Description
The Rupestre Art, "art on rock," is composed of the pictorial manifestations that our remote ancestors left on the walls of numerous covacas and petreous coats of our saws, in prehistoric times (in our region, from the Neolithic, to the Bronze Age).
These more or less realistic but generally schematic manifestations reproduce human beings, animals and symbols, forming isolated scenes. The representations not only evoke and report part of daily life, but leave us witness to its complex v mysterious spirituality.
World Heritage Site
In Aldeaquemada, as a sample of its valuable cultural heritage, there are different groups of rock paintings, of a schematic and eulin style; distributed by fleshlands and rocky coats of the municipal term. So much so that UNESCO, meeting in Kyoto (Japan) in 1998, agreed to catalogue the Levine Rupestre Art of the Spanish Mediterranean Arc as a World Heritage Site. Meeting in assembly, he gave this important name and included in the list the 19 deposits of Rupéstre Levino and Eschematic Art discovered in this municipality, cataloguing that has come to recognize and highlight the great importance of the cultural manifestations of the former inhabitants of these lands.
Outdoor museums
These deposits, unique for their subject matter, are the most important in Andalusia and can be considered as authentic outdoor museums, of incalculable value and whose preservation concerns each and every one of us. When visiting them, we must remember with all due respect that we contemplate figures made by the primitive man; but not for that less human and intelligent, more than 4,000 years ago. They are all by law Cultural Interest Goods.
These groups of rock paintings, located on most occasions on rock coats, were studied at the beginning of the 20th century by the Abate Brehuil and M. Cabré, who catalogued the vast majority of existing groups in the area.
Subsequently, thanks to the new and relevant discoveries of the chronist Carlos Sanchez- Battle, it has been possible to have an extended relationship and a full awareness of the great heritage value that, for Aldeaquemada, represents the whole of its cave paintings.
Visit the paintings
Visiting these places is difficult and can be frustrating, not only because of their access; dangerous sometimes, but because of their poor conservation status; they make them difficult to see if they are not specialized. For this reason, before scheduling a visit, you should consult with a local connoisseur and let yourself be accompanied by a responsible local guide.
The most representative coats, on which signposted routes have been developed; not yet operational until the final protection of the paintings, but which has been announced (the Ayto. provide guides) can be visited, are those of the Poyos de La Cimbarra, Cimbarillo del Prado de Rechesa, Cave de la Mina, Garganta de la Hoz, Prado del Azogue and Cave de Los Arcos. Although there are another series of awakened groups.
