Cueva de los Casares

Cueva de los Casares
Cueva de los Casares (Spanish)
Cueva de los Casares is located in Spain
Cueva de los Casares
Location within Spain
40°57′27″N 2°17′27″W / 40.9575°N 2.290928°W / 40.9575; -2.290928
LocationRiba de Saelices, Spain
Official name
Cueva de los Casares
TypeNon-movable
CriteriaMonument
Designated1935
Reference no.RI-51-0001089
One of the many paleolithic hierogamies of Los Casares, in that representing a sexual act.

Cueva de los Casares is a cave in Riba de Saelices (Province of Guadalajara, Castile-La Mancha, Spain). Discovered in 1933, it contains a number of Paleolithic cave paintings, and is most notable for a series of paintings depicting what some have argued is the earliest representation of human understanding of the reproductive process, featuring images of copulation (perhaps mediated by a mysterious shaman figure), pregnancy, childbirth, and family life. Mammoths and other animals feature frequently in the illustrations. It was declared Bien de Interés Cultural in 1935.[1]

There are many representations of animals, anthropomorphs (human-like figures), and ideograms (including penises, vulvas, tools, and more abstract images).

The cave and its paintings are little known to scholars outside Spain.

References

  1. ↑ "Consulta a la base de datos de bienes inmuebles". Gobierno de España (in Spanish). Retrieved 2 June 2018.