Type of site:
Cave and Interpretation centre.
Place of location: Urban park of Maltravieso
Village/Town: Cáceres
Municipality: Cáceres (Cáceres)
Region: Extremadura
State: Spain
Telephone: (+34) 927 22 20 62, (+34) 927 010 877
Website: https://www.turismoextremadura.com/es/explora/Centro-de-Interpretacion-de-la-cueva-de-Maltravieso/
E-mail: museocaceres@juntaex.es
Natural Environment:
The municipality of Cáceres is situated in the natural area known as the “Llanos de Cáceres”, a peneplain located between the San Pedro and Montánchez mountain ranges. It includes eight Special Protection Areas (SPAs) for birds, some of which lie within the town centre, which is quite unusual. The so-called ‘Cáceres limestone’ is a highly karstified limestone formation in which several caves have developed, some of which were inhabited from the late Middle Pleistocene onwards, first by groups of Neanderthals and, for the last 40,000 years, by anatomically modern humans.
Archaeological evidences in the site:
The area of Cáceres hosts a large number of Archaeological sites, from Lower Palaeolithic to the Middle Age. It is one of the most important areas for the knowledge of the human history in the Iberian Peninsula in general, and Extremadura in particular. In several caves of the El Calerizo zone, have been studied different sites from the Middle and Upper Pleistocene, including Maltravieso Cave that preserves the first artistic expressions of Extremadura. Epipaleolithic, Neolithic and Metal Ages evidences are very commons in the area, in caves and in open air settlements. The city was founded during the Roman period, when a roman army campament was placed in the area. Currently, the city is World Heritage by UNESCO due to its amazing Medieval architecture.