OCT to APR Wed-Sun 9:30-15:55.
[2008]
Groups larger than 20 people should be booked in advance by fax.
[2005]
Karst cave.
| Location: | Puente Viesgo. N-623, Carretera de Burgos. |
| Open: |
MAY to SEP daily 10-13, 16-19:30. OCT to APR Wed-Sun 9:30-15:55. [2008] |
| Fee: |
Adults EUR 3. Groups larger than 20 people should be booked in advance by fax. [2005] |
| Classification: |
Karst cave.
|
| Light: | electric. |
| Dimension: | |
| Guided tours: | |
| Bibliography: |
H. Alcalde del Rio, L. Sierra (1911):
Les Cavernes de la Region Cantabrique.
|
| Address: | Cuevas de El Castillo y Las Monedas, Interpretation Centre of the Caves of Monte El Castillo, National Highway 623 (Burgos road), Puente Viesgo, Tel: +34-942-598425, Fax: +34-942-598305. |
| Last update: | $Date: 2010/05/19 23:22:07 $ |
| 1903 | discovered by Alcalde del Rio. | |
| 1911 | results of H. Alcalde del Rio and L. Sierra published. |
The hill El Castillo near Puente Viesgo is riddled with caves. Although not connected they are part of the same cave system which crosses the whole mountain. The caves were opened by the erosion of the limestone and are accessible for many thousand years. Many of the caves have been used by Stone Age man, many contain artworks like paintings and engravings. The entrance areas were inhabites and contain thick sedimentary layers with
The 1,000m long Cueva de El Castillo (El Castillo Cave) contains more than 150 paintings of different styles from the upper Palaeolithic. In the entrance region an 18m thick deposit, the thickest known at the Cantabrian coast, was excavated and revealed remains from the Acheulien to the Bronze Age. At the beginning of the 20th century this allowed to establish a complete relative sequence of the European palaeolithic for the first time. Excavated by H. Alcalde del Rio and L. Sierra, the results were published in 1911.
Nearby lies the 300m deep Cueva Las Monedas (Las Monedas Cave). Next to the central chamber lies a small lateral chamber containing black paintings of animals and a panel of engravings.
The next cave is Cueva Las Chimeneas (Cave of the Chimneys). The chimneys this cave is named after are shafts connecting the two levels of the cave. There are some panels of parallel lines called macarroni, abstract figures and also some animal pictures.
And finally there is Cueva La Pasiega (La Pasiega Cave). The complex cave has a length of 300m and shows both paintings and engravings. The artworks are of comparable quality as in El Castillo Cave. It was discovered by H. Obermaier and P. Wernert.
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