, in particular, its expertise in agri-food industry, with tools and models that retraçant the manufacture of quince paste (membrillo).

The cultural centre of Candamo, housed in a former palace, houses the centre of interpretation of the cave where you can observe a small scale reproduction of the Peña. It is interesting to go there before the visit in situ, because the original paintings are damaged and difficult to discern in the cave itself, while the colours have obviously been accentuated on the reproduction. You can thus exercise your eye and do nothing. The most important panel consists of over 50 figures, the oldest of which is more than 30 000 years old, that is, a age comparable to the paintings of the cave of Chauvet. The most recent bulls are 10 000 years old. At the top left of the panel, anthropomorphic figures are noted.

Two other rooms exhibit photographs of the other caves in the region as well as a reproduction of the main panel of the Grotte cave.

After 19 years of project and an investment of 27 million euros (junta de Andalucia and the European Union), the new Iberian Museum of Jaén was inaugurated in December 2017 by the King. A presence commensurate with the project and ambition. On the premises of the former Jaén prison, an ultra-modern building of more than 11,000 m² now houses nearly 3,500 items relating to Iberian culture, nearly 40% of which have never been exhibited and are the result of excavations carried out in recent years in the province. This will make this museum the most important reference in this field for the whole of Spain. The province is also the most significant Iberian site on the entire peninsula. This is an opportunity to note that while this crop gave its name to Spain, it also left it many agricultural tools, pottery techniques, crops such as vines, olives and almonds. Not to mention the patio houses that survived until the Roman conquest.