The group of over 700 sites of prehistoric Rock Art of the Iberian Mediterranean Basin, a type of Levantine art, were collectively declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1998. The sites are in the eastern part of Spain and contain rock art dating to the Upper Paleolithic or (more likely) Mesolithic periods of the Stone Age. The art consists of small painted figures of humans and animals, which are the most advanced and widespread surviving from this period, certainly in Europe, and arguably in the world, at least in the earlier works. It is notable for the number of places included, the largest concentration of such art in Europe. Its name refers to the Mediterranean Basin; however, while some sites are located near the sea, many of them are inland in Aragon and Castilla–La Mancha; it can be classified as Levantine art (meaning "from Eastern Spain", not the Levant region).
Historical period There has been much debate over the dating of Levantine paintings, and whether they belong to the Mesolithic, the end of the Paleolithic, or the Neolithic; they clearly represent a very different style from the much more famous Art of the Upper Paleolithic in caves on either side of the Pyrenees, but yet may well show continuity with it. According to UNESCO, the oldest art in the World Heritage Site is from 8,000 BC, and the most recent examples from around 3500 BC. The art therefore spans a period of cultural change. It reflects the life of people using primarily hunter-gatherer economic systems, "who gradually incorporated Neolithic elements into their cultural baggage". Later scenes show men leading horses, and some cattle shown may be domesticated. The chronology of Levantine art overlaps with that of Iberian schematic art, and examples of both types of art can be found at some sites. Equally some sites continued to attract visitors in later periods, as shown by inscriptions in the Iberian language and Latin, for example at the Caves of El Cogul; these may have been associated with repainting of figures. The paintings seem to have been produced after an influx of population from North Africa had mixed with the populations remaining from earlier periods in Iberia.
Discovery Levantine Art was first discovered in Teruel in 1903. The Spanish prehistorian Juan Cabre was the first to study this art, defining it as a regional Palaeolithic art. Assessment as Palaeolithic was challenged for various reasons including the fact that no glacial fauna was depicted. Antonio Beltrán Martínez and others place the beginning of this art in the Epipaleolithic or Mesolithic, placing its heyday in the Neolithic period. Accepting a post-Paleolithic age for the art, Ripio devised a new chronological scheme in the 1960s, dividing the art into four stages:naturalistic, stylized static, stylized dynamic, and final phase of transition to the schematic.
Characteristics
The art appears over a wide area, and was created over a period of several thousand years; it is widely accepted that it shows stylistic and thematic development that reflects a long evolution, at least some local variety, and changes in way of life, though agreement on the details of this development is a continuing process.
Painting techniques The artists appear to have used feathers, in a relatively complex painting technique, compared to the art of the Upper Paleolithic, that produced relatively simple figures. Figures are often outlined, apparently after the main body was painted. Some figures are shallowly engraved rather than painted. The figures are relatively small, between about 8 and 1 inch (20.3 and 2.5 centimetres) high, and in one or two colours. The paint was generally very thin, using mineral earths (often reddish) or charcoal, and the paintings are preserved by a very thin transparent layer of limescale forming over them from water dripping down the wall. Some figures have more than one coat of paint, which has led to claims that they were repainted after long periods, though this seems not universally accepted.
Humans The human figure, which is rare in Paleolithic art, acquires great importance in Levantine Art. The human figure is frequently the main theme, and when it appears in the same scene as animals, the human figure runs towards them. The painting known as The Dancers of Cogul is a good example of movement being depicted. The most common scenes by far are of hunting, and there are scenes of battle and dancing, and possibly agricultural tasks and managing domesticated animals. In some scenes gathering honey is shown, most famously at Cuevas de la Araña (illustrated below). Humans are naked from the waist up, but women have skirts and men sometimes skirts or gaiters or trousers of some sort, and headdresses and masks are sometimes seen, which may indicate rank or status in a way compared by one researcher to North American Plains Indians; figures sometimes seem to have a deliberate element of caricature. Some war scenes distinguish between the sides in terms of physical appearance, or dress and weapons, though the interpretation of this is uncertain. Within one side, figures of greater importance may be indicated by more carefully painted figures with "exaggerated calf muscles and elongated thighs", or by pantaloons that are "tufted" at the ankle; the ordinary "infantry" are shown as mere "stick figures".
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