The Côa Valley Paleolithic Art site is one of the largest known open air sites of Paleolithic art.
In the late 1980s, the engravings were discovered in Vila Nova de Foz Côa, in northeastern Portugal. The site in situated in the valley of the Côa river, and comprises thousands of engraved drawings of horses, bovines and other animal, human and abstract figures, dated from 22,000 to 10,000 years BCE. Since 1995 a team of archaeologists have been studying and cataloging this pre-historical complex and a park was created to receive visitors.
After this paleolithic complex, which extents itself for several kilometers along the valley of the river, was discovered, a controversy arose due to the long time planning of a hydroelectric power plant being built on the river.
If constructed the power plant would raise the levels of the water, which would cover most of the engraved drawings. This fact was known by the Portuguese national energy company (EDP) and the Portuguese National Institute of Patrimony and Architecture (IPPAR) before the general public and the scientific community were aware of the importance of the site.
Archaeologist Nélson Rabada, studying the site under an agreement between EDP and IPPAR, reported the case to the press, as well as other organizations interested in prehistorical art and patrimony, such as UNESCO. The dam construction led to a scandal within Portuguese and international circles, with the project being denounced in newspapers like The Sunday Times, The New York Times, International Herald Tribune.
The UNESCO reports were not unanimous about whether or not the power plant should be built, with Jean Clottes, the head of prehistorical department, saying that rising water may protect the engravings from vandalism, but also confirming that Coa Valley "is the biggest open air site of paleolithic art in Europe, if not in the world".
This solution did not please the archaeologists and the public, and so a strong NIMBY movement among the Portuguese opposed the power plant/ dam construction. In 1995, the Portuguese parliament and government, under Prime Minister António Guterres, canceled the project and created a park for archaeological study and public visiting.
The engravings found mainly consist of animal representations, such as horses, bovines (aurochs) and caprines. Human figures and abstract depictions are also present.
They are essentially made in vertical surfaces of rock along the valley of the river using engraving technique. Their size vary between 15 cm and 180 cm but the predominance is 40-50 cm in extension, often forming panels and compositions. The style often feature bold lines but many are touched with fine, slick lines. These engravings are calculated to have been made as long as 20,000 years ago according to a study in 1995.
The importance of this prehistorical art site remains on its rareness and extension; there is plenty of prehistorical art sites in caves, but in open air there is only a few to name, like Mazouco (Portugal), Fornols-Haut (France), Domingo García and Siega Verde (both in Spain), but none of these have the extension of the Côa valley site.
Archaeologists acknowledge sites like this as open air sanctuaries of prehistoric humankind.
The Côa valley site is composed, so far, of a group of 16 rock art and settlement sites spread over some 17 km of the lower Côa river valley:
The conference HERITAGE 2008 - World Heritage and Sustainable Development International Conference took place at Vila Nova de Foz Côa between May 7-9, 2008.
