x
This website is using cookies. More info. That's Fine
article_detail
EDITIONS: Murcia Today Alicante Today
  • Receive Our FREE Weekly Bulletin
  • Advertise With Us
  • Contact
  • Home
  • CONTACT
  • ADVERTISE WITH US
  • FREE WEEKLY BULLETIN
  • EVENTS
    DIARY
  • MURCIA
    CLASSIFIEDS
  • BUSINESS
    DIRECTORY
  • RESTAURANT
    DIRECTORY
  • Region
  • Águilas
  • Alhama de Murcia
  • Jumilla
  • Lorca
  • Los Alcázares
  • Mazarrón
  • San Javier
  • ALL AREAS & TOWNS
    • AREAS
    • SOUTH WEST
    • MAR MENOR
    • MURCIA CITY & CENTRAL
    • NORTH & NORTH WEST
    • TOWNS
    • Abanilla
    • Abarán
    • Aguilas
    • Alamillo
    • Alcantarilla
    • Aledo
    • Alhama de Murcia
    • Archena
    • Balsicas
    • Blanca
    • Bolnuevo
    • Bullas
    • Cañadas del Romero
    • Cabo de Palos
    • Calasparra
    • Camping Bolnuevo
    • Campo De Ricote
    • Camposol
    • Canada De La Lena
    • Caravaca de la Cruz
    • Cartagena
    • Cehegin
    • Ceuti
    • Cieza
    • Condado de Alhama
    • Corvera
    • Costa Cálida
    • Cuevas De Almanzora
    • Cuevas de Reyllo
    • El Carmoli
    • El Mojon
    • El Molino (Puerto Lumbreras)
    • El Pareton / Cantareros
    • El Raso
    • El Valle Golf Resort
    • Fortuna
    • Fuente Alamo
    • Hacienda del Alamo Golf Resort
    • Hacienda Riquelme Golf Resort
    • Isla Plana
    • Islas Menores & Mar de Cristal
    • Jumilla
    • La Azohia
    • La Charca
    • La Manga Club
    • La Manga del Mar Menor
    • La Pinilla
    • La Puebla
    • La Torre
    • La Torre Golf Resort
    • La Unión
    • Las Palas
    • Las Ramblas
    • Las Ramblas Golf
    • Las Torres de Cotillas
    • Leiva
    • Librilla
    • Lo Pagan
    • Lo Santiago
    • Lorca
    • Lorquí
    • Los Alcázares
    • Los Balcones
    • Los Belones
    • Los Canovas
    • Los Nietos
    • Los Perez (Tallante)
    • Los Urrutias
    • Los Ventorrillos
    • Mar De Cristal
    • Mar Menor
    • Mar Menor Golf Resort
    • Mazarrón
    • Mazarrón Country Club
    • Molina de Segura
    • Moratalla
    • Mula
    • Murcia City
    • Murcia Property
    • Pareton
    • Peraleja Golf Resort
    • Perin
    • Pilar de la Horadada
    • Pinar de Campoverde
    • Pinoso
    • Playa Honda
    • Playa Honda / Playa Paraíso
    • Pliego
    • Portmán
    • Pozo Estrecho
    • Puerto de Mazarrón
    • Puerto Lumbreras
    • Puntas De Calnegre
    • Region of Murcia
    • Ricote
    • Roda
    • Roldan
    • Roldan and Lo Ferro
    • San Javier
    • San Pedro del Pinatar
    • Santiago de la Ribera
    • Sierra Espuña
    • Sucina
    • Tallante
    • Terrazas de la Torre Golf Resort
    • Torre Pacheco
    • Totana
    • What's On Weekly Bulletin
    • Yecla


  • EVENTS
    DIARY
  • MURCIA
    CLASSIFIEDS
  • BUSINESS
    DIRECTORY
  • RESTAURANT
    DIRECTORY
  • Home
  • Areas
    • SOUTH WEST
    • MAR MENOR
    • MURCIA CITY & CENTRAL
    • NORTH & NORTH WEST
  • Towns
    • Abanilla
    • Abarán
    • Aguilas
    • Alamillo
    • Alcantarilla
    • Aledo
    • Alhama de Murcia
    • Archena
    • Balsicas
    • Blanca
    • Bolnuevo
    • Bullas
    • Cañadas del Romero
    • Cabo de Palos
    • Calasparra
    • Camping Bolnuevo
    • Campo De Ricote
    • Camposol
    • Canada De La Lena
    • Caravaca de la Cruz
    • Cartagena
    • Cehegin
    • Ceuti
    • Cieza
    • Condado de Alhama
    • Corvera
    • Costa Cálida
    • Cuevas De Almanzora
    • Cuevas de Reyllo
    • El Carmoli
    • El Mojon
    • El Molino (Puerto Lumbreras)
    • El Pareton / Cantareros
    • El Raso
    • El Valle Golf Resort
    • Fortuna
    • Fuente Alamo
    • Hacienda del Alamo Golf Resort
    • Hacienda Riquelme Golf Resort
    • Isla Plana
    • Islas Menores & Mar de Cristal
    • Jumilla
    • La Azohia
    • La Charca
    • La Manga Club
    • La Manga del Mar Menor
    • La Pinilla
    • La Puebla
    • La Torre
    • La Torre Golf Resort
    • La Unión
    • Las Palas
    • Las Ramblas
    • Las Ramblas Golf
    • Las Torres de Cotillas
    • Leiva
    • Librilla
    • Lo Pagan
    • Lo Santiago
    • Lorca
    • Lorquí
    • Los Alcázares
    • Los Balcones
    • Los Belones
    • Los Canovas
    • Los Nietos
    • Los Perez (Tallante)
    • Los Urrutias
    • Los Ventorrillos
    • Mar De Cristal
    • Mar Menor
    • Mar Menor Golf Resort
    • Mazarrón
    • Mazarrón Country Club
    • Molina de Segura
    • Moratalla
    • Mula
    • Murcia City
    • Murcia Property
    • Pareton
    • Peraleja Golf Resort
    • Perin
    • Pilar de la Horadada
    • Pinar de Campoverde
    • Pinoso
    • Playa Honda
    • Playa Honda / Playa Paraíso
    • Pliego
    • Portmán
    • Pozo Estrecho
    • Puerto de Mazarrón
    • Puerto Lumbreras
    • Puntas De Calnegre
    • Region of Murcia
    • Ricote
    • Roda
    • Roldan
    • Roldan and Lo Ferro
    • San Javier
    • San Pedro del Pinatar
    • Santiago de la Ribera
    • Sierra Espuña
    • Sucina
    • Tallante
    • Terrazas de la Torre Golf Resort
    • Torre Pacheco
    • Totana
    • What's On Weekly Bulletin
    • Yecla
  • Murcia News
  • Murcia Weather
  • Murcia Property
    • Murcia Property News
    • All Murcia Property
    • Murcia Property Sales
    • Murcia Property Rentals
    • Legal & Financial
    • Murcia Property News
    • All Murcia Property
    • Murcia Property Sales
    • Murcia Property Rentals
    • Legal & Financial
  • What's On
  • Where to Go
  • Where to Eat
    • Where to Eat
    • Murcia Restaurant Listings
    • Where to Eat
    • Murcia Restaurant Listings
  • Lifestyle
    • Murcia LifeStyle
    • Sporting & Leisure
    • Murcia LifeStyle
    • Sporting & Leisure
    • Tips for Expats
    • Murcia Community
    • Tips for Expats
    • Murcia Community
  • Spanish News
article_detail
Date Published: 05/04/2012

Calasparra, Abrigo del Pozo


Cueva de los Monigites, in the Sierra del Molino

Prehistoric rock-art in Calasparra.
Calasparra, Abrigo del Pozo The natural geographical landscape of Calasparra has attracted settlement for an estimated 100,000 years, one of the most important prehistoric sites in Calasparra being the Abrigo del Pozo, abrigo meaning shelter, and pozo, well or shaft.


This craggy landscape is typical of the south-east of Spain, and among the most interesting geological aspects are the deep gorges of the River Segura. These gorges start in the Sierra del Molino and continue in Los Almadenes, where the river has carved out a course to a depth of more than 150 metres, with the violent erosion being caused partly by the fissures which occur in the rock approximately every 5 metres. These fractures can be observed both on the walls of the gorges and inside the caves.


Limestone is formed in layers, and this makes it easier for the rock to break and become stepped. At the lower levels, where deeper breaches in the rock have been hollowed out, the caves created have been partly filled with the debris brought by the water, and here there is an abundance of bushy vegetation. This undergrowth is particularly thick in the case of El Pozo, although the current plant life here is very different from what was growing in the area in prehistoric times, thanks to the repopulation of the forest, which has altered the nature of the area’s flora.
The site of the cave paintings found at Abrigo del Pozo, consists of two rocky shelters next to each other, and is delimited by a high rock face on one side and a curve in the River Segura on the other. These caves are part of an extensive network of caverns and shelters in the limestone of the area, and are of interest not only to archaeologists but also to pot-holers.


The Cave Paintings of Abrigo del Pozo
The paintings in El Pozo have been listed as being of Cultural Interest under the Law concerning Spain’s historical heritage.
They were officially discovered by Juan Abellán Hernández in 1978, although it then transpired that local shepherds had been aware of their existence for a long time, and soon afterwards an extensive study of the find was published in the specialist magazine Caesaraugusta.

Later studies have been made with the intention of ensuring that the paintings are properly preserved, and recently they have been documented using modern systems such as infra-red and ultra-violet photography. The geology and geography of the site have also been thoroughly researched.
In essence the paintings in Abrigo del Pozo fall into the category of "schematic art," which is common in the prehistoric paintings on the Iberian peninsula. This term is used to differentiate this kind of painting from naturalist or Levantine art, and describes a new way of understanding the intentions of the artists and the society in which they produced their work.


A few hundred yards further down from Abrigo del Pozo, in the Almadenes gorge, there another group of paintings known as the Serreta-Enrededara group of schematic paintings, the first of which features dozens of human figures depicted in anatomical detail, forming part of hunting tableaux. In the second there are branch-shaped schemata, some with eyes, and phi-shaped human representations. Similar paintings can be found at another site,  Los Grajos, indicating the step from naturalism to schematism in the Segura area. Both of these sites fall within the Cieza municipality.


The only colour used is red, in various tonalities which are the result of differences in the quality of the pigment and the material used, and the wear and tear suffered over time. The size of the images is medium: in El Pozo the humans are between 10 and 15 centimetres tall, whereas in other sites in the Iberian peninsula there is a variety of sizes between 1cm and 80cm.


Schematic cave paintings in Spain are mainly found in the Sierra Morena and Cádiz, and in the Region of Murcia the most schematic ones are in La Serreta de Cieza, ( see image)  where some of the figures are represented as a circle with two arms extending from it. Other examples have been found at Los Cantos de la Visera (Yecla), as well as Los Grajos. The human figures are normally in isolation, rather than forming part of hunting or battle scenes as in other types of naturalist art.


One of the most interesting aspects of the paintings in El Pozo is that they offer an insight into social activity: at the top of the second panel is a pair of figures accompanied by dogs and hoes, which seems to indicate some kind of farming. There is another example of domesticated animals in the paintings found at Doña Clotilde (near Albarracín, in Teruel). It is seen as significant that the animals are small, and most were most probably pets rather than sources of food.


Unfortunately there is no way to date the paintings accurately, since no reliable method has been found to ascertain the age of the pigments used, but clues can be found in the nearby archaeological remains. In the largest shelter at El Pozo there is a heavy clay deposit from the river, which in some places is various metres deep, and although archaeologists have so far dug down only to a depth of one metre, fragments of home-made ceramics have been found which could correspond to the period when the images were created.


Recent discoveries in the north-west of Murcia suggest that most of the area’s cave paintings date from the Bronze Age, due to the fact that the paintings are almost all within a kilometer of settlements from that period. At Los Molinicos, near Moratalla, archaeologists have discovered an Argaric burial urn (1800 to 1300BC) which is decorated with red designs not dissimilar to the schematic paintings at El Pozo, which could possibly be associated to the nearby settlement at El Castillico. If this is indeed the case, then it would coincide with the theories propounded by various researchers who believe that schematic art originated in the Iberian peninsula.

The Town Hall of Calasparra is now playing an active part in conserving the paintings, with the backing of the Ministry of Culture. The first concern is to avoid deterioration of the pigment due to the effects of nature, such as rain, heat and dryness, and on top of this the erosion of the rock onto which the pigment was applied has to be taken into account. The cumulative effect of long periods of drought and rainfall leads to a weakening of the rock itself, and fissures have begun to appear. These fissures eventually lead to flakes of rock becoming detached from the surface, and this has already begun to happen in El Pozo.


The paintings can be visited by specialists, although the site is not easily accessible.

 

Image by Antonio Mareno Marín is from the Cueva de la Serreta in Cieza. Images have been requested for Abrigo del Pozo.

 

For more historical information relating to Calasparra, click History of Calasparra
 

Whats On Calasparra
MABS Northwest market stall, Calasparra..

FORTHCOMING MABS EVENTS IN CALASPARRA (MURCIA NORTH WEST) First and Third Friday of each month - MABS Market Stall in..

17th December MABS Calasparra Christmas Sing-along
History of Calasparra
Order of San Juan de Jerusalé..

The Order of Saint John the Hospitaller in the Region of Murcia Order of San Juan de Jerusalén (Murcia 1244 - 1851..

History of Calasparra
Villa Vieja Calasparra
Calasparra, Abrigo del Pozo
Tourist Info and Places to visit
The nature reserve of the riverbank..

A lush green environment on the banks of the upper reaches of the Segura in Calasparra and Moratalla Cañaverosa is..

Calasparra Tourist Office
Calasparra Rice
La Casa Granero
Fiestas and traditions
Romería, Virgen de la Esperanza..

May Romería de la Virgen de la Esperanza On the 1st May, the Virgen de la Esperanza is brought down from her sanctuary..

Fiestas in Calasparra
Romería to the Sierra of San Miguel, Calasparra
Fiestas Patronales de los Santos Mártires San Abdón y San..
Cultural and Community Venues
Plaza de la Corredera Calasparra..

The principal plaza of the old quarter of Calasparra This is the most important plaza in the town of Calasparra and..

Auditorio Castillo de San Juan
Auditorio Cine Rosales Calasparra
Auditorio Municipal Calasparra
Churches and Hours of service
Calasparra, Hours of Mass

Masses in Calasparra Use clicks to individual churches for maps and location details. Summer hours of mass:..

Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Merced, Calasparra
Calasparra, Iglesia Parroquial de San Pedro Apóstol
Santuario Virgen de la Esperanza, Calasparra
Medical Information and Doctors
Understanding the Funeral Process..

In Spain, it is the norm to plan ahead for your funeral. It’s all part of making things easier for the family and..

Hospitals, Region of Murcia
EHIC, TSE, SIP, S1
Plants to be aware of if you are prone to allergies and hay..
Police, Town Hall, Useful Numbers
Fuel price comparison site

Fuel price comparison site, Spain Fuel prices continue to creep slowly upwards, so it´s worth checking around for..

Policia Local, Addresses and Phone Numbers
Registering on the Padrón
article_detail
article_detail
Find more information by AREA, TOWN or URBANISATION
The Mar Menor
Cabo de Palos
Cartagena
El Carmoli
Islas Menores and Mar de Cristal
La Manga Club
La Manga del Mar Menor
La Puebla
La Torre Golf Resort
La Union
Terrazas de la Torre Golf Resort
Los Alcazares
Los Belones
Los Nietos
Los Urrutias
Mar Menor Golf Resort
Pilar de la Horadada
Playa Honda / Playa Paraiso
Portman
Roldan and Lo Ferro
San Javier
San Pedro del Pinatar
Torre Pacheco
South West Murcia
Aledo
Alhama de Murcia
Aguilas
Bolnuevo
Condado de Alhama
Fuente Alamo
Hacienda del Alamo Golf Resort
Lorca
Mazarron
Puerto de Mazarron
Puerto Lumbreras
Sierra Espuna
Totana
North & North West Murcia
Bullas
Calasparra
Caravaca de la Cruz
Cehegin
Cieza
Fortuna
Jumilla
Moratalla
Mula
Yecla
Murcia Central
Abaran
Abanilla
Alcantarilla
Archena
Blanca
Corvera
El Valle Golf Resort
Hacienda Riquelme Golf Resort
Lorqui
Molina de Segura
Murcia City
Peraleja Golf Resort
Ricote
Sucina
Urbanisations
Camposol
Condado de Alhama
El Valle Golf Resort
Hacienda del Alamo Golf Resort
Hacienda Riquelme Golf Resort
Islas Menores and Mar de Cristal
La Manga Club
La Torre Golf Resort
Terrazas de la Torre Golf Resort
Mar Menor Golf Resort
Mazarron Country Club
Peraleja Golf Resort
Important Topics:

Camposol floods Gota friaCartagena SpainCorvera Airport MurciaCosta Calida tourist infoMedical information MurciaMurcia Gota Fria 2019Murcia propertyParamount Theme Park MurciaWeekly Bulletin
Contact Murcia Today: Editorial 966 260 896 / Office 968 018 268
Terms And Conditons | Privacy Policy | Legal | About Us | Advertise With Us