Marmalo

Five sites in a small valley

Marmalo lies in a large sandstone massif, around 500 metres from the mouth of the Mesto’s seasonal channel. It has five sites, each with its own features:

• Marmalo I: a small rock shelter, 2 metres above the stream, with a bovine as its sole subject.
• Marmalo II: a schematic rock shelter, with finger marks and bars.
• Marmalo III: a large cave with an overhang and two panels. One holds almost all the schematic signs, dots and bars; the other, a Levantine bull and deer dated to the pre-Neolithic.
• Marmalo IV: a deep cavity with fallen blocks. On one panel, a human figure, zigzags and an unfinished bull; on another, a goat and an ibex beside a human figure.
• Marmalo V: a broad rock shelter, 15 metres to the north, with a narrow band of schematic signs.

The Castellón de los Machos

The regional Department of Culture counts a sixth site in the valley, the Castellón de los Machos, on a cliff overlooking the head of Marmalo. It has only three figures, naturalistic but not Levantine. Above, a human figure with an arrow or spear embedded at neck level; below, two animals painted using the same technique but differing in shape. Like Villar del Humo’s other thirty sites, it is a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain’s highest heritage listing).

Plan your visit

Before you travel

The paintings are fragile: do not touch or wet them.

Combine with

It forms part of the Villar del Humo group, a World Heritage Site, alongside Peña del Escrito and Selva Pascuala. The village is covered under Villar del Humo.