The Escoural cave is widely recognised for the presence of Palaeolithic rock art. The discovery of paintings and engravings inside inspired more than five decades of research, which in turn uncovered 50,000 years of history. These millennia of human occupation far exceed the period attributed to the rock art present here.

Looking back over the thousands of years that separate us from the first species of hominids that sheltered in the Escoural cave, we find a species that predates ours - Neanderthal Man.

Later, around 35,000 years ago, during the Upper Palaeolithic, the Homo Sapiens used it as a sacred space and for artistic expression, leaving us an important and recognised legacy of rock art.

In the Neolithic period, around 7,000 years ago, nearby populations used this natural cavity as a funerary space (necropolis). This may have been the last time the Escoural cave was occupied, as its entrance was blocked, whether intentionally or by natural accident.

It remained so until 1963, when an explosion in the marble quarry that once existed on this site opened a crack in the rock, revealing the cave's main gallery.