DOÑA TRINIDAD DE ARDALES CAVE

Google Maps:
36.872883, -4.828890

Type of site:
Cave

Place of location: Municipal Museum, Ardales Town Hall, Municipal Tourism Department: Plaza de la Constitución 1, 29550, Ardales, Málaga. The cave is 2km from the town of Ardales. After a brief our round the Visitors Centre/Museum near the entrance to the town, vehicles and the guide drive along the road and track to the car park near the cave. The cave is only open to visitors who have booked, the rest of the time it remains closed. A strong gate and protective structure impede the entry of visitors without a guide.
Village/Town: Ardales
Municipality: Ardales (Málaga)
Region: Andalucía
State: Spain
Telephone: (+34) 952 458 087
Website: http://www.cuevadeardales.com/
E-mail: ayuntamiento@ardales.es

Natural Environment:

Natural park of Ardales. Reservoirs of El Chorro (la Encantada), Conde de Guadalhorce and Guadalteba. Los Gaintanes Gorge – Caminito del Rey

Archaeological evidences in the site:

The cave is 1577 m long, following a NE-SW direction, with two inter-connected levels. The cave reaches a height of 7m above the entrance and a depth of 28m below it. It now has a single entrance at 565m above sea level, near La Calinoria Farm, and it is formed in Triassic marble limestone. Inside the entrance gate, the cave consists of several chambers, most of which can be visited, apart from areas which are delicate in terms of their access and conservation. The chambers in the cave are: Sala del Saco: the area with evidence of the prehistoric occupation of the cave. Sala de las Estrellas: the ceiling is over 20m high. It contains large columns, and evidence of prehistoric burials older than the Chalcolithic period. Galería del Calvario or of the Engravings: It contains most of the Palaeolithic rock art. Sala del Lago and Galería del Arquero: It is a small side-chamber with seasonal pools or gours, and Post-Palaeolithic paintings. Sala de los Laberintos: The technical difficulties mean this chamber cannot be visited, despite the beauty of its formations. High or New Galleries: A series of passages above Los Laberintos, discovered in 1981. Because of the difficulties of access and delicate archaeology, it cannot be visited.

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Opening Times:

Every day except every Monday (Only with previous appointment)

Booking and access:

(+34) 952 458 046

Nearby cultural destinations:

https://www.ardales.es/5503/patrimonio-monumental-cultural

Nearby natural destinations:

Natural Site of Los Gaitanes Gorge. On the banks of El Chorro Reservoir (6km away), the Town Hall manages Ardales park, a tourist area and camp-site, with restaurants and a full leisure and cultural offer, including the Municipal Museum of Geology, Archaeology, Nature and History of the Turón Valley. The spa of Carratraca is very near of Cueva de Ardales.

Accommodations (Tourism Website):
https://www.ardales.es/home.asp/
Restaurants (Tourism Website):
https://www.ardales.es/home.asp/

Age of the artistic representations:

The prehistoric occupations are from 2 different episodes. The first one has been dated in the Middle Palaeolithic, when Neanderthal populations occupied the cave. The second on is from Neolithic-Chalcolithic period. Rock art manifestations have bee dated between Upper Palaeolithic (Gravetian – Solutrean periods principally) and the Neolithic. Recent data from Uranium-Series method have situated some representations in Middle Palaeolithic chronologies, nevertheless theses data are under survey currently.

General description of the destination:

For its description, this great cave with more than 1760 m length has been divided into different units. Sala de las Estrellas (with pre-Chalcolithic Prehistoric burials), Galería del Saco (with prehistoric remains), Galería del Calvario or of the Engravings (with most of the engravings), Salita del Camarín, Galería de la Alcayata, Sala del Lago (Post-Palaeolithic paintings), Galería del Arquero, Los Laberintos and Final Cornice in the Lower or Old Galleries. Sala de la Olla, Galería de los Huesos, Sala del Redil and Galerías Blancas in the Upper or New Galleries (numerous paintings and archaeological remains). The archaeologist Sanchidrián Torti has identified as many as 220 representations distributed throughout the cave. The cave was formed between the Upper Pliocene and Lower Pleistocene (2,000,000 to 300,000 years ago). The collapse and blockages of the different entrances took place in the second half of the Middle Pleistocene (about 120,000 years ago). The growth and development of the formations in the Upper Pleistocene is dated from 125,000 to 10,000 years ago. During the Holocene (10,000 to 3000 BC) calcite covered part of the Palaeolithic paintings and engravings, and the floors with Neolithic remains. The entrance to the Upper Galleries was blocked in the third millennium BC, and the modern entrance, blocked since the late fourth millennium BC was not re-opened until 1821.

History of the site:

All the evidence confirms that in late 1821 a powerful earthquake caused the boulders that had blocked the entrance since the late Neolithic to collapse, opening the northern entrance to the cave. Doña Trinidad Grund (1821-1896), a member of nineteenth century Malaga high society paid for the cave to be prepared for the annual festival. It was probably the first cave in Spain to be prepared as a show cave, and was visited by thousands of people. The paintings and engravings were discovered by H. Breuil. To be precise, Miguel Such and his teacher Breuil found the Upper Palaeolithic representations of deer and horses in 1918. Ten years later the State listed the cave as a National Monument. In 1981, a small single theme shrine was found in the Upper Galleries, in which an outstanding hind is representative of the black figures.

Museographic resources description:

The charming town of Ardales has an Archaeological museum with many contents about the cave, its geomorphology, and all the historical periods that have left their trace in the cave, together with ample scientific (archaeological material, posters and explanations), tourist and educational information. There is also audiovisual and graphic material (maps and charts). An extension has just been opened with lecture halls, exhibition rooms, and other high-quality facilities.