Archaeological site · Henarejos
Abrigo de los Oculados
Abrigo de los Oculados lies within Henarejos, among the painted shelters of Sierra de las Cuerdas. It takes its name from its eye idols, large-eyed figures in schematic art. In 2012 a University of Castilla-La Mancha team radiocarbon-dated mineral crusts beneath and above three of them, obtaining dates consistent with the Copper Age.
- Municipality
- Henarejos
- Rock art
- Schematic art
- Eye idols
- Henarejos
- Radiocarbon
- Copper Age
Eyes on the rock
Eye idols are figures reduced almost to two large eyes, a schematic art motif also appearing on bone, stone and pottery objects. They name this shelter in Henarejos, in the Sierra de las Cuerdas group, the same as the Villar del Humo ensembles.
A date for the paintings
Rock paintings can almost never be dated directly. In 2012 a team led by the University of Castilla-La Mancha used radiocarbon to measure thin mineral oxalate crusts growing on the rock: one beneath and one above three idols. The dates fitted the chronology assumed by comparison with other objects, in the Copper Age. It was one of the peninsula’s first rock-art datings of this kind.
Plan your visit
Before you travel
The paintings are fragile: do not touch or wet them. Ask in the village about access.
Combine with
Abrigo del Tío Modesto and Selva Pascuala in Villar del Humo.
Frequently asked questions
How was it dated?
By AMS radiocarbon measurement of calcium oxalate crusts forming on the rock: one beneath the paintings and another above. This provides an earlier and a later limit.
What period are they from?
The Copper Age, between the mid-4th millennium and early 1st millennium BC, according to University of Castilla-La Mancha studies cited by Castilla-La Mancha Tourism.
Carry on from here
Lands and landscapes
From here, follow the memory of the land
These readings connect Abrigo de los Oculados with the stories, the work and the villages around it.
This place through time
Which eras you can read here
A single place can keep traces of several periods. These layers connect what you see with the atlas's stories.
Where it is
Where the data on this page come from
- Name
- Municipality (INE code)
«Source consulted»: the primary source has been read. «Reference located»: the source has been identified but not yet read. «Open question»: the figure needs confirmation.