The Cave of Maltravieso in Cáceres,

Extremadura Extremadura (; ext, Estremaúra; pt, Estremadura; Fala: ''Extremaúra'') is an autonomous community of Spain. Its capital city is Mérida, and its largest city is Badajoz. Located in the central-western part of the Iberian Peninsula, it ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, was discovered in 1951. It shows traces of human occupation from the Middle Paleolithic. It contains cave art, most notably a total of 71

hand stencil In archaeology, Cave paintings are a type of parietal art (which category also includes petroglyphs, or engravings), found on the wall or ceilings of caves. The term usually implies prehistoric art, prehistoric origin, and the oldest known are mor ...

s, enumerated in the 1990s using ultraviolet photography, Sergio Ripoll López, E. Ripoll Perelló, H. Collado Giraldo, M. Mas Cornellá, J.F. Jordá Pardo y Laboratorio de Estudios Paleolíticos (1999): "Maltravieso. El santuario extremeño de las manos", ''Trabajos de Prehistoria'' vol. 56, issue 2, pp. 21–33. but also linear designs and some animal paintings. In a 2018 study based on uranium-thorium dating, a hand stencil from the Cave of Maltravieso was dated to 64,000 years ago. This would make it Middle Paleolithic art, predating the presence of

European early modern humans Early European modern humans (EEMH), or Cro-Magnons, were the first early modern humans (''Homo sapiens'') to settle in Europe, migrating from Western Asia, continuously occupying the continent possibly from as early as 56,800 years ago. They i ...

, with important implications for

Neanderthal behavior Almost everything about Neanderthal behaviour remains controversial. From their physiology, Neanderthals are presumed to have been omnivores, but animal protein formed the majority of their dietary protein, showing them to have been carnivorous ap ...

. "we present dating results for three sites in Spain that show that cave art emerged in Iberia substantially earlier than previously thought. Uranium-thorium (U-Th) dates on carbonate crusts overlying paintings provide minimum ages for a red linear motif in La Pasiega (Cantabria), a hand stencil in Maltravieso (Extremadura), and red-painted speleothems in Ardales (Andalucía). Collectively, these results show that cave art in Iberia is older than 64.8 thousand years ( ka). This cave art is the earliest dated so far and predates, by at least 20 ka, the arrival of modern humans in Europe, which implies Neandertal authorship." A visitor center, the ''Centro de interpretación de la Cueva de Maltravieso'', opened in 1999. Other nearby Paleolithic caves are those of El Conejar, Santa Ana and

Castañar de Ibor Castañar de Ibor ( ext, Castañal d'Ibol) is a municipality located in the province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain. According to the 2005 census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information ab ...

References

*Callejo Serano, Carlos (1958): ''La cueva prehistórica de Maltravieso junto a Cáceres'', Cáceres. *Callejo Serano, Carlos (1970), "Catálogo de las pinturas de la Cueva de Maltravieso." ''XIº Congreso Nacional de Arqueología''. Mérida, 1968, Zaragoza, 154-174. *Callejo Serano, Carlos (1981): ''El símbolo de la mano en las pinturas rupestres'', Coloquios Históricos de Extremadura, Trujillo. *Ripoll López, S. et al., (1997): "Avance al estudio de la Cueva de Maltravieso (Cáceres). El arte rupestre paleolítico en Extremadura", ''Jornadas sobre Arte Rupestre en Extremadura''. Extremadura Arqueológica, Cáceres-Mérida, vol. VII: 95-117. *Ripoll Perelló, E., Moure Romanillo, J.A. (1979): "Grabados rupestres de la Cueva de Maltravieso (Cáceres)", '' Estudios dedicados a Carlos Callejo Serrano'' Cáceres, 567-572. *Sanchidrián Torti, J.L. (1988/1989): "Perspectiva actual del arte paleolítico de la Cueva de Maltravieso (Cáceres)", ''Ars Praehistorica'' VII-VIII, Barcelona,pp, 123-129.

External links

turismoextremadura.comevoluciona.org
{{Authority control Caves of Spain Rock art in Spain Cáceres, Spain Neanderthal sites