Archaeologists have uncovered thousands of human and animal skeletal remains in a cave, demonstrating that it was used as a burial site for millennia during prehistoric times.
The cave, known as the Cova dels Xaragalls, is located in the municipality of Vimbodí i Poblet, Tarragona province, in the autonomous community of Catalonia, northeastern Spain.
Excavations conducted at the cave in December 2023—under the direction of the Catalan Institute for Human Palaeoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES)—have identified more than 7,000 human skeletal remains, as well as a large number of animal bones, fragments of ceramic vessels and ornamental objects.
These finds date from the Neolithic (or New Stone Age) to the Bronze Age, namely, a period stretching from around 7,000 to 3,000 years ago. The discoveries in the cave confirm that it served as a burial site for more than four millennia, IPHES announced in a press release.
"We know that this cavity was used as a burial cave, it was a cemetery in which the bodies of the deceased were deposited. It was used for this [purpose] for millennia, which generated a large deposit of human corpses," Antonio Rodríguez Hidalgo, a professor in the department of prehistory and archaeology at the University of Seville and associate researcher with IPHES, said in a release.
"During the latest archaeological interventions we are finding much more evidence of the funerary use of the cave, as well as obtaining the first direct radiocarbon dates of the human remains," IPHES researcher Miguel Ángel Moreno-Ibáñez told Newsweek. "We are finding individuals of different ages, and different types of grave goods, both ceramic, stone, and bronze objects."
The fact that the cave was used continuously for burial purposes over such a long period allows researchers to study changes in the prehistoric societies of the region, particularly how deaths were treated in different periods.
"These findings reveal the maintenance of a very similar funerary behavior over a long period of time, using natural caves as tombs," Moreno-Ibáñez said. "It also reveals the same funerary treatment of individuals of different ages, although we observe a social hierarchy, reflected in the grave goods made of bronze."
Studying burials over the course of several millennia comes with its challenges, however.
"In cave funerary contexts, where the same spaces have been reused for millennia, one of the most complicated challenges is trying to document the different modes of burial carried out by the populations that successively occupied the territory," Alfredo Suesta, one of the directors of the recent excavations, said in the release.
The large quantity of animal remains uncovered during the excavations represent various animals, including sheep, goats, pigs and cows—all of which were typical livestock animals in Mediterranean prehistory—as well as dogs and horses.
Intriguingly, one part of the cave preserves the skeletal remains of wild goat, charcoal and burnt bones dated to more than 40,000 years ago. These findings suggest that the cave may have previously been frequented by Neanderthals, one of our closest human relatives. Neanderthals lived in Eurasia before disappearing around 40,000 years ago.
The Cova dels Xaragalls has aroused "great archaeological interest" since the beginning of the 20th century, according to Moreno-Ibáñez.
"Among the skeletal remains found during these interventions in the 20th century, we have a complete human cranium with a trepanation. This is a prehistoric surgical intervention that sought to access the interior of the skull by cutting out a fragment of bone. This cranium is of great interest for studying these practices, their purpose, and significance," he said.
Previous research has documented the use of caves as burial sites by prehistoric humans in parts of the Iberian Peninsula—the stretch of land in southwestern Europe shared between Spain and Portugal—over long periods of time.
For example, one study published last year showed how prehistoric humans manipulated and utilized the bones of deceased individuals buried in a cave throughout thousands of years.
In the PLOS One study, a team examined numerous human remains belonging to at least 12 individuals found in a cave in the Andalusia region of southern Spain, known as Cueva de los Marmoles.
The researchers dated the remains to between roughly the 5th and 2nd millennia B.C. The evidence suggests that the individuals were placed in the cave while only partially decomposed.
The researchers identified intentional modifications to the bones that were carried out after death, including fractures and scrapes that might have resulted from efforts to extract marrow and other tissues.
Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about archaeology? Let us know via science@newsweek.com.
Update 2/26/24, 2:31 p.m. ET: This article has been updated to include additional comments from Miguel Ángel Moreno-Ibáñez.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Aristos is a Newsweek science reporter with the London, U.K., bureau. He reports on science and health topics, including; animal, ... Read more
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
