MURCIA RUPESTRE OR THE DIVERSITY OF THE FIRST ART OF HUMANITY

TFollowing the end of the Ice Age, at the dawn of the current geological period – the Holocene – the regions of the Iberian Levant gained great prominence, becoming the stage for the changes that would lead to the transition between hunter-gatherer economies (typical of Palaeolithic times) and those of the first Neolithic farmers, passing through an intermediate phase (the Mesolithic) in which human populations would gradually transform their economy, their ways of life, and with them, their culture – and their art.

The southeastern area of the UNESCO World Heritage site known as “Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula”, and more specifically, the mountain ranges in the interior of the #Region of Murcia are home to a series of rock art sites where the three main types of rock art from that period of change can be found, that is to say, the period spanning from the beginning of the Mesolithic to the end of the Bronze Age (9,000–3,000 years ago). These are the Levantine, Macro-schematic and Schematic styles.

The last hunter-gatherer groups will be responsible for the Levantine art of the Mediterranean façade. It is a fully figurative art, with a taste for the representation of details, characterised by the use of flat colours in ochre (also in black and white), and a theme focused on hunted animals (deer, goats, aurochs, wild boar…) and, above all, on human representations, especially hunters armed with bows and arrows and women who harvest or dance.

Around 7,500 years ago, in this very area, expressions emerge that are to be identified with the first farmers and the changes that neolithisation brought about in the economy and culture. The so-called Macro-schematic art, located exclusively in a specific area between the provinces of Alicante and Murcia, can be considered the first rock art of note – stylistically and thematically – of the producer societies of SW Europe. This art features human figures and geometric motifs as its main themes, generally painted in dark ochre, from a very dense pigment that makes it difficult to observe the detail of the strokes. Among the human figures, those depicted with their arms raised and hands open, in an attitude of offering prayers to the sky, are noteworthy, hence they are referred to as “orantes” (supplicants). Among the signs, thick sinuous lines, resembling serpentine forms with radial extremities, are very frequent.

From the Neolithic period, and particularly with the advent of metallurgical techniques for the manufacture of copper implements, first, and bronze, shortly after, the development of a new major rock art, characterised by the schematisation of motifs, and even a certain abstraction of themes, became widespread. The so-called Schematic Art became generalised throughout Europe (indeed, throughout the world). For the last 7,000 years, the shelters, caves, rocky outcrops, and megalithic chambers and orthostats of the whole of Europe have begun to host one of the most widespread artistic styles in the Prehistory of Humanity; an art characterised by graphic simplicity that will nevertheless employ virtually all artistic techniques known to man: painting, engraving, pecking, modelling…

In the Region of Murcia, we can discover all this, and much more, in…

Coat of El Milano in Mula http://www.abrigodelmilano.es/ Google Maps: 38.037251, -1.611634

 

 

 

 

 

Moratalla Rock Art Interpretation Centre https://www.turismoruralmurcia.es/arte-rupestre-moratalla-murcia 38.177938, -1.922765

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cañaíca del Calar de Moratalla Coats http://conocemoratalla.es/pinturas-rupestres/ Google Maps: 38.185152, -2.186847

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overcoats from the Fuente del Sabuco of Moratalla http://conocemoratalla.es/pinturas-rupestres/ Google Maps: 38.185152, -2.186847

 

 

 

 

 

 

Calasparra Well Shelters https://www.murciaturistica.es/es/arte_rupestre_detalle/abrigos-del-pozo-4481/ Google maps: 38°14'12.7"N 1°36'52.3"W

 

 

 

 

 

 

Archaeological Museum and Buen Aire rock shelter of Jumilla https://www.regmurcia.com/servlet/s.Sl?sit=a,56,c,371,m,1071&r=CeAP-1524-C_52_DETALLE_CENTRO 38.475888, -1.333523

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cave shelters of Los Grajos of Cieza https://www.regmurcia.com/servlet/s.Sl?sit=c,373,m,3491&r=ReP-15677-DETALLE_REPORTAJESPADRE Google Maps: 38.258355, -1.395532

 

 

 

 

Cave shelters of La Serreta, Cieza https://www.regmurcia.com/servlet/s.Sl?sit=c,373,m,3491&r=ReP-15673-DETALLE_REPORTAJESPADRE Google Maps: 38.241462, -1.570304

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yecla Archaeological Museum and Cantos de La Visera Cave Shelters https://www.regmurcia.com/servlet/s.Sl?sit=c,373,m,3491&r=ReP-15673-DETALLE_REPORTAJESPADRE  38.699603, -1.278829

 

 

 

 

 

 

Furthermore, the shelters at Pozo de Calasparra are accessible to everyone, including people with reduced mobility (wheelchairs are welcome). For more information, please contact the Calasparra tourist office: 968 74 53 25