ROCK ART CHURCH AND ROCK-SHELTER OF SAN JUAN DE SOCUEVA

Google Maps:
43.266477351394144, -3.6136351516806497

Type of site:
Rock-shelter with small caves hosting a Visigothic church and Prehistoric sites.

Place of location: Socueva
Village/Town: Arredondo
Municipality: Arredondo (Cantabria)
Region: Cantabria
State: Spain
Website: https://aytoarredondo.com/

Natural Environment:

San Juan of Socueva is located in the neighborhood of Socueva belonging to Arredondo. This construction takes advantage of the base of a limestone rock 150 meters wide. The surrounding landscape is conditioned by the important encasing of the Asón river, forming an incision in favor of a long stretch of the Selaya-Arredondo fault. The neighborhood and the church stand on a small lateral valley in the form of a balcony overlooking the left bank of the river. Thus, all of this is located in a karstic environment that favors the existence of other caves near San Juan de Socueva, such as La Llosa cave, Del Portal cave, Suaría cave and La Porquera cave.

Archaeological evidences in the site:

The San Juan of Socueva shelter and its respective cavities treasure a wide variety of archaeological contents of different kinds. The most outstanding are the church itself (together with its findings) and the cave paintings (parietal remains of pigments from the “red ochre” family, engravings on rocky supports and graffiti on the plaster inside the church). But apart from this, the following can be highlighted: lithic industry from the Middle Palaeolithic (materials in shale, flint and quartzite such as slashes, quina, denticulate…), from the Upper Palaeolithic – Epipalaeolithic (flint materials), from the Mesolithic (?) terrestrial malacofauna, from the Neolithic, Chalcolithic, bronze pieces of ovoid pottery with plastic decoration and from the High Middle Ages pottery dated between the 9th and 10th centuries.

Bone remains were also found in this complex. Faunal remains, including 2 cat femurs, 3 human remains (proximal femur epiphysis, femur diaphysis and long bone diaphysis).

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Opening Times:

It is always open to the public, since it is located outdoors.

Booking and access:

It is currently a fenced enclosure, and the hermitage can only be seen from the outside.

Nearby cultural destinations:

Cullavera cave and Covalanas cave, cave systems such as Coventosa cave, important national and international speleological centers and San Pelayo church (indian heritage- style neoclasic).

Nearby natural destinations:

The Ason watterfal, valley of Soba, valley of Ruesga and Alisas mountain pass.

Accommodations (Tourism Website):
https://aytoarredondo.com/turismo/alojamiento/
Restaurants (Tourism Website):
https://aytoarredondo.com/turismo/restaurantes/

Age of the artistic representations:

The chronology varies according to the element under study. As for the hermitage, it dates from the 7 th and 8th century. However, in the innermost caves (San Juan III and San Juan IV) there is evidence of findings from the middle Paleolithic period.

General description of the destination:

The church of San Juan de Socueva is a complex in the Alto Ason valley. It is a landscape of great natural value, defined by its high slopes where the river appears flanked by steep slopes where there are cavities with evidence of occupation. This archaeological site, sheltered under a limestone wall, was declared an Asset of Cultural Interest in 1985. The main feature of the site is the cave church, dating from the Visigothic period, and it includes several cavities with Palaeolithic sites, parietal art, funerary uses in Recent Prehistory and probably a monastery from the end of Late Antiquity. In 2017-2018 it was the first time that samples were obtained that ensured its medieval chronology. At present, despite its interest, its conservation is uneven.

History of the site:

The church of San Juan of Socueva is the mounment more older in Cantabria, and could be the first construction with this caracteristics on the Cantabrian cornice. This edification have differents expressions. The church of Socueva was created over the middle of the 7th century at the beginning of de 8th century (under the inluence of the Visighothic artistic style). In order to know the history of this place, it is necessary to study the creation and the periods in which this church underwent interventions. After the initial construction (7th and 8th century), the next intervention was in the second half of the 8th century and the beginning of the 10th century, when minor works were carried out and fire rites took place during this period. The toponym of the place appears in early medieval documentation Socova (929) and in its present form it appears in 1774. In the 19th century, a tiled roof was built to protect the area in front of the old chapel of San Juan. From the 20th century onwards, research on this place began to appear and finally in 1985 the importance of this construction became evident and it was declared a BIC in 1985. Nowadays, researchers with the support of ACANTO and associations such as ACRE and ARCA are fighting to protect this environment even more and to prevent it from deteriorating.