280 Ice Age engravings found in Spanish cave overlooked for 60 years
A remarkable archaeological find at Cova de la Font Major has revealed 280 Palaeolithic engravings, showcasing diverse motifs of animals and geometric shapes. This challenges the previously held notion that cave art was scarce in northeastern Iberia, where only two pieces were known. These engravings suggest the existence of unique artistic traditions independent of the famous Franco-Cantabrian…
In a Spanish cave, previously overlooked for six decades, archaeologists have uncovered over 280 Ice Age engravings, offering fresh insights into prehistoric artistic traditions on the Iberian Peninsula. This discovery was made in the Cova de la Font Major, a cave in Catalonia, northeastern Spain, where researchers identified 55 zoomorphic representations among the engravings, along with non-figurative designs.
The cave, known since the 12th century and frequented by visitors since 1957, had hidden these artworks, including names and dates left by modern visitors, beneath its uneven rock surfaces. Despite being considered an unlikely site for Paleolithic engravings due to its uneven rock surface, the Cova de la Font Major has now emerged as the third-largest known Paleolithic cave art assemblage along the Mediterranean side of the Iberian Peninsula.
This discovery challenges previous assumptions about the distribution of Paleolithic art on the Iberian Peninsula, suggesting that northeastern Iberia may have supported a more substantial human activity and potentially had its own distinct artistic traditions.
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