Discovery of new Levantine and schematic rock art in Castelló: the Mas de la Rambla rock shelter (Portell de Morella, Els Ports, Castelló)

Abstract

This paper reports the discovery of the Mas de la Rambla rock shelter, a new prehistoric rock art site in the province of Castelló. Altogether, twenty-nine motifs with distinctive features of two different Post-Palaeolithic artistic expressions, Levantine and schematic art, are preserved in the panel. The detailed analysis of the art and the assessment in the wider context of these two Post-Palaeolithic traditions of Mediterranean Iberia reveal both themes and characteristics already common in these styles, along with unique peculiarities. First, the geographical location, filling a gap in the spatial distribution of Levantine art, particularly among the Lower Aragón and Guadalope/Maestrazgo complex of sites in Aragón, and those of Morella la Vella, Gasulla and Valltorta and Montlleó in Castelló. Second, the geomorphological characteristics of the site, an almost vertical wall lacking the classical overhang of many Levantine rock-art sites. And finally, some of the subject matters represented, providing new evidence of a singular and restricted theme in this artistic cycle such as archers in a phalanx-like formation, as well as the overlap between Levantine and schematic motifs, almost absent in these territories and of great value to establish relative sequences.