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LOCATION Velo.
VISITING TIMES
The cave is open all year round, with a guide service. Visits last 45 minutes. Groups of 6 are organized from 1st May to 30th September and for groups of 6 from 1st October to 30th April.
TIMETABLE
From 1st May to 30th September, open every day of the week from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. From 1st October to 30th April, open from Wednesdays to Sundays from 9:30 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. and from 2:45 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
FACILITIES
The centre has the following facilities available:
- Guided visit
- Visitor service point
ACCESS
Turning off the CN-623 secondary road, at Revilla de Camargo, take the direction to the Velo district in Puente Arce (CA-240). Before going into this district, there is a small traffic island serving as a car park where you will find the reception centre.
DESCRIPTION
Known at least since 1880, it is located on the slopes of Peñas Negras. The location is representative of the underground spaces occupied by prehistoric man: near the lower river courses, the mouths of the main rivers (in this case, of the Pas River) and estuary areas.
Shortly after it was discovered, the cavity was adapted for visits due to the existing geological formations present (stalactites, stalagmites, columns, discs, etc.). Despite it having been discovered so recently, one year after Altamira, the cave wall art here was not recorded until 1905.
Little is known of this possible archaeological site. A small batch of materials (perforated shells and some flint), bear bones and a human cranium appear to indicate that the cave was not used for habitation.
The cave wall expressions, all painted, are distributed into two sectors.
The first, 75 m from the entrance, are an animal figure and two elongated signs, one of which has a trident shape on its upper end.
The rest of the paintings are found in a grotto 125 m from the entrance. A total of 15 elongated motifs, rare in the Paleolithic corpus, and similar to those found in the area described above, are highlighted here. They are arranged on a 5 m wide area as if it were a canvas. These forms are based on a simple but varied set up: all are composed of a central elongated axis and are arranged tending towards the vertical, with different solutions on the distal end.
In some cases, the end is an extension that is not differentiated from the axis, whereas in others differentiated lines were traced, in an open arrangement, at times recalling trident forms. Two of these present small traces on one of the ends of the vertical axis in the form of toothed forms.
Small red dots and a cross form are found in this grotto.
From the outset, there have been numerous interpretations of these curious signs: animals paws, maces, boomerangs, harpoons, etc., but it has to be admitted that we are far from reaching a commonly agreed opinion.
The same can be said of its chronology, about which it only appears to be feasible to assure its Paleolithic origin.
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© Consejería de Cultura, Turismo y Deporte. Gobierno de Cantabria | Private Zone | Telephone +34 942 59 84 25 | Fax +34 942 59 83 05 |
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