Escoural Cave

The Prehistoric Rock-Art Site of Escoural Cave is a structure known for its Paleolithic-era rock-art and funerary burial site, located in the Portuguese municipality of Montemor-o-Novo, in the civil parish of Santiago do Escoural [1]. The earliest vestiges of human occupation date back to 50,000 years B.C., associated with the interior of the cave [1]. The first occupants of the cave came from groups of Neanderthal hunter-gatherers, who used the cave as a temporary shelter in order to hunt [1]. Based on bone evidence within the cave, these groups hunted nearby aurochs, deer and horse [1]. Elements of rock art also pertain to the Upper Paleolithic (40,000 to 10,000 years B.C.) or final parts of the Neolithic period, when the interior was used as a funerary site, while a small settlement inhabited the area in the exterior [1]. During the Chalcolithic period, a human settlement existed within the cave, developing into a fortified site by the end of Copper Age [1].