Winter Solstice 2013

Petroglyphs, Pontecaldelas

Up in the hills between Pontevedra and Ourense sits a small town named after the incredible Roman bridge it grew up around. We went there in time for lunch, then followed the river from the bridge for a surprisingly warm and sunny walk through a forest and back.

Then it was further up into the hills by car to find a beautiful collection of petroglyphs. We expected to find the usual couple of outcrops with a few abstract patterns mixed with matchstick hunters and their prey. Instead we found a beautifully decked path winding a couple of kilometres circle around a mild yet exhausting incline. 

There were about five seperate outcrops of rock, the largest of which was absolutely covered in art - the neolithic equivalent of graffiti'd rolling stock. I wondered to my two companions (Loreto and Malusa) at the sheer work involved in calving intricate designs in solid rock. This is no mere cavepainting; spitting red paint over your hand to leave an imprint - these are carefully placed and painstakingly calved by neolithic people who pre-date the discovery of iron by thousands of years.