In 1905, farmer José Bullón Lobato spotted a narrow opening in the rock on the land he rented at Rancho del Harillo, near Benaoján in Málaga province. Bats streamed from the fissure, and Bullón entered the cave hoping to collect guano to fertilize his fields. Inside, he found dark pigment marks, geometric signs and animal figures on the walls. He initially called the cave Cueva de los Letreros.
News of the discovery spread locally. British retired colonel Willoughby Verner heard about it in 1907 and led several explorations between 1909 and 1911. His article in The Saturday Review introduced the cave to an international readership. In 1912, a team including prehistorian Henri Breuil and archaeologists Hugo Obermaier, Paul Wernert and Juan Cabré examined the site and documented its paintings.
Researchers recorded more than 3,000 figures and engravings from different phases of the Upper Paleolithic. Among the best-known images is the Pez, an ochre figure more than a metre long with a seal depicted inside it. Other works include a pregnant mare, bison, reindeer, goats and geometric signs.
The cave was declared a National Monument in 1924. Bullón’s son, Tomás Bullón García, continued exploring the passages, finding the entrance used today and, in 1933, the Nuevas Galerías and prehistoric skeletons. A year later, he discovered a carved female figure now known as the Venus of Benaoján, displayed at the Málaga Museum.
In 1992, Bullón descendants and the Grupo Espeleológico Alpino Rondeño found a previously unexplored 250-metre section that had remained undisturbed since prehistoric times. Five generations of the family have helped protect the cave and guide visitors through the site, which the account describes as an important example of heritage conservation.
Sources: elDiario.es.