5,000 years under water: a cave in Jaén that preserved a necropolis
A short distance from the town of Bedmar y Garcíez in the province of Jaén, a landscape of singular beauty conceals an astonishing episode of Andalusia’s history.
A short distance from the town of Bedmar y Garcíez in the province of Jaén, a landscape of singular beauty conceals an astonishing episode of Andalusia’s history.
In a tucked-away corner of the Sierra Mágina Nature Park, where water springs give rise to a lush forest, there lies a cave the keeps the silent legacy of the people who inhabited this corner of Jaén Province thousands of years ago.
THE MYSTERIES OF THE GROTTO ON THE CUADROS RIVER
The trail leading to the cave at the source of the Cuadros River is an opportunity to awaken the senses. A magically intoxicating scene of sights and smells awaits in one of Europe’s biggest oleander forests. Following the river’s course leads to extraordinary natural pools accompanied by the melodic sounds of cascading waters.
Wooden walkways lead the way toward the end of the trail where pristine natural spring waters flow and the terrain unfolds to reveal an opening in the earth. However, this is no mere geological whim for its shaded walls are the keepers of a prehistoric funerary monument.
A PLACE WHERE THE WATER CONSERVES MEMORIES
Five thousand years ago, the grotto on the river Cuadros served as a collective burial site. Excavations carried out in its interior have brought to light human remains and funerary offerings, permitting an insight into burial rituals during the Chalcolithic Age.
The Cuadros River conceals one of the most significant and best-preserved collective necropolises of Andalusia due to the waters that inundated the cave for centuries. And this marine sanctuary bestowed an extraordinary archaeological legacy.
A TREK TO AWAKEN THE SENSES
The trail guiding the way to the cave where the River Cuadros begins is short and gently sloped, which is ideal for enjoying the serene riverbank forest in its entirety. In the springtime and autumn, when the volume of water reaches its peak, the sounds crescendo and a burst of colours paint a breathtaking landscape.
The Virgin of Cuadros Sanctuary sits to one side of the trail before reaching the cavern. This eighteenth-century construction set near the cave makes a magnificent lookout point before completing the trail at the river’s source, where the cold, crystal-clear water bubbles up from the rocks.
WHERE NATURE AND HISTORY MEET
The Cuadros River grotto is a little-known treasure conserving a millenary history where the scenery dazzles at every step.
Discover one of Jaén’s most unusual landscapes, a place where the life-giving waters served as the faithful guardian of a hitherto unknown episode of Spain’s distant past.
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