Logbook · 11 places

Cave of el Niño

Ayna, Sierra del Segura, Albacete

1 Villages · 3 Monuments · 3 Nature · 2 Activities · 1 Curiosities · 1 Historical milestones

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Cave of el Niño

Nature · Ayna, Sierra del Segura, Albacete

An exceptional rock shelter on the hill between the Albarda and Halcón peaks, on the right bank of the río Mundo, deep in the Sierra de Alcaraz, combining Paleolithic paintings of deer and goats with later Levantine art, an uncommon combination and one of the few sites with Paleolithic cave art in the whole Meseta. It opens on the northwest face of the Barranco del Infierno, where the río Mundo carves a canyon through Jurassic limestone surrounded by pine forests and Mediterranean scrubland. It was discovered on 1 May 1970 and published in 1971 by archaeologist Martín Almagro Gorbea; in 1973 it was studied by a joint team from the universities of Cambridge and London. It is included in the Rock Art of the Mediterranean Arc, declared a World Heritage Site in 1998.

Photo: Sakaropepper (CC BY-SA 3.0)

What to see and do in Ayna