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Located in the Sierra de Godall of Ulldecona, the Abrics de l'Ermita (the hermitage rock shelters) are the most important set of Levantine cave paintings in Catalonia and have been on the Unesco World Heritage list since 1998 and form part of the Route of Rock Art.
In this exceptional complex, the Neolithic man drew a world of beliefs or mythical stories related to the hunt. The steep cliffs of Godall were a place conducive to capturing animals and so you can see in the paintings through the various species of animals in the area, of the archers and, even, of divinities and specialists in charge of carrying out rituals. Experts say that the Neolithic society used the cave painting as a means of communication with the aim to point out places of meeting and celebration of certain rites.
The first paintings of the Sierra de Godall were discovered in 1975 in a cave in the ravine. Currently we have located up to fourteen shelters decorated by man 8,000 years ago. Just next to the shelters, the Abrics de l’Ermita Interpretation Centre for Rock Art, created by the Museum of Archaeology of Catalonia, allows the visitor to discover the artistic and historical heritage of Ulldecona through graphical, photographic, audiovisual resources and replicas of the paintings.
Man has always needed to express his concerns and thoughts. When writing did not exist, artistic expression was the perfect resource to convey these ideas. The set of Rock Art of the Mediterranean basin on the Iberian peninsula consists of 757 sites with paintings, and was declared a World Heritage Site in 1998. This is the largest set of rock art sites in Europe. In Catalonia there are the hermitage shelters of the Serra de la Pietat (Ulldecona), Roca dels Moros (Montsià) and the Cave of Vilasos or Els Vilars (Os de Balaguer), among others.
The humans who inhabited the coastal and interior mountains of Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia, Castile-La Mancha, Murcia and Andalusia chose shallow caves and shelters in which to paint and engrave symbols and scenes from their daily life. In every way, the decorated walls also raise many questions about their beliefs, organisation and other aspects which are difficult to understand.
The paintings of the Mediterranean basin were made from the late Palaeolithic period up to the bronze or the iron age. Classified as Levantine art, they express ideas that until that point had been non-existent: man showing his relationship to his environment, the links with nature, beliefs and, at the same time, expressing his power and intervention in the environment in which he lives.
The creators of the cave paintings used different techniques and colours, creating various styles that scholars have classified as naturalist, schematic and macro-schematic. These last two were imposed in the final phase, and tend towards an increasingly accentuated stylisation of the expressions and by an increasing prominence of signs and symbols. The most widely used colour is red, in all its varied tones.
Around 65 million years old, more than 38,000 m2 in size and with 3,500 dinosaur footprints. These facts make this spot in Fígols-Vallcebre Fumanya one of the most important in Europe with Cretaceous fossil remains.
Located in Alt Berguedà, the paleontological area includes the old open mining coal operations in Fumanya Sud (Fígols) Fumanya Nord, Tumi (Vallcebre) and Coll de Pradell (Vallcebre-Saldes). In addition to the footprints (ichnites), paleontologists have identified fossil remains of dinosaur eggs and bones, a large number of plant remains (tree trunks, leaves of different kinds, algae ...) and animals (fossilised shells of mollusks and invertebrates).
The discovery of Fumanya area dates back to 1985 when Louis Viladrich and his wife, members of the group Berguedà Natural Sciences, were hiking in the area and suspected that the tracks they saw in the light in Fumanya Sud could be animal footprints. The subsequent investigations of Miquel Crusafont Sabadell Paleontological Institute confirmed their initial theory.
Occupied by man since the beginning of the Middle Palaeolithic Age until the Metal Ages, the Serinyà Prehistoric Cave Park consists of several shelters or caves (the Arbreda, the Mollet and the Reclau Viver).
Studies carried out have shown that this is one of the best sites in Western Europe for discovering the progression of Neanderthal man to modern man. About 200,000 years ago (Middle Paleolithic) it was inhabited by the pre-Neanderthals (Homo heidelbergensis); later (between 90,000 and 39,000 years ago) the Neanderthals lived there and finally, during the Upper Paleolithic, the caves provided a refuge for modern man (Homo sapiens). All of them inhabited this place during the last glacial periods, when the landscape was very different to that of today.
The most important discoveries include a skull found in 1973, which is the oldest remains of modern human in Catalonia (22,300 years old).
The first archaeological excavations were started by Pere Alsius i Torrent in the second half of the 19th century. In the 20th century, they were continued by Dr. Josep Maria Corominas (1943) and today, work is being carried out by researchers from the University of Girona and the Archaeological Museum of Catalonia-Girona. In 1996, the County Council of Pla de l'Estany started on the construction of the current Park.
What life was like in Catalonia 7,000 years ago? Providing an answer to this question has become easier since the discovery of the archaeological site of La Draga, in Banyoles. This neolithic settlement, currently submerged beneath the waters of the lake, is one of the oldest settlements of agricultural and livestock farmers in Catalonia and is an exceptional site: it is the only one on the Iberian Peninsula where tools made entirely of wood have been recovered intact.
In 1994, the Centre for Underwater Archaeology of Catalonia (CASC) began its excavation and study, work which is underway both on the land and underwater. The wooden tools that have been found are bows, javelins, digging sticks, spindles, ladles, mixers and wedges, as well as handles, also of wood, adzes, sickles and arrow stems. The flooring recovered from the cabins where they sheltered has allowed the reconstruction of some of these prehistoric dwellings.
Currently, the La Draga Neolithic Park, located next to the lakeside village, allows the visitor to discover daily life in the Neolithic period and get to know a little more about its ancient settlers. These shelters, built on the banks of the lake, enjoy surroundings that offer resources in abundance.
At 6,000 years old, the Gava Prehistoric Mines is the oldest mining area with galleries in Europe. The mines were dedicated to the extraction of variscite (or cal·laïta in Catalan), a semiprecious mineral used to make jewelry.
Apart from the complex mining network, the site is known for archaeological remains that have been found there, which reflect the socioeconomic and cultural context of the Neolithic era in the Iberian Peninsula. Stone, bone and wood tools (metals were still unkown at that time), ceramic fragments and remnants of building materials are examples of these Neolithic remains.
One of the most outstanding objects is the Venus of Gavà, an anthropomorphic figure made of black ceramic. It is an incomplete piece and broken into several fragments, from which one can make out a female form, featuring a proportional and symmetrical structure, sun-shaped eyes and the upper limbs resting on a prominent belly. Venus de Gavà could be the image of a goddess of fertility and is one of the few religious Neolithic representations in existence in the Peninsula.
The artistic demonstrations (Venus and the jewelry) and the complexity of the mines show that the inhabitants of the area were an advanced society with strong religious beliefs.
The Pyrenees was the last area inhabited by dinosaurs, 65 million years ago. This explains why the Cretaceous site of Coll de Nargó is regarded by the scientific community as one of the most important in the world. Providing an excellent source of information on the time when the last great dinosaurs became extinct and a new era dominated by mammals began.
The site consists of an area open to the public which is called the "Mirador del Creataci", (Cretaceous Observation Centre), from where you can see dinosaur footprints, fossilised plant and animal remains, and dinosaurs nests and eggs. To spread the importance of the site, the Dinosfera, museum was established, providing interactive interpretation based on new technologies.
The permanent exhibition focuses particularly on explaining the assumed reproduction process of these giants of nature. And one of the most spectacular pieces found at Coll de Nargó and on display in the Museum, is the largest dinosaur nest in Europe. In fact, one of the main creatures responsible for the clutches of eggs that have been found in the area is the titanosaurus. For this reason, a reproduction of this sauropod can be found at the start of the exhibition.
When the paleontologist Miquel Crusafont died, his children gave their father’s fossil collection to the Provincial Institute of Palaeontology, with the condition that it would not leave Sabadell.
This Institute later became the Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (Catalan Institute of Palaeontology Miquel Crusafont) and today it is a reference centre for the research, conservation and promotion of palaeontology in Catalonia (the science that studies living organisms of the past through fossils). Since its creation, the collection has increased to 200,000 registered fossils, obtained from different sites, making it one of the most important in Europe.
Among the best-known finds held in the ICP are Jordi and Montse (hispanopithecus laietanus) and Pau (pierolapithecus catalaunicus). They are all primates dating back more than 12 million years and have enabled us to explain more clearly the period between hominids and their primate ancestors.
Since 2010, the museum has become the main outreach area of the ICP. Through interactive tours, the visitor learns about the palaeontology research process, discovers what a laboratory for the restoration of fossils is like, sees fossils in 3D and the recreation of landscapes 66 million years old, when the Pyrenees of the present day was an area inhabited by dinosaurs.
For centuries, Els Vilars (or Vilasos), a small cave to the West of Os de Balaguer, was used as a shelter by shepherds, evidence of which can be seen on the walls and blackened ceilings. However, it was not until the 1970s that 4,000-year-old old cave paintings were discovered behind the smoke marks. Currently they form part of the collection of Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula.
Despite its small size -no more than 60 m2- the cave is richly decorated: up to 28 figures or tracings have been identified. Altogether there are three groups of figures that are particularly significant due to their content. The first consists of a dance scene, in which a man has his arms around the waists of two women dressed in skirts that are typical in Levantine cave painting. The three figures are painted in a deep red.
Another of the groups comprises four concentric circles and is believed to be a heliolithic representation, a tribute to the Sun. Finally, at the back of the cave, there is a hunting scene, where goats, wolves, foxes, and even a doe are all depicted.
The location of the cave is excellent.Thanks to its position, it receives the first ray of sunlight and, at the same time, it provides a wide view of the Valley of the River Farfanya.
