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Caves in Andalucia
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| Caves in Andalucia-Cueva de Hundidero at Montejaque. |
A farmer, called Jose Bullon Lobato, found the actual cave system of Cueva de la Pileta as late as 1905 and his descendants still act as guides today. He noticed while, tending his sheep, that many bats frequented the area disappearing at dawn. As bat droppings make very good fertiliser he decided to find their roost in the hope that he could quarry this valuable commodity.
As a result he found an opening which led into a number of large chambers, some of which contained a number of strange markings. He also found pottery and decided that it was all the work of the Moors.However in 1911 a retired British Colonel, Col. Willoughby Verner, who was staying in Jimera de Libar pursuing his hobby of ornithology, heard about the caves and the theory of the Moorish influence. He thought this unlikely so arranged to visit the caves to investigate them. On entering the various chambers he immediately realised that this was the work of prehistoric man and not the Moors and set about recording his findings.
The subsequent publication of his discoveries received much attention from historians interested in pre-history and later visits by various academics resulted in detailed surveys of both the system as a whole and the cave paintings Excavations of the floor revealed more pottery and animal bones.
Being limestone, the cave system was originally an underground river. In dry periods stalactites formed, while during wetter periods the system flowed with torrents of water as a result many of the cave sides have been worn smooth by the volume of water.
The cave paintings themselves date from approximately 25,000 years ago in the upper Palaeolithic period. There are some quite basic charcoal scratchings of zig-zags and stick men depicting archers hunting their prey. There are also some actual paintings including one of a red horse's head, goats and fish.One of the lovely things about the caves is that they are quite uncommercialised, the land still belongs to the original owner's family who act as guides. There are no set tour times, you merely arrive, the guide waits until he has a reasonable number of visitors, around 15, and then sets off. He locks the gate behind him so if you have just missed a tour you may have to wait for around an hour before the group returns. Still it is a lovely wait as the benched area looks out across the Guadiaro valley 670m below.
To reach the caves head for the village of Benoajan on the Gaucin-Ronda road. South of the village, heading towards Cortes de la Frontera, a side road leads off on the right serving as a carpark.You will find the caves are quite well signposted in the area.
Having parked the car it is quite a steep climb up some roughly hewn steps to the cave entrance, this was only newly discovered in 1924, having been blocked up many centuries previously. There is no artificial lighting in the caves so take a good torch and also be sure to wear stout foot wear.
A good time to arrive is at 10.00 a.m. or 4.00 p.m.
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