A new study by researchers from the University of Cordoba claims that the Nerja Caves in Malaga, Spain, have received more prehistoric visits than any other in Europe.
Since their unwitting discovery by local children in 1959, the Nerja Caves, whose walls are covered in Paleolithic art, have been a hotspot for tourists and archaeologists. The most recent research demonstrates that the caves have been continuously visited for 41,000 years, 10,000 years earlier than previously thought.
While considerable attention has been paid to prehistoric cave art, which ranges from dots and lines to complex zoomorphic scenes, this latest research focuses solely on dating human activity. Prehistoric visitors relied on torch and fire to light up caves, leaving soot on the walls and charcoal on the floor that researchers today collect and test using carbon dating techniques.
María Medina in the Cave of Navarro (Malaga). Photo: University of Cordoba.
It is a technique Marián Medina, the main author of the article of Scientific reportscalls “the archeology of smoke”, and which she practiced in Spanish and French caves.
“The document includes 68 radiocarbon dates (48 of which are unpublished)”, the researchers explained in the article. “35,000 years of human occupation in deep karst and at least 64 different phases have been identified, to date the highest number of known visits for a prehistoric cave in Europe.”
The residues studied by the scientists include a black mark (A), micro coals inside a stationary lamp (B), scattered coals (C) and a section of stalagmites (D). Photo: Medina-Alcaide, M.Á., Vandevelde, S., Quiles, A. et al. “35,000 years of recurrent visits inside the Nerja cave”, (Andalusia, Spain) based on analyzes of charcoal and soot microlayers.
The oldest remains coincide with the period of Upper Paleolithic toolmaking known as the Aurignacian industry, associated with early modern humans in Europe, although it is also possible that the soot was the product of fires of Neanderthal. Further research in the article shows the enduring popularity of a particular type of pine for fires.
“The anthracological data from this study further reinforce this idea of a preferential and cross-cultural choice… for lighting activities inside caves in the Upper Paleolithic,” the paper says.
For the main author, the investigations on the caves of Nerja can bring clarifications on the evolution of the human behavior. “It can still reveal a lot about who we were,” she said.
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