# Spain's Cova de la Font Major cave holds 280 engravings in Palaeolithic style, 55 of them animals

- Published: 2026-11-10 17:37 UTC
- Section: Science › Research
- Tags: Cova de la Font Major, Palaeolithic cave art, Ice Age engravings, Spain cave discovery, raking light, Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology, prehistoric animal images
- URL: https://realtech.media/news/rt-25cfb780c211043a7d1a7bf7_spain_s_cova/

**The gallery was found in a cave long open to tourists. The engravings have not been dated directly; by style, the art is likely over 19,000 years old.**

![Spain's Cova de la Font Major cave holds 280 engravings in Palaeolithic style, 55 of them animals](https://realtech.media/media/2026/11/4ef223c5e0787691.webp)
*ZME Science*

A gallery of 280 engraved motifs, including 55 animal figures, has been found at Cova de la Font Major, west of Barcelona, according to newscientist.com [1]. Josep Maria Vergès of the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology noticed it after a group of tourists in wetsuits emerged from a nearby opening into a small side gallery [1]. The cave is a popular tourist attraction, and the engravings had gone unnoticed [1].

## How the engravings were found

Vergès was working at the site for the first time and did not know the side gallery, so he went in to look. Its walls were covered with names and dates engraved by visitors since 1957 [1]. He took off his helmet and lit the wall with his headlamp at a low angle. This raking light is used to observe engravings because it creates shadows in the incised grooves [1].

Among the modern graffiti he saw a series of vertical lines that looked ancient. On the opposite wall a horse appeared, which he recognised as executed in a Palaeolithic style, and many more figurative engravings of animals followed [1]. The researchers say the find is one of the richest archaeological finds on the Iberian coast between the Pyrenees and Gibraltar [1].

## Animals, signs and age

Co-author Míriam Salas-Altès singles out a hind with its head lowered and its muzzle extending across a natural fissure. The crack appears to have been deliberately used as the surface of water from which the animal drinks. "If this hypothesis is correct, the scene would constitute one of the earliest known representations of water in human artistic expression," she says [1].

The non-figurative engravings include groups of lines in twos, threes or fours, series of up to 40 parallel lines, Y-shaped signs and circular or semicircular shapes. Vergès notes that the code needed to understand their message has not fossilised [1]. Salas-Altès also suggested that nearly 20 markings might have been intended as an animation.

The engravings themselves are very difficult to date. Human occupation of the cave has been dated to between 26,000 and 41,000 years ago, and based on style the art is likely to be over 19,000 years old [1]. Paul Taçon of Griffith University in Australia says the find fills a large gap in knowledge of the distribution of Palaeolithic art in western Europe. He considers it obvious that a Palaeolithic culture made it, although its exact age is yet to be determined [1].

## Sources

1. [newscientist.com](https://www.newscientist.com/article/2597300-stunning-collection-of-prehistoric-engravings-found-in-spanish-cave/)
2. [ZME Science](https://www.zmescience.com/science/archaeology/ice-age-cave-art-animation-spain)

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Source: RealTech, realtech.media — https://realtech.media/news/rt-25cfb780c211043a7d1a7bf7_spain_s_cova/