Cuevas de la Araña en Bicorp
Encyclopedia
The Cuevas de la Araña are a group of caves in the municipality of Bicorp
Bicorp
Bicorp is a municipality in the comarca of Canal de Navarrés in the Valencian Community, Spain....

 in Valencia, eastern Spain. The caves are in the valley of the river Escalona and were used by prehistoric people who left rock art. They are known for painted images of a bow and arrow
Bow (weapon)
The bow and arrow is a projectile weapon system that predates recorded history and is common to most cultures.-Description:A bow is a flexible arc that shoots aerodynamic projectiles by means of elastic energy. Essentially, the bow is a form of spring powered by a string or cord...

 goat
Goat
The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...

 hunt and for a scene depicting an androgynous figure, sometimes called the "Man of Bicorp", climbing liana
Liana
A liana is any of various long-stemmed, woody vines that are rooted in the soil at ground level and use trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy to get access to well-lit areas of the forest. Lianas are especially characteristic of tropical moist deciduous...

s and gathering honey
Honey
Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...

 from wild bee
Bee
Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants, and are known for their role in pollination and for producing honey and beeswax. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila...

s.

The dating of such art is controversial, but the famous honey-gathering painting is believed to be epipaleolithic
Epipaleolithic
The Epipaleolithic Age was a period in the development of human technology marked by more advanced stone blades and other tools than the earlier Paleolithic age, although still before the development of agriculture in the Neolithic age...

 and is estimated to be around 8000 years old.

The caves were discovered in the early twentieth century by a local teacher, Jaime Garí i Poch. They are included in the World Heritage Site Rock art of the Iberian Mediterranean Basin
Rock art of the Iberian Mediterranean Basin
Rock art of the Iberian Mediterranean Basin was declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 1998. This is a collection of rock art sites in the eastern half of Spain, notable for the number of places included, the largest concentration of such art in Europe...

.
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