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Cave of el Parpalló

Barx, La Safor, Valencia

1 Villages · 1 Monuments · 4 Nature

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Cave of el Parpalló

Nature · Barx, La Safor, Valencia

Image of Barx, not of the place itself.

The Cova del Parpalló is one of the most important Palaeolithic sites in the Comunitat Valenciana, with an archaeological sequence spanning thousands of years. It is especially famous for the engraved and painted stone plaquettes found within it, a collection of portable art catalogued by Lluís Pericot i Garcia comprising almost 5,000 pieces and around 6,000 faces with figurative representations: most are geometric signs, though animals such as deer, horses, wild goats and aurochs also appear, along with some possible human figures. Together with nearby sites such as the Cova de les Mallaetes, in the municipality of Barx itself, it has helped to refine the Solutrean-Gravettian sequence and the evolution of the Upper Magdalenian on the Mediterranean seaboard.

Photo: Pacopac (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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