Magdalenian Engraved Stone Plaque

We normally associate Palaeolithic art with cave paintings of large mammals, especially herbivores, achieving great artistic technique. However, among these fine representations there are small signs, based on lines, dots or patches that we do not know what they represent but that play a very relevant role within the symbolic systems of the Palaeolithic peoples, judging by the large number of such representations.

It is a very fine-grained sandstone plaque, almost certainly from the Algeciras-Bujeo flysch outcrops, in particular from the section of marl and micaceous sandstones in Algeciras, which formed in the Oligocene. The nearest outcrops of this rock today are in the area of San Roque.

The motifs engraved on this stone plaque are far from spectacular, but these finds are not very abundant in the western region of the Iberian Peninsula. It displays a combination of natural lines (white), that are products of deformations of the sandstone caused by pressure in the sedimentation process, with other lines clearly created by people (black) forming a sub-quadrangular shape.

The meaning of these artistic manifestations from the Palaeolithic is far from being understood by archaeology. This is not only true in the case of these enigmatic abstract engravings but even when it comes to the wonderful more obvious representations of fauna from some of the world famous European sites and is one of the main issues of debate among some Palaeolithic art specialists.