SPANISH EXPERTS STUDY BULGARIA’S MAGURA CAVE

Experts from Spain are studying the paintings in Bulgaria’s Magura Cave near the town of Belogradchik in North-West Bulgaria, to prepare them for the nomination for inclusion on UNESCO's list of world cultural and natural heritage sites.

Thirty years ago, Magura Cave was considered to be one of the sites, which deserves to be under UNESCO’s protection.

The cave contains unique paintings on the cave walls and ceilings dating to the early Bronze Age.

The Spanish researchers are from Altamira Research Centre dedicated to conservation and research of the Paleolithic cave of Altamira in Spain. They are helping their Bulgarian colleagues to prepare the nomination of Magura cave for inclusion in the UNESCO list. Altamira cave is already added to the list of world heritage because of its rock paintings from 15,000 years ago.

The paintings in Magura cave are not as ancient, but are of exceptional interest to the scientists.

The deputy director of Altamira National Museum and Reserch Centre says that it is not typical to have  paintings from the Bronze age in caves. Rock art from those times is usually in the open or in small shelters, not in deep caves, he explained.

The prehistoric people who lived in Magura cave seven thousand years ago painted 700 hunting and religious scenes on the walls. Some of the drawings are from a later period and the researchers think they are a solar calendar. More profound study of the images in the cave is necessary for the future nomination.

The director of Altamira National Museum and Research Centre say that the first step would be to get to know the cave better, not only the paintings, but the archaeological layers as it is important to prepare the required documents.