La Clotilde or La Lora (Santa Isabel de Quijas, Cantabria)

La Clotilde or La Lora cave is located in the Cantabrian municipality of Santa Isabel de Quijas (Northern spain), in a cliff facing north that dominates the valley of the Saja river. It is currently being studied within the framework of a multidisciplinary project led by Sergio Salazar. Despite the early discovery of his digital engravings (1903) by Lorenzo Sierra, his discreet ensemble has historically been ignored (and even vandalized on numerous occasions, with serious affections in almost all figures), perhaps in part because it is located just two kilometers away. away from the famous Altamira cave.

The current study that is being carried out in the cave has led to a significant increase in the number of graphic units due to the identification of red dots and points. All these motifs are small remains of red paintings located in areas where graphic activity was difficult to carry out. In addition, the current use of new methodologies for three-dimensional documentation is allowing to “digitally restore” the unique set of rock art formed by 9 figurative representations engraved in clay with the fingers, five of them aurochs. This technical procedure, as well as some stylistic conventions of the figures such as the legs in -Y- and in the same plane or the horns without perspective, has been identified in other caves such as Hornos de la Peña (Cantabrian) or Gargas (Pyrenees), usually in chronologies prior to the Magdalenian. It is expected to carry out a new in-depth revision of the cave’s pavement, in search of datable elements that allow corroborating the stylistic impressions.