Akerdi Cave System
Cueva de Akerdi · Urdax Cave
Upper Palaeolithic to Bronze Age·Magdalenian / Bronze Age·🇪🇸 Navarre, Urdazubi / Urdax, Spain
About
About Akerdi Cave System
Karstic cave network in Navarre Pyrenees foothills with Upper Palaeolithic engravings and Holocene deposits, including Magdalenian mobiliary art and early Bronze Age burials. Connects hydrologically to nearby Isturitz-Oxocelhaya system.
Why it mattersWestern Pyrenean Magdalenian frontier linking Cantabrian and French art provinces.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Connection to Isturitz art tradition
- 02Bronze Age reuse
Theories
- 01Trans-Pyrenean Magdalenian corridor
- 02Ritual burial cave in Bronze Age
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c. 15000 BP (natural cave)
- Period
- Upper Palaeolithic to Bronze Age
- Culture
- Magdalenian / Bronze Age
- Purpose
- Art sanctuary, habitation and burial
- Rediscovered
- Modern excavation 19th–20th century
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c. 15000 BP (natural cave)
Initial construction / first occupation at Akerdi Cave System
19th century / 1960s
Antiquarian notice and modern systematic excavation of Akerdi Cave System
2000s
Conservation and publication of final reports for Akerdi Cave System
On the ground
Structures & features
43.2680° N · 1.5070° W · 120 m · 3 mapped features
Engraved Bison Panel
rock artMagdalenian engraved bison and horse panel in main gallery
43.2681° N · 1.5069° WBronze Age Burial Niche
burialSide niche with Bronze Age inhumations and pottery
43.2679° N · 1.5071° WUnderground Stream Conduit
hydraulicActive karstic stream conduit linking to Urdax aquifer, with hydrologic deposits
43.2682° N · 1.5069° W