Paleolithic rock art in Hornos de la Peña cave (Cantabria): new data about the outside ensemble

Abstract

Hornos de la Peña was one of the caves discovered at the beginnings of XXth century in the Cantabrian region, comprised in the classic work «Les Cavernes de la Région Cantabrique» (1911). As for the other caves studied in this work, the cave has not been re-studied again, only some punctual researches which did not supply the original. Recently, a partial revision of the parietal figures has been undertaken. This study applies the most recent methodologies of rock art research and has allowed to the authors to identify three complete three-lineal engraved hinds who previously had been interpreted as nonfigurative outlines, and another one located inside. In the present paper we demonstrate the importance of the finding and its implications for the knowledge of the graphical activity of the cavity and for the Cantabrian region artistic research. The finding of the engraved hind located in the dark side of the cave, first of these characteristics, is specially interesting, because allowed us to reaffirm the correlation between the formal schemes of outside ensemble and some representations located in the deep zones of the caves.

Keywords

• arte rupestre
• paleolítico superior
• cierva
• grabado profundo
• cantábrico
• españa