Maltravieso Cave

The Maltravieso Cave was occupied over various periods of Prehistory, as it served as a shelter for hunter-gatherers in the Upper Paleolithic era and as a funerary centre for the agricultural societies of the Neolithic period and the Bronze Age. The area where it is located is popularly known as El Calerizo, and very close by there are other caves like El Conejar and Santa Ana.

The structure of this cave is divided up into different "chambers" which are connected by several galleries. So we have the chambers of the Columns, of the Little Table, of the Paintings, the Snake Corridor and the Chimney chamber. It also has a cavity on the upper "second floor" and an antechamber near the entrance, which does not correspond to the original.

However, the cave's interest does not lie in its antiquity alone, but also in the fact that it has a symbolic set of paintings on its walls, dating back 23,000 years, which still give rise to controversy regarding the characteristics of the communities of human beings who inhabited it. Because that information is of vital importance for situating the evolution of El Calerizo and its earliest settlers, as is shown by the Maltravieso Cave Interpretation Centre.