1235: Roja, Cueva
El Naso 30T 451658 4796205 (Datum: ETRS89. Accuracy code: G) Altitude 325m
Length 108m
Area position : Site entrance in context : Logbook search

Updated 19th February 1999; 27th October , 18th November 2001; 3rd June 2002; 19th October 2003; 23rd February 2005; 11th January, 23rd December 2008; 22nd May 2017; 8th January 2020

The entrance lies 50m diagonally down from the right side of the prominant "slip feature"? to the west of Cueva de Rascavieja (077). An earlier GPS position was 30T 451655 4796200 (Datum: ETRS89)
Despite the comfortable size of the entrance it would appear from lack of debris, footprints and broken bones that the visits in 1997 were the first for a long time.

Inside the entrance, the floor is covered with cave pearls and the best route is to walk along the left hand wall past calcited bones. Straight ahead a rift closes in; this has modern graffiti. To the right lie many charcoal deposits and charcoal markings on the wall. A sample has been radio-carbon dated to the 11th or 12th century. The marks are described and sketched in Smith Peter, 1998b. Ruiz Cobo Jesús and Smith Peter et al, 2001 also describes the schematic-abstract paintings and includes line-drawings. The developing Acanto web site (by the Federación de Asociaciones para la defensa del Patrimonio Cultural y Natural de Cantabria) has a section on Arte Rupestre esquemático-abstracto.

The final chamber is between 1.5 and 4m high with the floor consisting of gours pools and a number of formations, including a 3m high column.

Reference Smith P et al, 2015 has a table of radio-carbon dates.

Reference: anon., 1997d (Autumn logbook); Corrin Juan, 1998 (photo); Smith Peter, 1998b (survey); Smith Peter and Ruiz Cobo Jesús, 1999; Ruiz Cobo Jesús and Smith Peter et al, 2001 (includes line drawings); anon., 2003c (summer logbook); Ruiz Cobo Jesús and Smith Peter, 2003 (survey and photo); anon., 2005a (February logbook); anon., 2008a (January logbook); Ruiz Cobo Jesús et al, 2008 (survey); Smith P et al, 2015; anon., 2017b (Easter logbook)
Entrance picture : yes
Underground picture(s): final chamber 1  final chamber 2  final chamber 3  bones in entrance passage
photos taken January 2008
Detailed Survey : 1:500   survey from Ruiz Cobo Jesús et al, 2008, p235 (more detail)
Line Survey :
On area survey :
Survex file : yes (Amended magnetic declination December 2013 to align with Eur79 grid and coordinates altered to fit ETRS89 datum, April 2014.)

X