Pla de Petracos
An open-air Neolithic sanctuary whose towering red orant figures, arms raised to the sky, earned it the name "the Altamira of Neolithic art".
On the flank of the Malafí ravine near Castell de Castells, eight shelters hold Europe's finest gallery of Macroschematic art, painted by some of Iberia's first farming communities around 8,000 years ago. Thick strokes of dark red form monumental human figures with raised arms and splayed fingers — the so-called orants — beside winding serpentine bands linked to fertility and the farming year. A small wounded deer in the later Levantine style shows the ravine stayed sacred for generations. Found in 1980 by the Centre d'Estudis Contestans, the site is often called the Altamira of Neolithic art and joined UNESCO's Mediterranean rock art listing in 1998.
Gallery
Notable Features
- ◦ Monumental red orant figures with arms raised skyward
- ◦ Dubbed the Altamira of Neolithic art
- ◦ Eight shelters above the Malafí ravine, five with visible paintings