Cave paintings

Cave paintings. El Portalón.

A painting that depicts a horse's head is on the wall opposite the mouth of Cueva del Portalón (Porch Cave). The first person to mention it in writing was Jesús Carballo in 1910. Ever since, this head has been a source of controversy, firstly because some interpreted the simple motif as a bear while others saw a horse. Tracings seem to dispel any doubt: they clearly show the head of an equid with several identifiable anatomical parts including the base of the neck, the jaw line, the mouth, the forehead line, ears and eye.

There have always been doubts about the authenticity, or rather the age, of this painting. Carballo questioned its prehistoric age in 1910 when he announced its existence, but in 1920, Breuil attributed the painting to an early part of the Upper Palaeolithic.

The Atapuerca Research Group also had its doubts about the Palaeolithic or more contemporary dating of this head and decided to conduct a detailed analysis, aware of several fakes like the Suances Cave and the fact that the cave might also have been used in the Upper Palaeolithic. The study revealed that the oxide came from the Atapuerca Hills, although the colour analysis did not yield any conclusive evidence. There was, however, a striking difference in the colour of the figure in photos taken in 1913 and 1947, when they seemed to be much more vivid and better preserved than now. We began to wonder how the quality of the motif could been maintained for 11,000 years and then deteriorate so fast in 50 years. It is now thought that it might have been painted at some time in the early 20th century.