Landmark of the past in the Antequera megalithic landscape: A multi-disciplinary approach to the Matacabras rock art shelter

Abstract

The background of this paper is the biographical relationship between the Menga dolmen and La Peña de los Enamorados mountain (a conspicuous and highly-recognisable natural formation), both part of the Antequera megalithic landscape. Our main aim is to provide a highresolution characterisation of the Matacabras rock art shelter, located on the northern side of La Peña de los Enamorados. This is achieved through a photogrammetric topographic survey, a detailed assessment of the graphic motifs identified through the use of digital image processing and various types of physical and chemical analysis, a geo-chemical characterisation of pottery found on its surface, and a comparative stylistic analysis of its motifs. Our study suggests that Matacabras (and the site of Piedras Blancas I, located just below it), played an important role in the genesis of Menga, which perhaps makes it the most important rock art location of Spanish Late Prehistory.

‘The Dead are Watching Us’: A Landscape Study of Prehistoric Rock-cut Tomb Cemeteries in Ossi, Sardinia, Italy

“…It has also been argued that sunset orientations were aimed at producing particular light effects inside Neolithic burial monuments (Hensey 2008;González-García et al 2019). Links between tomb orientations and landscape features such as mountains or coasts have also been highlighted, showing how the physical environment was integrated into the design and ritual use of the monuments (eg, Scarre 2002;Cumming et al 2002;Prendergast 2016;Rogerio-Candelera et al 2018). Nevertheless, the living and their dwellings are often absent from the picture (Richards & Jones 2016, 9).…”

Domesticating Light and Shadows in the Neolithic: The Dombate Passage Grave (A Coruña, Spain)

“…This begs the question as to whether this particular moment, WSSR, is important for any particular cultural reason. Orientations have been considered as ritual directions, related to ritual events or significant landscape features (Anschuetz et al 2001; Rogelio-Candelera et al 2018). In other words, the location of the megalithic monument could have been chosen so that the rising of the sun (for example) coincided with a particularly interesting point on the horizon (MacKie 1997).…”

Who painted that? The authorship of Schematic rock art at the Los Machos rockshelter in southern Iberia

“…The dating of Schematic art in the eastern mountain ranges of Cuenca and Cataluña suggests a long tradition ranging from c. 4500-2000 BC (Ruiz-López et al 2009, 2012, which corresponds to the Early to Late Neolithic periods. In the south of Iberia, shelters containing Schematic rock art dated by absolute methods show similar chronologies (Morgado et al 2018;Rogerio-Candelera et al 2018). Likewise, absolute dates from paintings associated with megalithic monuments in both north-eastern and southern Iberia have a comparable chronological range (Steelman et al 2005;Bueno Ramírez et al 2013).…”

“…Rockshelters with Schematic art are often found in mountainous environments, especially along the natural corridors that connect basins and valleys with mountain pastures, or may be associated with striking natural topography or features (e.g. Fernández et al 2017; Morgado et al 2018; Rogerio-Candelera et al 2018), as at Los Machos. These sites provide unique insights into the populations inhabiting each region.…”