The Roca dels Moros or Caves of El Cogul is a rock shelter containing outstanding paintings of prehistoric Levantine rock art. The site is in El Cogul, in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain.
The Roca dels Moros or Caves of El Cogul is a rock shelter containing outstanding paintings of prehistoric Levantine rock art. The site is in El Cogul, in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. Since 1998 the paintings have been protected as part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site (reference 874).
Inscriptions in Northeastern Iberian script and in Latin alphabet, one of which is an ex-voto, indicate that the use of the place as a sanctuary extended to Iberian and Roman times.
Near the paintings there is a cemetery with tombs carved into the rock.
At Roca dels Moros there are forty-five figures, of which thirty-eight are painted bright red, black and dark red, seven are engraved on stone. A dance scene is the most famous of the paintings. Nine women are depicted, something new in Spanish art. Some are painted in black and others in red. They were seen dancing around a male figure with abnormally large phallus. Along with humans, there are several animals.
The paintings were discovered in 1908 by the village rector, Ramon Huguet, and a report was published in the same year. The first prehistorians to study the paintings, such as Henri Breuil and Juan Cabré, took the view that Levantine rock art belonged to the palaeolithic. The paintings are now believed to be somewhat later in date.
Conservation work has been carried out on the paintings under the auspices of the Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya. There are plans to build a visitors centre to interpret the site and to promote Cogul in the context of a "route of rock art", linking it to similar sites in Catalonia such as Abrics de l’Ermita at Ulldecona.
