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Rock shelters of la Tortosilla

Ayora, El Valle de Cofrentes-Ayora, Valencia

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Rock shelters of la Tortosilla

Monument · Ayora, El Valle de Cofrentes-Ayora, Valencia

Image of Ayora, not of the place itself.

Natural cavity located at the southern end of the municipal term of Ayora, on the slope of the Muela de Tortosillas, next to the Cerro del Bosque, with views over a valley and the Mugrón and Enguera mountain ranges. The main chamber, hemispherical in shape, measures about 3 metres wide by 2 deep, and retains a frieze with the remains of some twenty painted motifs in Levantine and schematic style, among them an archer and six deer, with several overlapping phases of paint between 7,000 and 8,000 years old. It was discovered in 1911 by the brothers Daniel and Pascual Serrano: it is the first prehistoric rock art site found in the Comunitat Valenciana. It has been a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) since 1985 and has formed part, since 1998, of the UNESCO World Heritage List as rock art of the Mediterranean Basin.

Photo: 19Tarrestnom65 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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