'The Idol', Peña Tú Asturias

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Perched stunningly in the Sierra Plana de la Borbolla, at Llanes in Asturias, Northern Spain, consisting of a Neolithic rock shelter preserving wonderful examples of prehistoric art.

The idol, interpreted as human form, features eyes, nose and feet wrapped in a cloth or robe, possibly representing a tribal elder or warrior, indictaed by the adjacent dagger motif, and making Peña Tú likely to be a funerary monument.

The images are interspersed with crosses demonstrating the later Christianisation of the site. Other figures include a faint animal motif and numerous red forms throughout.

Peña Tú is likely a part of a series of sites dispersed across the region that are almost certainly connected with a wider common culture, stretching from Ireland to Scandinavia to Tunisia, in the Neolithic.

Surveyed by drone and Land Rover Defender. Many thanks to Prof. Pablo Arias Cabal and colleagues.

Photos: J. Gillespie, B. Mason and G. Momber; Model: B. Mason