Dazzlement: A Visit to the Covalanas Cave

Feb 2, 2024

A closeup view of ancient cave art depicting a red deer in Covalanas cave

This image’s incompleteness seems to contribute to this sense of partnership between the image and the rock. Photo by Takeo Fukuyama

Read the essay: Connecting the Dots at Covalanas Cave

John Rommereim almost didn’t make it to the Covalanas cave in Northern Spain.

Navigation problems, a missed sign, and a half-hour hike over rough terrain almost conspired to keep him from seeing the ancient cave paintings in this World Heritage site. But what he saw there was worth every difficulty encountered along the way.

The ruggedly beautiful landscape near the Covalanas cave, with trees in the foreground and a mountain in the background — A view from Monte Haza hill, where the Covalanas cave is located. Photo by John Rommereim

“Entering the Covalanas cave, there is a different kind of dazzlement,” Rommereim writes. “The spirit of the place encourages the sense that you have been abruptly transported to a distant era.” Visitors (limited in number for the protection of the site) experience remarkably beautiful and lively paintings of red deer and other creatures, created by painting multiple dots on the rock walls of the cave around 20,000 BCE.

Rommereim, who is the Blanche Johnson Professor of Music at Grinnell College, traveled to Spain with a faculty colleague for a week of exploring the cave art there. Rommereim’s essay, “Connecting the Dots at Covalanas Cave,” details his observations and reactions to the cave art.