CAVE OF ARDALES (CUEVA DE ARDALES)

A few kilometres from the city centre, the cave of Ardales was discovered in 1821 in favour of a small earthquake that represented the entrance. The cavities, dug by thermal waters, form a maze of 1 500 m long which was explored by Abbot Breuil in 1918. Traces of habitat were found about metres from the mouth, but it is likely that this cave served only temporary camp during hunting periods.

Engravings and paintings have been discovered throughout the cave, even in the most obscure places. Stalagmites carved and filled with fuel, usually made with the wax of bees, animal fats and olive oil, were used to illuminate the passages. For inaccessible places, ropes made in the rock were also found. There were a total of 107 drawings dated Gravettien and Solutréen, and over symbols. Among the most important representations: a large deer with red legs, coloured by a mixture of resin and clay, and a silhouette that could be that of a woman, and many hands in negative. Notable is: most of the engravings were made not with a tool but at the point of the finger.