We had a conversation with another guest at Coulderaria de Alter Chao, the Royal Stud Farm, about visiting the Coa Valley at night. Since we already had a reservation at Casa Cisterna in Castelo Rodrigo, I contacted the owner to ask about a night visit. She happens to be a biologist
with a license to give night visits to the Archaeological Park in the Coa Valley.
We rode with Ana for an hour last evening, with the last couple of miles on rutted dirt road, down into the Coa River Valley, under a full moon. We walked some distance in complete darkness before arriving at the first rock drawing. There were others to follow. We had an amazing night time experience, seeing the prehistoric rock art, primarily of horses, ibix, and other animals, dating from 10,000 to 22,000 BC. This rock art was discovered in the early 1990's, when archaeologists were doing a survey prior to the construction of a dam on the Coa River. When the art was discovered, many people in the area wanted to save it, so the project was put on the next election ballot and the dam project was cancelled. The prehistoric art was saved as the Archaeological Park of the
Coa Valley and classified as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008.
