The Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sports of the Junta of Andalusiathrough the General Directorate of Historical Heritage, has processed the registration in the General Catalog of Andalusian Historical Heritage as Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC), with the typology of Monumentof The Dolmens of La Sierrezuela, in Inns; the Dolmen of La Dehesa de la Lastra, in Luke; as well as the manifestations of art cave in the Al-Kanz Cave and the Peña Redonda Coatin the municipal area of Espiel.
In the Sierrezuela de Posadas have been documented two megalithic tombs, both of the covered gallery type. The first, discovered in 1990, is a museum, covered, signposted and suitable for public visits. The second dolmen was excavated in 2019 and, although it is not possible to specify its time of construction and use, its characteristics link it to the Chalcolithic period.
For the Posadas City Council, with this inscription comes the reward for a work begun since its discovery in 1990 and which continues today. «It is a recognition to all people, entities and groups that they have participated in the recovery and enhancement of the Sierrezuela dolmen complex,” says the Councilor for Culture and Tourism, Salud Navajas.
The jewel of the malenos
The registration of the Dolmens as BIC allows the Sierrezuela Periurban Park to “be added special features to be considered“Now more than ever, the jewel of the municipality in all its facets, cultural, natural, sports, heritage, educational, tourism, etc.,” he adds.
Navajas assures that the tourist projection of the municipality will be enhanced and that it will be complemented with a tourist-educational resource such as The Prehistory Park, unique venue in Andalusia. “This statement from BIC gives us energy to continue working for our Heritage as we have been doing.”
Posadas already has 8 assets with BIC cataloging: the Torre de la Cabrilla; the Torre del ochavo; the bell tower of the Santa María de las Flores Church; the Archite; the Coat of Arms of the Fernández de los Palacio House Cordova; the Coat of Arms of the façade of the Basilios Convent; and now the dolmens.
The person in charge of Tourism emphasizes that “we have been working on enhancement of our heritage and this BIC declaration of the Dolmens demonstrates this, a declaration requested by this City Council to the Board on January 16, 2020, together with that of the Sierrezuela and its surroundings as a heritage area, the highest award that can be granted to a set of assets. ».
The cave sample of Espiel
The rock manifestations of the Peña Redonda shelter belong to one of the few locations in Sierra Morena with parietal representations of this type. Located next to the Sierra del Castillo de Espiel, the shelter that houses these pictorial manifestations, which are distributed in three panelswas discovered in October 2011 during cavity exploration work carried out by the G40 Speleological Group of Priego.
The Al-Kanz Cave was located by chance in January 2019. In July 2020, a new chance discovery took place inside it, in which remains of a small panel of schematic art with a framed chronology were observed. presumably, in recent prehistory. The cave is located in a place located 2.5 kilometers from the town of Espielin the vicinity of the Hermitage of Our Lady of La Estrella.
Objective, accessibility
From the Department of Culture of Espiel, Mari Angeles Rosales indicates that the City Council’s first measure would be to make these enclaves more accessible with a signposted route “because there are many people from the town who do not know the way to get to those caves, especially to the top of Peña Redonda which it’s not easy to get there and several hours have to be spent.
However, it is necessary beforehand reach an agreement with the ownership of the landsince it is not municipal land, a handicap that until now had prevented them from acting and undertaking exploitation at a tourist level. In addition, they intend to promote activities such as mountaineering, trekking and climbing in that area.
In the Espeleño town hall they do not hide their joy for both declarations of Assets of Cultural Interest because for the municipality can be a very important boost and, above all, for the conservation and protection of cave paintings.
The only one in the south of the province
The dolmen of La Dehesa de la Lastra, in the Sierra de Alcaide, in the municipality of Luque, is a corridor tomb composed of a quadrangular chamber with a short, narrow, undifferentiated closed corridor. It is small in size, its Total length is 3.72 meters and its central axis faces North-Northwest..
It is the only dolmen in the south of the province and It has the peculiarity that it faces north, unlike most of its kind. Only some very fragmented human bones could be recovered from its interior due to the high degree of reuse and plundering to which it had been historically subjected.
The Heritage Councilor of Luque, Maria del Carmen Jimenezvalues the declaration by the Board very positively and expresses the City Council’s desire to act on the dolmen and its surroundings because Until now it has not been possible to put much value and it is an important prehistoric vestige.
However, the main drawback is that it is located on private property and until now any major intervention after its excavation has been impossible. 1992 by the Priego Archaeological Museum. «Let’s hope that the situation can change after the cataloging by the Board», points out the municipal official.
The fact of Being on private land and not being able to visit means that it is being excluded from tourist routes.although it appears in the itineraries and there is also extensive information about the dolmen in the Archaeological Museum of Luque, as well as in street maps.