Cueva de los Casares
| Cueva de los Casares | |
|---|---|
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Native name Spanish: Cueva de los Casares | |
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| Location | Riba de Saelices, Spain |
| Coordinates | 40°57′27″N 2°17′27″W / 40.9575°N 2.290928°WCoordinates: 40°57′27″N 2°17′27″W / 40.9575°N 2.290928°W |
| Official name: Cueva de los Casares | |
| Type | Non-movable |
| Criteria | Monument |
| Designated | 1935 |
| Reference no. | RI-51-0001089 |
  Location of Cueva de los Casares in Spain | |
Cueva de los Casares is a cave in Riba de Saelices in Guadalajara, Spain. Discovered in 1933, it contains a number of paleolithic cave paintings, and is most notable for a series of paintings depicting what some have argued is the earliest representation of human understanding of the reproductive process, featuring images of copulation (perhaps mediated by a mysterious shaman figure), pregnancy, childbirth, and family life. Mammoths and other animals feature frequently in the illustrations. It was declared Bien de Interés Cultural in 1935.
There are many representations of animals, anthropomorphs (human-like figures), and ideomorphs (including penises, vulvas, tools, and more abstract images).
The cave and its paintings are little known to scholars outside Spain.