Risco Chapín-Cuevas del Caballero

The troglodyte complex of ‘Cuevas del Caballero’ or ‘Cueva Caballero’ is made up of a total of seven excavated artificial caves. The caves face south and towards the inside of the Caldera de Tejeda. Three of them have irregular floors, but this is not the case of the other four, in which the work done inside the caves was successful in producing straight ceilings, walls and floors with hardly any protuberances at all. Caves C5 and C6 are the most elaborate of the complex, with walls, ceilings and floors worked until smooth and the surfaces well-levelled.

All the caves contain bowls or domes in the floors. Caves C1, C2, C3 and C4 also house engravings on their walls, with special focus on the pubic triangles. In addition to these engravings, others are found such as the cruciforms in cave C1, or the punctiforms in cave C2. Domes of various sizes are also located on the inside walls of all the caves catalogued.

Cave C2 contains the most complex rock carvings of the entire troglodyte group of Cueva Caballero. It also conserves the largest number of carved motifs. The main panel facing the entrance space has a composition of patterns formed by more or less circular domes of different sizes, as well as pubic triangles.

Cave C1, also called Cueva de Las Machas, is interesting for its significance because, according to tradition, this cave was inhabited by women who practised witchcraft, although the name is due to a distorted tradition referring to the fact that women dedicated to the cult lived here, thus confirming that the area was one of the main mountain sanctuaries of the ancient Canarians.