Cueva de los Murciélagos

Main entrance ( Cueva Grande) of the cave

Cueva de los Murciélagos refers to a cave system located in the Sierras Subbéticas in the south of the province of Córdoba in Spain. It is located about four kilometers southeast of the community Zuheros and is due to the unique rock paintings and significant archaeological finds from the Neolithic Age as the most important of the 60 caves in the Parque Natural de Sierras Subbéticas. Although the caves were discovered in 1868, they have been studied only in the year 1938. In addition, they host one of the largest bat colonies in Andalusia.

The caves are located in a vast karst landscape in the 1,000 -meter high mountain Canada Malos de Vientos area of ​​southern Andalusia and are in 980 meters height. The spectacular rock formations and caves with stalagmites, stalactites and underground lakes formed by the weathering and leaching of the carbonate rocks. The caves have a total extension of 2,000 meters, of which only 450 meters can be visited.

The cavers discovered tombs from the Middle Paleolithic period, which point to a human habitation 35,000 years ago. Finds from the Neolithic period could be dated by radiocarbon dating to 4300-3980 BC. The researchers reconstructed the lives of people whose relics were preferentially found at the cave entrance. Here they cooked meals on an open fire. Their diet consisted of meat of wild and farmed animals and various cereals. They used tools made ​​of flint and bone, in order to cut leather. They made red painted vessels, as well as neck and bracelets made of sea shells, which they probably acquired through trade with coastal residents. Apparently, the group was located at the transition from life as hunters and gatherers to life as a farmer who grew corn and pets bred.

There are cave paintings, such as the representation of goats, an eye and several human figures on different walls. The drawings are all from the Neolithic period ( 6000-3000 BC) and Bronze Age ( 3000-2000 BC).