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Cova Dones

Paleolithic cave, Eastern Spain
Parietal art dating to 22,000 BC

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Dr Ruiz-Redondo exploring the Cova Dones Cave, Valencia, Spain
Fig 1. Cova Dones Cave, Valencia, Spain. Image by A. Ruiz-Redondo, V. Barciela, X. Martorell. (CC BY 4.0)

New Paleolithic Cave in Spain

Spanish archaeologists have uncovered an important paleolithic cave on the east coast of Spain, with striking imagery of horses, deer and wild bulls.

The site, known as Cova Dones, comprises a single-gallery limestone cave, roughly half a kilometres in length, that opens onto a steep gorge in the district of Millares, near Valencia.

So far, researchers have identified more than 100 paintings and engraved drawings in the cave, the oldest of which are believed to date to at least 22,000 BC.

Archaeologist Dr Aitor Ruiz-Redondo, senior lecturer at Zaragoza and Southampton universities, said:

"When we saw the first painted aurochs (an extinct wild bull, weighing up to 1.5 tons), we immediately understood its importance."

Then "once we began the proper systematic survey, we realised we were facing a major cave art site", like the ones found elsewhere in the region of Franco-Cantabrian art across northern Spain and southern France.

According to Ruiz-Redondo and others, Cova Dones, first discovered in June 2021, is the most important site of paleolithic art to be discovered in the region, since Atxurra Cave (Bizkaia) in 2015.

Cave painting of an aurochs wild bull at Cova Dones
Fig 2. Head of an Aurochs, Cova Dones. Image by A. Ruiz-Redondo, V. Barciela, X. Martorell. (CC BY 4.0)

Caves in Eastern Spain are Rare

Despite hosting Spain's most important site of prehistoric mobiliary art (Parpalló Cave, dating to 21,500 BC), the east coast of Iberia boasts few Paleolithic sites with parietal art: only nine are reliably identified as Pleistocene.

What's more, between them, these sites contain only three figurative paintings - a disappointingly low number, compared to the host of animal paintings to be found in northern Spain, in Cantabria and the Basque region.

Other important paleolithic sites outside the zone of northern Spain, include: Ardales Cave (Málaga), La Pileta Cave (Málaga), Los Aviones Cave (Cartagena), and Maltravieso Cave (Extremadura).

Discovery

The site of Cova (or Cueva) Dones was well-known by local spelunkers and hikers, but despite some finds dating back to the Iron Age, the paintings remained undiscovered until the arrival of Ruiz-Redondo's team of researchers from the universities of Alicante and Zaragoza.

An informal investigation in 2021 identified four painted images, including an aurochs head (see Fig 2.).

Further explorations in 2023 led to further discoveries of both painted and engraved images, and to the recognition of Cova Dones as a major sanctuary of Upper Paleolithic art in eastern Iberia.

Cave Art at Cova Dones

The cave art at Cueva Dones features over 110 graphic images, including at least 19 depictions of animals, found in three different areas of the cave,

The main decorated section is about 400 metres from the entrance.

The animals depicted include: 7 horses, 7 female red deer (hinds), 2 aurochs, a stag, and two undefined creatures.

The rest of the cave art consists of abstract signs (rectangles, lines, serpentiforms), several panels of ‘macaroni’ finger-flutings, and a quantity of unidentified painted images.

Engravings

What makes the cave art at Cova Dones special, is the variety and rarity of its technical features.

The rock engravings, for instance, include figures with regular outlines, but some of them have been given extra volume, by scraping the mondmilch (a limestone precipitate) around them.

This method of adding volume to an engraved figure is quite rare in paleolithic art, and hitherto unheard of in eastern Spain.

Paintings

The cave painting techniques on show are just as striking.

Instead of using the normal Stone Age colour palette, with its ochre pigments and manganese or charcoal blacks, Cova Dones painters used the red clay which is found in abundance on the floors of the cave.

Rare examples of this painting method are visible at other caves in Spain, such as Ardales, La Pasiega, and La Pileta.

In France, they appear especially at Baume Latrone cave, as well as Bernifal, and Rouffignac.

But mostly they comprise only a small percentage of the art in these locations.

However, at Cova Dones, all the wall paintings are created using this clay technique.

Dating

A complete laboratory analysis of Cova Dones' cave art - including radiometric dating of the paintings' calcite flowstone, which overlies numerous red clay paintings - is yet to emerge.

Meantime, indirect dating methods offer a rough guide to the cave art's Stone Age antiquity.

First, some of the images are consistent with a style that is characteristic of Stone Age culture between 40,000 and 20,000 BC, as verified by direct dating at other Paleolithic sites.

For instance, stylistic analysis of the aurochs and horses indicates they were created no earlier than 18,000 BC.

In addition, trilinear hinds (deer drawn with three strokes) at Cova Dones are well-known motifs in Mediterranean Paleolithic art. At Nerja Cave in Málaga, for example, one such hind was radiocarbon dated to 17,900-21,680 BC.

Second, one of the drawings was overlaid by scratches made by a cave bear, which went extinct around 22,000 BC. Hence, the drawing must have predated the bear's date of extinction.

The researchers believe that more cave art will be discovered as their excavations continue.

More Spanish Caves

Traditionally, the distribution of Pleistocene cave art on the Iberian Peninsula has centred on the northern coastline of the Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque Region.

The most famous Spanish caves in this zone include:

Asturias

Cantabria

Basque region

References

(1) Ruiz-Redondo, A. Barciela, V. and Martorell, X. 'Cova Dones: a major Paleolithic cave art site in eastern Iberia.' Antiquity, Volume 97, Issue 396, December 2023, e32.
(2) Terlato, G., Bocherens, H., Romandini, M., Nannini, N., Hobson, K.A. & Peresani, M.. 2018. 'Chronological and isotopic data support a revision for the timing of cave bear extinction in Mediterranean Europe.' Historical Biology 31: 474–84.
(3) Sanchidrián, J.L., Márquez, A.M., Valladas, H. & Tisnerat, N.. 2001. Dates directes pour l'Art Rupestre de l'Andalousie. INORA 29: 15–19.

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