MALTRAVIESO CAVE

Google Maps:
39.457489, -6.370280

Type of site:
Cave and Interpretation centre.

Place of location: Urban park of Maltravieso
Village/Town: Cáceres
Municipality: Cáceres (Cáceres)
Region: Extremadura
State: Spain
Telephone: (+34) 927 22 20 62, (+34) 927 010 877
Website: http://museodecaceres.juntaex.es/web/view/portal/index/standardPage.php?id=12
E-mail: museocaceres@juntaex.es

Natural Environment:

The municipality of Cáceres is located in the natural area known as “Llanos de Cáceres”, a peneplain situated between the San Pedro and Montánchez mountain ranges. It includes eight areas of special protection for birds (ZEPA), some of them within its urban area, something unusual.

Archaeological evidences in the site:

The area of Cáceres hosts a large number of Archaeological sites, from Lower Palaeolithic to the Middle Age. It is one of the most important areas for the knowledge of the human history in the Iberian Peninsula in general, and Extremadura in particular. In several caves of the El Calerizo zone, have been studied different sites from the Middle and Upper Pleistocene, including Maltravieso Cave that preserves the first artistic expressions of Extremadura. Epipaleolithic, Neolithic and Metal Ages evidences are very commons in the area, in caves and in open air settlements. The city was founded during the Roman period, when a roman army campament was placed in the area. Currently, the city is World Heritage by UNESCO due to its amazing Medieval architecture.

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Opening Times:

Interpreation centre visiting hours: Tuesday to Saturday: 9,00-15,00 h. Sundays: 10,00-15,00 h. Closed on Mondays and the following holidays 1 and 6 January; 24, 25 and 31 December. To visit the cave is necessary to book a special visit.

Booking and access:

It is possible to concert special visits to the Interpretation centre and apply for the special visits to the cave in the website of the Museum of Caceres: http://museodecaceres.juntaex.es/web/view/portal/index/contactPage.php?id=7

Nearby cultural destinations:

Cáceres, World Heritage City. Plasencia (70 km). Trujillo (45 km). Mérida (65 km). Badajoz (90 km).

Nearby natural destinations:

Tajo Internacional Natural Park, Sierra de San Pedro and Monfrasgüe National Park (70 km).

Accommodations (Tourism Website):
https://www.ayto-caceres.es/cat/alojamientos/
Restaurants (Tourism Website):
https://www.ayto-caceres.es/cat/restaurantes/

Age of the artistic representations:

The main assemblage of rock art manifestations have bee dated between Middle and the first phases of the Upper Palaeolithic (Aurignacian and Gravetian mainly). Neolithic and Bronze Age evidences have also been documented.

General description of the destination:

The Park of Maltravieso Cave includes the cave and an interesting Interpretation Centre. Recently, the cave has been opened to little groups of visitors under previous booking. In the cave and the Interpretation centre it is possible to know an outstanding group of stencilled hand-prints (more than 70 items) that have been attributed to the Middle Palaeolithic and to early phases of Upper Palaeolithic. There are also some engraved representations of animals, like bovines, ibex, a horse and deers, and some symbolic representations as lines of dots, paired finger-marks and triangles, painted in black and red ochre colours.

History of the site:

The cave was discovered in 1951, by chance, due to an explosion in a quarry that opened an entrance to the cavity, which had been completely closed until then. Initially, human remains associated with ceramics were found in the cave. Later, several Homo sapiens skulls were recovered, one of which was trepanned. These discoveries alerted several local and national personalities, who began various investigations. One outstanding figure is Carlos Callejo Serrano, who became a chronicler and scholar of the cavity in the first years after its discovery and discovered the first paintings. In the 1990s and early years of the 21st century, the cave was systematically studied by Dr. Hipólito Collado Giraldo, who has published several monographs and articles that include a work dating some of the cave’s paintings to the Middle Paleolithic, that is, the Neanderthal period.

Museographic resources description:

The Interpretation Centre has displays, models, audiovisual presentations and a full-scale replica of one of the chambers in the cave to introduce visitors to some of the most characteristic aspects of the rock art in Maltravieso Cave.