HURDISH ENGRAVINGS
The engravings of the Hurdes are spread over a vast territory covering the communes of Casar de Palomero, Pinofranqueado, Caminomorisco, Nuñomoral and Casares de las Hurdes.
In the country of Las Hurdes there is a series of open-air engravings which, by their number and their remarkable character, constitute within the post-Palaeolithic cave art of the Iberian Peninsula a uniform and singular nucleus.
In total, 15 different rock destinations are now perfectly marked for better access to visitors. They are located in various important places: Casar de Palomero, Pinofranqueado-Caminomorisco and Nuñomoral. These are enclaves of the type "pétroglyphe", of slate outcrops of slate, most often, which have been the object of identifiable engraved by percussion and incision.
The sites are generally made of rocky outcrops located at mid-slope, above the bed of a river or stream, and most often oriented on a north-west/northeast line.
If the grounds appear most often on the horizontal surface of the rock, with the floor, there are also some sets of decorated rocks. These are - in all cases - natural outcrops of slate or shale.In most cases, the themes represented are geometric or linear, and there are also, with a certain profusion, a few figurative elements such as horse fers, representations of shaven human feet, agricultural tools (sickles, serpes), and arms (swords, knives, launchers). Much more exceptional, anthropomorphic or schématisations of human silhouettes in which they wanted to see idols and other elements difficult to interpret.