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Found a prehistoric site with cave paintings in Gamiz-Fika

According to the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, it was discovered by Juan Carlos López Quintana and Juan Carlos Izagirre as part of an intervention programme for the recovery of the environment of the San Pedro de Atxispe hermitage on 26 June 2025. The experts who have investigated the return are the first mixed hypogeum documented in the Cantabrian area. 

Gamiz Fika pintura rupestre erlapiku
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A cave painting found at the Erlapiku site in Gamiz-Fika.

They found a new prehistoric site in Gamiz-Fika (Bizkaia) with cave paintings , as reported today by the Provincial Council of Bizkaia.  

While participating in an intervention program for the recovery of the environment of the San Pedro hermitage of Atxispe, they found thesite   Erlapiku Juan Carlos Lopez Quintan(Agiri) and Juan Carlos Izagirreon June 26, 2025.

The Provincial Council of Bizkaia today presented the details of the finding at a press conference held this morning at the Archaeological Museum. Leixuri Arrizabalaga, Member of Parliament for Euskera, Culture and Sport, and archaeologists Iñaki Intxaurbe and Juan Carlos Lopez Quintana. 

The Member of the European Parliament has stated that the finding "is a source of joy and value, and gives us the opportunity to shed light on a stage of history that lay in the dark. It shows us that the people who lived in the land that is now Bizkaia were not isolated and were part of a wider community". 

The first mixed Cantabrian hypogee

The Erlapiku site is an artificial cave called Hippogeo, the first mixed hypogeum documented in the Cantabrian area. kOba, according to experts who have studied it, contains cave paintings made in prehistory (5000-1000 BC)

In total there are five panels with paintings, and at least 25 figures, made of two pigment tones: red and black. They are schematic human figures, sometimes only the body and arms, and sometimes locked in a circle over the head. 

A cave painting found at the Erlapiku site in Gamiz-Fika. The Provincial Council of Bizkaia.

The first place where schematic art appears in Bizkaia

The site is the work of two independent researchers, specialists and leading references in cave art: Diego Garate Maidagan (University of Cantabria) and Primitiva Bueno (University of Alcalá de Henares). 

According to their reports, there is sufficient reason to believe thatthe paintings found are prehistoric (5000-1000 BCE) . They also believe that the cave was painted at different times. 

Similar drawings have been found in some Cantabrian site (such as Peña Tu or El Castillo) and in some Alavese caves (such as Socuevas de San Miguel and Las Yurdinas), but so far no examples of schematic art have been found in the Cantabrian area. 

New cave paintings in the cave of Armintxe

In today's presentation, they also announced the discovery of new cave paintings in the Armintxe cave of Ekeitium. 

They have explained that these findings will make it possible to assess more precisely what the cave's flood processes are like, how they affect cave art and what measures need to be taken to preserve it properly. 

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