Type of site:
Cave
Place of location: From Vélez Blanco, the site is reached along the Gabar track. This is followed to a junction with a path leading to Cueva Ambrosio Farmhouse. From there a 1km-long path practically reaches the cave. From Almeria, take the N-332, the Mediterranean motorway. Then the A-7/E15 and after 88km, take the exit to Vélez Rubio (A96) and the exit (service lane) 408
Village/Town: Vélez-Blanco
Municipality: Vélez-Blanco (Almería)
Region: Andalucía
State: Spain
Telephone: (+34) 950 011 150 / (+34)950 614 800
Website: https://www.andalucia.org/es/velez-blanco-espacios-naturales-cueva-de-ambrosio
E-mail: pn.sierramaria.cmaot@juntadeandalucia.es
Natural Environment:
Natural Park of Sierra de María-Los Vélez. In this area we find large and abrupt moles, almost vertical cuts that reach heights of over 2000 m in mountain ranges such as María, Las Muelas, El Maimón, El Gabar or Sierra Larga. Formed by limestone materials, only eroded by water that penetrates the rock, they have numerous caves and chasms – La Gitana cave, sima de los Rincones – and offer magnificent springs such as Los Molinos, in Vélez Blanco. The altitude conditions the ecosystems present in the natural park in an irremediable way. Thus, in the low and medium altitudes we find oak forests with a scrub in which esparto grass, thyme and rosemary dominate and which have been colonized by a magnificent representation of steppe birds – common terrapin, bustard and sandgrouse, among others. But without a doubt, it is the forests of Aleppo pines and laricio that condition the forest vision that today offers the protected space, giving shelter to a good number of mammals, such as the Murcian arrui, civet, marten or the interesting vole of Cabrera; a wide variety of small birds and outstanding birds of prey, with a notable representation of the nocturnal ones – owl, owl, tawny owl -; and amphibians and reptiles, such as the Moorish turtle in its most northern sample. On the cliffs, where savins, piornos and junipers find shelter, golden eagles, hawks and a growing population of griffon vultures nest and fly above. It is at these heights that the most outstanding plant endemisms are found.
Archaeological evidences in the site:
It is a large rock-shelter in a vertical wall over 100 m high. This position has enabled the site to posses an archaeological deposit with a spectacular stratigraphic sequence going from the Solutrean period to the Bronze Age. Other remains of occupation have been found near the cave: in a small rock-shelter to the northwest called Cueva Alta (excavated in 1945 and 1959) and another site with medieval and Bronze Age remains to the north, called Alto del Cejo.