INITIAL DATA FROM AN ATLANTIC ROCK ART PETROGLYPH FOUND IN PEÑA MADURA, UPPER BASIN OF THE DÍLAR RIVER, SIERRA NEVADA (GRANADA)

Abstract

This article introduces a prehistorical postpaleolithic petroglyph found in Sierra Nevada, in the municipality of Dílar, Granada. It consists of several horizontal open-air pannels of rock, patterned with cups, rings, segmented rings, grooves and various combinations thereof. This set can be ascribed to the "Atlantic Art" style, characteristic of the northwestern Iberian peninsula and the British Isles, although it includes elements exemplary of "Schematic Art" and a naturalistic scene of two quadrupeds. This work justifies the link between the engravings and the expansion of the megalithic phenomenon from the Iberian northwestern area. Likewise, through the lens of Landscape Archeology, a link is established between this petroglyph and access ways to grazing zones in the upper mountain linked to trashumance. Lastly, this paper argues for an approximate chronology of these engravings, spanning the interval of time between the mid-final Neolithic and the Calcolithic periods.