A day to discover the prehistoric engravings of Roca de les Ferradures using 3D technology

Josep Maria Vergès, researcher at IPHES-CERCA and associate professor at the URV, took part last Saturday in an outreach event dedicated to the prehistoric engravings of Roca de les Ferradures, located in the former settlement of Els Cogullons (Montblanc), one of the most important post-Palaeolithic rock engraving sites in Catalonia. 

The activity, organised by the Centre Excursionista Montblanquí with the support of the Capafonts Town Council, combined an introductory talk with a guided interpretive walk to showcase the research and documentation work that IPHES-CERCA has been carrying out at the site for several years.

The event began at the Capafonts Municipal Hall with a lecture by Josep Maria Vergès entitled “Palaeoenvironmental evolution and prehistoric settlement in the Tarragona regions”. During his presentation, Vergès explained the main features of the Els Cogullons rock art complex, as well as the digital documentation methodologies used for its study and preservation.

Participants then walked to Roca de les Ferradures, where they received an “in situ” explanation of the engravings and of the research, cleaning and documentation tasks undertaken by the research team. The activity gave attendees first-hand insight into how techniques such as 3D scanning and photogrammetry are used to generate high-resolution digital models, a key tool both for scientific study and for the conservation and dissemination of rock art heritage.

One of the most important rock engraving sites in Catalonia

Research carried out by IPHES-CERCA at Roca de les Ferradures led to the discovery of more than 250 prehistoric engravings spread across a vast open-air red sandstone surface, in one of the areas with the highest concentration of rock art sites in the Prades Mountains.

The site, discovered in the late 1970s but largely overlooked until recent years, has revealed a much greater extent and iconographic richness than previously known. Among the identified motifs are the so-called “horseshoes”, crosses interpreted as schematic anthropomorphic figures, and several human representations with large open hands and outstretched arms, some measuring more than half a metre in height.

Research suggests that the earliest engravings may date to the Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, more than 4,000 years ago, although the site appears to have remained in use during the Iron Age and possibly later periods. This long continuity reinforces the hypothesis that the area may have functioned as a symbolic or sacred place associated with ritual and ceremonial practices.

The documentation and research work at the site forms part of the four-year research project “Palaeoenvironmental evolution and prehistoric settlement in the basins of the Francolí, Gaià and Siurana rivers and the streams of the Camp de Tarragona”, led by IPHES-CERCA and funded by the Department of Culture of the Government of Catalonia and the Montblanc Town Council.