Cueva de La Pasiega

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Cueva de La Pasiega, or Cave of Pasiega, situated in the Spanish municipality of Puente Viesgo, is one of the most important stations of the Paleolithic art in Cantabria.

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It is located in the heart of the uniprovincial community, in the middle of the river valley Pas, around the cave of Hornos de la Pena and the Castillo Mountain, in the same caves of Las Monedas, Las Chimeneas, and the cave of the Castillo. The caves of Castillo Mountain form an amazingly complete set, as much from the point of view of the material culture of the Age of Stone, as much from an artistic point of view. La Pasiega is, fundamentally, an enormous gallery more than 120 meters long (known) that runs more or less parallel to the slope of the mount leaving the surface by six different places: six small mouths, the majority obstructions, of those actually have accommodated two as entered by the view. The principle gallery is one of approximately 70 meters and opens to secondary galleries more profound, sinuses and labyrinths that, at times, are high and mighty forming rooms. This way, we have “room I-VIII”, the room “Gallery B”, or the “room 11”, all with Paleolithic decorations. The two final rooms contain some of the rock sanctuaries that will be studied in this work.

The rest of the documents are mostly located in the Superior Solutrense and the Inferior Magdaleniense along with other objects. In the whole cave, there are samples of parietales. There are representations of crypts and domes. There are also abstract symbols.

Contents 1 The Discovery of the Pasiega 2 The other Archeologists of La Pasiega 3 The Cave Paintings of La Pasiega 4 References 5 External links

[edit] The Discovery of the Pasiega

The scientific discovery of the Pasiega can be credited to Wernert and Hugo Obermaier. While excavated El Castillo in 1911, they received news that some of the workers knew of another cavity nearby that villagers called "El Pasiega." The workers soon confirmed that the cave contained cave paintings. Later, Henri Breuil, Hugo Obermaier, and Hermilio began their study of the cave. However, the study could not be finished due to Henri Breuil's great work. A separate study was necessary. It was published in 1913. The study was crucial to the advancement of prehistoric science in Spain.

"In the following decade, Alcalde del Río will integrate itself fully in the international project that will sponsor the Institut de Palèontogie Humaine de París and Henri Breuil and H. Obermaier. They have been working since the cave of the Pasiega was discovered. This is the most important moment in the study process of the Cantabrian rock art. Products of this work will be part of the monumental published joint works in Monaco, on the caves of the region, in general (Alcalde del Río, Breuil and Mountain range, 1911) and specifically on the Pasiega (Breuil, Obermaier and Alcalde of the River, 1913)" - Joaquin González Echegaray

Previously, the cave El Castillo was discovered by Alcalde del Rio in 1903, and, as was indicated, Overmaier realized excavations between 1910 and 1914. The excavations were continued various times, intermittently, for many days, by qualified specialist hands. Ultimately, the investigation ran into the cargo of the archeologists Rodrigo de Balbin Behrmann and Cesar Gonzalez Sainz. After the discovery of “La Pasiega” and the first campaigns, the zone was little frequented-- owed to, mostly, to the historical circumstances by those that passed Spain--. After this, in 1952, when there was una roza to plant eucalyptus, there appeared another cave with a small monetary treasure of the 17th century, with that new grotto was called “las Monedas”, that was resulted from a sanctuary wall with important pictures and etchings. Before this perspective, the engineer Alfredo Garcia Lorenzo deduced that the Castillo mountain guarded more secrets. By this was initiated a geological prospect that had in result the discovery of the other cave with paintings of the following year, “las Chimeneas” (“The Chimneys”), although the other covachas were of lesser importance than “La Flecha, Castanera, Lago”…

[edit] The other Archeologists of La Pasiega

The cave, although it possessed the other archeologists of the epoch Soluntrense and Magdaleniese initial cantabrico, that that was served as the base was to be established by a chronological proposial for the parientales decorations. The excavations were old; already that Dr. Jesus Carballo realized them in 1951. There was a base level with old pieces that, by their characteristics, had relations with an impossible Musteriense. It rested on a level of Soluntrense that was relatively rich with materials very characteristic of pages of laurel and notches notch of finite carves made by pressure, like light javelins. It was precise that this level could correspond to Solutrense Superior. The most recent layer was also relatively rich, with various burins, striker pins, and perforated objects of bone and that could belong to the Magdaleniense Inferior. Nevertheless, consider that, compared with the stratifying power of El Castillo, La Pasiega results in being an archeological deposit of lesser organization, at least with the materials found. Their value is not lessened by this, however.

[edit] The Cave Paintings of La Pasiega

According to the paradigm of Leroi-Gourhan, La Pasiega could be a valid example of a cave like Santuario, because it is very similar

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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• Arte Paleolítico --- Cueva de La Pasiega
• Las cuevas de Monte Castillo
• Galería de fotos de las Salas A y B
• Galería de fotos de la Sala C