ROCK ART IN LAS VILLUERCAS, CUEVA CHIQUITA ROCK-SHELTER

Google Maps:
39.39055, -5.39236

Type of site:
Rock-Shelters

Place of location: Cueva Chiquita
Village/Town: Cañamero
Municipality: Cañamero (Cáceres)
Region: Extremadura
State: Spain
Telephone: (+34) 924 007 009, (+34) 927 199 134
Website: https://www.geoparquevilluercas.es/centro-de-interpretacion/centro-de-interpretacion-de-la-arqueologiaberzocana/ http://www.villuercas.net/canamero/contenidos/patrimonio-pinturas-rupestres.php
E-mail: ciarqueologiaberzocana@gmail.com

Natural Environment:

In the heart of Las Villuercas region, one of the most spectacular parts of the region, with well-conserved Mediterranean woodland and impressive mountain ranges with some of the highest peaks in Extremadura.

Archaeological evidences in the site:

The Villuercas region has an important Archaeological context, from the Palaeolithic to the Middle Ages. The most important record is foccused on Recent Prehistory, especially the Bronze and Iron Ages, with many remains of daily file and personal adornments of gold. Roman evidences are important too, like the roman villae of Valhondo. Rock Art is an important reference point and includes Palaeolithic engravings in the Mina de Ibor cave and especially a lot of decorated rock-shelters with a large number of representantions of Schematic Art.

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Opening Times:

It is open every day. The park is designed so that you can drive in with your car and leave it in the parking spaces available at each stop. There are observatories at each point of interest. We recommend going to the interpretation centre first and choosing a route on foot to enter nature.

Booking and access:

https://www.geoparquevilluercas.es/contact/?lang=en

Nearby cultural destinations:

Monastery of Guadalupe (15 km). Trujillo (55 km). Mérida (95 km). Cáceres (80 km).

Nearby natural destinations:

All the destinations of the Geopark of Villuercas: https://www.geoparquevilluercas.es/geosites/?lang=en

Accommodations (Tourism Website):
https://www.viajarporextremadura.com/cubic/ap/es.php/27/Caceres/Las-Villuercas / http://www.geoturismoenlasvilluercas.com/alojamientos-geoparque-villuercas-ibores-jara.html
Restaurants (Tourism Website):
https://www.extremadura.com/paginas/geoparque-villuercas-ibores-jara-extremadura-caceres/donde-comer

Age of the artistic representations:

Schematic rock art. Neolithic to Bronze Age.

General description of the destination:

The Cueva Chiquita is one of the most important rock art sites in Extremadura. Located on the banks of the Ruecas River, we find this cave shelter that presents more than a hundred motifs in several panels that exploit the fragmentation of the rock for their delimitation. Wrapped in dragon legends, Cueva Chiquita presents a multitude of symbols that are interpreted as schematic representations of humans (anthropomorphic), as well as animals (zoomorphic) and signs composed essentially of linear lines and points.

History of the site:

Cueva Chiquita was known by local populations since ever and they believed that it was the refugee of dragons and/or snakes. In 1918, the great archaeologist Henri Breuil described the site and its graphic record. In 2008 the site was cleaned, studied and adapted to receive visitors by a team of the University of Extremadura under the direction of doctors José Julio García-Arranz and Hipólito Collado.

Museographic resources description:

There are several interpretation centres in the Geoparque Villuercas-Ibores-Jara (https://www.geoparquevilluercas.es/?lang=en ). The Interpretation Centre of Archaeology, in Berzocana, was inaugurated in 2013. The top floor has numerous panels with a wide archaeological information that explains the history of the peoples and lands of the geoparque along the principal historical periods. Taking advantage of the darkness and the general environment of the semibasement, we find a reproduction cave with an interesting audio-visual about the rock art sites in the Geoparque.