Gorham's Cave Complex
Four sea caves at the foot of the Rock, among the last known homes of the Neanderthals. UNESCO listing (opens the UNESCO site) ↗︎
History
The story of Gibraltar
To the ancient world the Rock was one of the Pillars of Hercules, the edge of the known world at the mouth of the Mediterranean. Long before that, Neanderthals lived in its sea caves; the caves on its eastern face are among the last places they are known to have lived.
In 711 the Berber commander Tariq ibn Ziyad landed here at the start of the Muslim conquest of Iberia, and the Rock still carries his name: Jabal Tariq, the Mountain of Tariq, became Gibraltar. The Moorish Castle, with its Tower of Homage, dates from the Moorish centuries. Spanish from 1462, Gibraltar was taken by an Anglo-Dutch fleet in 1704 and ceded to Britain by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. During the Great Siege of 1779 to 1783, the garrison began to cut the tunnels that still honeycomb the Rock.
A short timeline
- The NeanderthalsPrehistory
Gorham's Cave and its neighbours, on the eastern face of the Rock.
- The Pillars of HerculesAntiquity
Phoenician, Greek and Roman sailors marked the Rock as the end of the Mediterranean.
- Jabal Tariq711 to 1462
The Moorish centuries and the Moorish Castle.
- Spanish Gibraltar1462 to 1704
A fortified town at the foot of the Rock.
- British GibraltarFrom 1704
The Treaty of Utrecht (1713) and the Great Siege (1779 to 1783).
