Filter in use code="monfr032" found 1 record/s

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Name      
España    Monfragüe's Natural Park., Site XXXII, "Cueva del Enigma" EuroPreArt - European Prehistoric Art

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Keywords: Bitriangular anthropomorphic figures, anthropomorphic Headressed figure
Institution: colectivo Barbaon  http://geocities.com/culturamontana
Record
proposed
by
 
Location

Country:

España

Locality:

Serradilla, Sierra Santa Catalina, Peña Falcón.Southern Slope

Region:

Extremadura/ Cáceres

Area:

Monfragüe's Natural Park.

 

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General picture of shelter El Enigma nº 32
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Copyright. No commercial use of EuroPreArt content is allowed. Specific © for pictures and drawings is mentioned in the captions or owned by each Author or Institution.
Disclaim. The EuroPreArt project fully endorses the most recent documentation policies. It must be outlined the absolute forbidding of any disruptive method and the necessity of a total respect for archaeological sites. It is also to be noticed that no substances shall be applied to rock art for recording purposes. Some pictures of the EuroPreArt records are related to past recording techniques and may not fully match these policies. They are an historical documentation. Please refer to local archaeological official authorities for any recording purpose. Please take a look also over EuroPreArt guidelines.
 
Environment & Surface

Altitude:

435 m
Open-air   Shelter   Cave Portable   Megalithic

Geography:
Monfragüe is a massif mountains complex, crossed E-W by snaky Tajo River, where we can find hills, mounts crown with sierras (max. hight....), several water courses and streams commonlly running through narrow valleys. Narrow passes and breaches along the Sierras remain as ancient pastural routes to northern and southern plain valleys. General flora corresponds to Mediterranean wood with bushy trees, mainly cistus, and autoctonal trees like ilex, cork tree. Nowadays we find also exogene spices like olive trees and euchaliptus product of agricultural use of some areas of the Park. Sierra Santa Catalina is the alignment placed on the North-eastern vertice of Monfragüe, land sourrounding is pasture woodland, cultivated land with olive trees and used for forestry. Vegetation includes bushy trees like brooms and cistus and trees like ilex and cork trees mostly. Placed at the first level of the first terrace of the rocky alignments of Sierra Santa Catalina that runs with a W-E axe, shelter 32 is located at the bottom of the rock outcrop in the middle slope facing South (180º). Placed a few meters up behind "La Sirenita", on a second level of the first terrace of rock outcrops of Sierra Santa Catalina alignment that runs W-E, "Enigma" shelter is located at middle slope and its oppening faces E 90º. Two great bloks of rock conform this shelter which has triangular oppennig and is extremely deep, high and dark inside. The Northern wall seems to be a cracked outcrop that lies on a vertical steep outcrop that works as southern wall. The latter supports most of the representations while the former just has some motives close to the oppening almost in open air.

Proximity:

I would like to say how far is the river, in which direction and which is the visibility from the site. Besides the closeness of any traditional pastural route.

Geology:

Quartzite

Surface:

Rough and quite slidy goes from orangy tonality to grey

Dimensions:
Length 4.10 m.  Width 2.00 m.  Depth 14.00 m.

 

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Art        

Description:

Engravings   Paintings   Painted engravings   High or low-relief   Sculpture
Schematic figures on this shelter show common types and several unusual representations within Monfragüe's art. In general the pigmentation of all figures is bright red or dark red and trace line is thick (1-1.5 cm) when not specified. Out to inside the shelter and with reference to their hight from the floor we find, two vertical bars 11 and 7 cm. long, each, 1.20 m high. Next, 1.74m. high, four bars between 7 and 4 cm long, latter lacks part of pigment inside. Next, 1.20 m high, several finger spots lead us to a zoomorphic schem composed by an horizontal trace 7.5 cm long with four vertical bars below, coming out from it. First is 9 cm long, the 2nd, 1 cm, and both last ones 8 cm. Long (see picture). Moving right up 1.75 m high, after a serie of bars and spots, there's a thinly traced (0.2cm) Star-shaped figure made by a circumference with six appendixes just on the right side (max.width. 3.5cm). To the right 1.36m and 2.60m high, a "T" shape figure incomplete and 2 "U" shaped figures The first one, 13 cm long-2.5 cm wide has two appendixes on the left side, one on the upper part curved down 3 cm ( almost touching "T") and other in the lower part runing horizontally 8 cm. The last "U" is upsidedown, thin traced 0.4 cm, 12.5 cm long-4.15 cm max.wide. - these three motivescould be one indeterminate composition-. Moving down, 2.19 m high, two figures without parallels: BITRIANGULAR ATHROPOMORPHS. Composed by triangular elements the first one shows Head, Trunk and the left arm, like single traces added to a double triangle structure (see picture). Placed underneath, the second is a very complex figure of similar characteristics. On the sourroundings there are several bars and finger spots, a group of little spots runnig vertical following a wavy line, and an indeterminate figure composed by a vertical bar, with three horizontal prolongations along the right side and a parallel irregular bar on the left side joining central bar's ends. 1.29 m to the right, 1.39 m high among several curved bars, spots and finger spots, there is the little (6.6 - 3.1 cm max. wide) Headressed Anthropomorph which is composed by a vertical trace as body, a curvilinear trace as left arm, (right arm lost) two litlle traces in the lower part shaping the legs and an ancor shaped representation on the upper part as some kind of headgear (see Tracing). Next, to the right 1.61 m high there is a 16.5 cm long figure composed by three very irregular circumferences dispossed one on top of the other with a "v" shape trace that tops the complex(see tracing). Below we find a small uneven trace surrounded by several little points on the left. The last group of representations is placed on the N wall and contains engraved figures made with a thread-like continuous line (less than o0.1 cm thick) that shows "U" section. First a triangular figure (18 cm tall) shows net traces in the inside while the upper left outside line has another small triangle added. Second, below the former, a semicircular line (10-8 cm) closed by an horizontal trace (12 cm long) delimitates the space which contains several unknown graghems, except for an star-shaped figure on the upper part (see tracing).

Figures:
total number 57
Vertical Bars, Finger prints, Zoomorphical scheme, Spots, Star-shaped figure, "T" shaped figure, "U" shaped figure, Upsidedown "U" shaped figure, Bitriangular anthropomorphs, 2 indeterminate motives, 2 indeterminate group of motives, Staff- shaped bars, Arch-bar, Headdressed anthropomorph, Indeterminate spots, engraved groups of figures.

Chronology:

Palaeolithic   Epipalaeolithic - Mesolithic   Neolithic   Copper Age   Bronze Age   Iron Age   Roman   Middle Age   Modern   Unknown
Schematic art in the Iberian Peninsule is a style developed from VI to I milenium A.C., Absolute data can´t be given.

Notes:

The especial motives of shelter 32 made it very important for the oncoming research.Not any of the remarked ones or mostly the engravings have parallels in the Park. Any notice of parallel or correlation that may be given will be appreciate. general paintings found do not show pigment remainings. Reference to colour is related to the fosil negative printed on the rock surface when not specified pigment. When pig,ent is found analysis about the composition of red pigments shous mineral procedence from ferric oxidus present on the composition and also present on the mineral enviroment of the site.
 
Bibliography        





European total bibliography, by EuroPreArt partnersTotal (Europe)
España EuroPreArt general bibliography, by colectivo BarbaonGeneral (country)
Specific Monfragüe's Natural Park., Site XXXII, Specific (site)
Rock Art Studies: A Bibliographic worldwide Database (external link). Compiled by Leigh Marymor. Copyright (C) 2001-2002 by the Library, University of California, Berkeley Bibliographic
Rock Art
Database

 

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Conservation        

Status:

Public   Private   Park   Classified site

Risk:

Microflora affects the surfaces supporting art, but in general this shelter is quite protected from other natural or antropical attacks.

Conservation:

Good   Quite good   Mediocre   Bad

Intervention:

Three recording campaigns (1997,98,99) have taken place at Monfragüe, covering most of its sierras and stream breachs, in order to record all schematic art sites. The works, not finished, had given a number of 100 shelters with art, and the record consist in digitalizated tracings, pictures and descriptions that are also being compiled in several unpublished volumes. Monfragüe is a Natural Park where no human intervention is nowadays allowed, neither the presence of people near most of the art sites. The latter means the art is strictly preserved of any anthropical action wether it is damage or conservation works.

 

By          

Compiler:

Montserrat Giron Abumalham

Institution:

colectivo Barbaon  http://geocities.com/culturamontana
 
         Record n. 147 / 807
No commercial use is allowed. Specific © is mentioned in the captions or owned by each Author or Institution  
 
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NEW: Alpine rock paintings
enter the Balma dei Cervi Virtual Museum and surf the Virtual Tour: spherical pano-views,
hi-def flat photos and tracings


EuroPreArt, European Prehistoric Art, is a web-based archaeological project funded by the European Union which aims to establish a lasting data-base of European prehistoric art documentation, to launch the base of an European institutional network and to contribute to the awareness of the diversity and richness of European Prehistoric Art.
It is proposed by: Instituto Politécnico de Tomar (IPT, Portugal), CUEBC - European University Centre for Cultural Heritage (Italy - Europe), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (España), Asociación Cultural Colectivo Barbaón (España), Université de Liège (Belgique), Gotland University College (Sverige), University College Dublin (Eire), Cooperativa Archeologica Le Orme dell'Uomo (Italia), Study Centre and Museum of Prehistoric Art of Pinerolo (Italia), The European Centre for Prehistoric Research in the Alto Ribatejo (Portugal), ArqueoJovem - a youth NGO (Portugal).
Instituto Politécnico de Tomar - Portugal CUEBC - European University Centre for Cultural Heritage, Ravello - Italy CSIC - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid - Spain Orme dell'Uomo - Footsteps of Man, Valcamonica - Italy Asociación Cultural Colectivo Barbaón, Extremadura -Spain Liège University - Belgium Gotland University - Sweden University College Dublin - Ireland CeSMAP - Centro Studi e Museo d'Arte Preistorica. Pinerolo, Italy Arqueo Jovem

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