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Ojo Guareña

Spain · Europe
Prehistoric cave art at Ojo Guareña© jacinta lluch valero from madrid * barcelona...., (España-Spain) · CC BY-SA 2.0
Notable

Beneath the moors of Burgos, one of Europe's largest cave labyrinths hides Magdalenian black paintings and the bare footprints of explorers who walked in some 4,500 years ago.

Age
~13,000 yrs
Period
Upper Palaeolithic to Bronze Age
Setting
Cave
Art form
Paintings
Discovered
1968
Status
Open (Guided Tours)
⧗ See it on the timeline

Under the moors of northern Burgos, more than 110 kilometres of galleries make Ojo Guareña one of Europe's largest cave systems — and a sanctuary used for over 11,000 years. In 1968 speleologists from the Edelweiss group found the Sala de las Pinturas, its walls covered with black anthropomorphs, animals and dozens of triangles now dated to around 13,000 years ago. Deeper in, the Galerías de las Huellas preserve the bare footprints of about ten people who explored the cave some 4,500 years ago. At the entrance, the rock-cut hermitage of San Bernabé still holds mass each summer.

Gallery

Notable Features

  • Black-painted anthropomorphs and triangles dated to ~13,000 years ago
  • Hundreds of prehistoric bare footprints along a 400 m route
  • Rock-cut hermitage of San Bernabé with painted vaults

Depicted Subjects

AnthropomorphsDeerGeometric SignsAnimals

Plan a Visit

AccessThis cave can be visited.
Sources & Further Reading
◈ Official site≡ Wikipedia➤ Directions
Hours & prices change — always confirm on the official site before travelling.
Photographs via Wikimedia Commons — image credits. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.