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Avenc dels Ossos

Avenc dels Ossos

A 23-metre-deep pit with four entrance mouths at the Cingle Blanc, Arbolí.

Arbolí • Baix Camp 165m 23m

A 23-metre-deep pit with four entrance mouths at the Cingle Blanc, Arbolí.

Characteristics

Location

From the coll d'Alforja the road heading to l'Arbolí (TV-7012) starts; after a couple of kilometres we find a crossroads, to the left it goes to l'Arbolí, to the right to la Mussara, we will take the latter (TV-7092). After about 350 metres from the crossroads, we find on the right a cultivated field and at the end of it a flat area where a path begins that heads to l'Alforja, descending the Cingle Blanc by the grau de l'Embut; after a bend to the right we reach the base of the cingle, the path passes between an enormous block and the wall of the cingle, we follow the path until reaching the next bend, this time to the left; right at the bend, a small path leaves head-on, which we will follow for about 50 metres, then turn off to the right and climb up in the direction of the cingle for about 30 metres, where there are two gigantic blocks (there are cairns, data from 2012); at the base of the left-hand block we will find mouth no. 1 of the avenc dels Ossos, mouths no. 2 and no. 3 are located just above mouth no. 1 a few metres to the left and mouth no. 4 is located to the left of the previous ones but closer to the cingle; to reach it we will position ourselves on a small flat area below mouth no. 1 and follow a small path in a W direction that passes to the left of the mouth of the cova de l'Esquerda, the small path turns towards the N in the direction of the cingle and shortly before reaching it we will find mouth no. 4 in the middle of the small path.

Map

Entrances

Always verify coordinates and access conditions before setting out.

  1. Avenc dels Ossos

    Elevation: 723 m

    41.224120, 0.955456
    UTM 31T (ED 50) 328724 4565856
Download all entrances as GPX

Photos

Avenc dels Ossos - Photo, Arbolí, Baix CampView image
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Espeleoindex · CC BY-NC 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ · Image © its author.

Image 1 of 5

Description

Morphology

Of the four mouths that the cavity presents, no. 1 is in the form of a cave, while the rest form pits. Entering through no. 1, one reaches a hall of 12x5 metres, totally occupied by blocks of all sizes; in its ceiling entrances no. 2 and 3 open. At one end of the hall and once a small pit has been flanked, a gallery begins that leads with a steep slope to a small room situated at the base of the pit of mouth no. 4, from which different branches emerge, all of short length, except for the one that leads to the Sala del rat-penat; in this room, with a sloping floor and occupied by clastic materials, we will find the only speleothems of the whole cavity. The cavity was formed from the tilting of a large piece of cingle.

History

Although long known by the local people, the first visit of which there is a record is the one made in 1929 by Salvador Vilaseca Anguera, from Reus; he carried out archaeological studies in a series of caves located in the Cingle Blanc, calling them coves d'Arbolí and cataloguing them alphabetically with the letters from A to N; he published these studies in 1934. In 1941 he published a new work referring to la cova "M", which is none other than the avenc known today as dels Ossos.

In more modern times the cavity received sporadic visits from speleologists. The GES del CMB during 1979 explored all the cavities of the Cingle Blanc, publishing the results in 1980 in the magazine Sota Terra 1; currently the municipality of l'Arbolí is incorporated into the comarca of Baix Camp, but at different times it had been in the Conca de Barberà and also in the Priorat.

Except for la Cova del Rufino, which Vilaseca catalogued with the letter "C", and the dels Ossos with "M", the GES, faced with the unknown of knowing which letter corresponded to each cavity, chose to rename all the cavities that were not known by a specific name.

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Bibliography

  1. Borrás, J.;Miñarro, JM.;Talavera, F.(1984).-”el baix camp, el priorat i la ribera d'ebre”. Catàleg Espeleològic de Catalunya (vol. 7):1-283. Ed. Políglota. Barcelona.
  2. Ferrer, V.; Cano, M.; Borràs, J.; Garcés, JL.(1982).-”Coves del Rufino (els Motllats). Sota Terra (3):59-64. GES – CMB. Barcelona.
  3. Montoriol, A.(1980).-”Noves cavitats obertes als Motllats”. Sota Terra (1):28-38. GES – CMB. Barcelona.
  4. Massó Carballido, Jaume.-”Salvador Vilaseca i la Prehistòria d'Arbolí. Notes Biogràfiques”. Aplec de treballs (14).

  1. Vilaseca Anguera, Salvador.(1934).-”les Coves d'Arbolí (Conca de Barberà)” butlletí Arqueològic (èpc.III,47):317-328. Societat Arqueològica Tarraconense.
  2. Vilaseca Anguera, Salvador.(1941).-"Más hallazgos prehistóricos en Arbolí". Empúries (3):45-62. 

Source: Espeleoindex (espeleoindex.com), modified. CC BY-NC 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/