Salamanca Las Batuecas
Post-palaeolithic cave art, "schematic paintings"
type, in shelters and fissures.
Small valley of escarped slopes and abundant vegetation.
Situated to the south of the province of Salamanca, and owes its
name to the river that runs through it.
The absence of written documents about Las Batuecas before the
end of the 18th century and its geographic assignation to one
of the most isolated counties in Spain have contributed to the
emergence of all sorts of legends that have spread through literature
and popular tradition.
The collection of Prehistoric schematic paintings
are distributed among the quartzite shelters forming the valley
and along the course of the river.
The technique used for these type of paintings is simple and uniform:
flat inks and lineal strokes (normally red and ochre, less frequently,
black and yellow, and also white, which is used often in Las Batuecas).
The subjects of the paintings are predominately bars and dots. There are also anthropomorphic and zoomorphic drawings (man and animal forms), which are sometimes part of a scene. There is a clear naturalist tendency in the case of Las Batuecas.
The chronology starts during the mid-Neolithic and develops further in the final Neolithic and Calcolithic.
Cave shelters listed in the Valle de las Batuecas:
1. Canchal de las Cabras pintadas
2. Canchal del Águila
3. Canchales de la Pizarra
4. Canchales del Zarzalón
5. Cueva del Cristo
6. Umbría del Canchal del Cristo
7. Canchales de Mahoma
8. Umbría de la Cotorrina
9. Majadilla de las Torres
10. Canchal de los Acerones
11. Corral de Morcilla
12. Covacho del Pallón
13. Risco del Ciervo
14. Canchal de Villita
15. Canchal de las Torres
These cave shelters have been declared Assets of Cultural Interest. El Canchal de las Cabras Pintadas has a specific mention.
CONTAINS THE COMMUNITIES OF:
Monsagro, El Maillo, La Alberca, Prado Carreras, Las Batuecas,
El Cabaco, Peña de Francia, Caserito, Nava de Francia,
Mogarraz, Herguijuela de la Sierra, Rebollosa, Monforte de la
Sierra, Madroñal, Cepeda, Soto Serrano.
Salamanca guide