24 November 2024 The Future is the Product of the Past

Smoke archeology finds evidence Humans visited Nerja Cave for 40,000 Years

A new study by a team from the University of Córdoba reveals that Nerja is the European cave with the most confirmed and recurrent visits during Prehistory.

Humans have been visiting the Cave of Nerja for 41,000 years; for a few of them, it has been exploited as a tourist attraction, and for nearly the same amount of time, it has been the subject of scientific study. Throughout its history, and even today, it continues to stun visitors and researchers from around the world.

The latest surprise from the cave, located in the province of Malaga, was just published in Scientific Reports by an international team including researchers from the University of Córdoba; Marian Medina, currently at the University of Bourdeux; Eva Rodríguez; and José Luis Sachidrián, a Professor of Prehistory and the scientific director of the Cave of Nerja.

They have managed to demonstrate that Humanity has been present in Nerja for some 41,000 years, 10,000 years earlier than previously believed, and that it is Europe’s cave featuring Paleolithic Art in Europe with the highest number of confirmed and recurrent visits to its interior during Prehistory.

This new research has managed to document 35,000 years of visits in 73 different phases, which means that human groups entered the cave every 35 years, according to their calculations.

Image composition of the materials. (A) Black mark (dating number 33). (B) Micro-charcoal inside fixed lamp (dating number 43). (C) Scattered charcoals (dating number 54). (D) GN16-08 stalagmite section. The red arrows point to one of the samples, analyzed both by TEM–EDX and Raman micro-spectroscopy. Credit: Scientific Reports (2023).
Image composition of the materials. (A) Black mark (dating number 33). (B) Micro-charcoal inside fixed lamp (dating number 43). (C) Scattered charcoals (dating number 54). (D) GN16-08 stalagmite section. The red arrows point to one of the samples, analyzed both by TEM–EDX and Raman micro-spectroscopy. Credit: Scientific Reports.

This level of precision has been made possible thanks to the use of the latest techniques dating the coals and remains of fossilized soot on the stalagmites of the Nerja Cave. This is what has been called “smoke archaeology,” a new technique developed by the main author of the work, Marián Medina, from Córdoba’s Santa Rosa district, an honorary researcher at that city’s university, who has been reconstructing European prehistory for more than a decade by analyzing the remnants of torches, fires, and smoke in Spanish and French caves.

With the enthusiasm of one who loves what she does, Medina explains that the information that Transmission Electron Microscopy and Carbon-14 dating techniques can provide on man’s rituals and ways of life is impressive.

In this last work, 68 datings are presented, 48 totally new, of the deepest areas of the cave, featuring Paleolithic Art, and evidence of chronocultures never previously recorded has been found.

Furthermore, these “fire archaeologists” understand how to interpret the way the torches were moved based on the information detected under the microscope, inferring from it the symbolic and scenographic use that humans made of fire 40,000 years ago.

“The prehistoric paintings were viewed in the flickering light of the flames, which could give the figures a certain sense of movement and warmth,” explains Medina, who also underscores the funerary use of the Nerja Cave in the latter part of Prehistory, for thousands of years. “There is still much it can reveal about what we were like,” she says.

The study was published in Scientific Reports.

doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-32544-1

Related Articles

Minoan civilization may have used celestial navigation techniques

3 March 2023

3 March 2023

According to a study done by an American researcher at the University of Wales, ancient civilizations may have used celestial...

The Amazon rainforest was once home to ancient cities – A vast network of 2,500-year-old garden cities

12 January 2024

12 January 2024

Aerial surveys have revealed the largest 2,500-year-old ancient cities in the Amazon, hidden for thousands of years by lush vegetation...

Saudi Arabia’s “Gates of Hell” and Mysterious Structures

30 March 2024

30 March 2024

The region of Saudi Arabia, where the mysterious neolithic structures called the “Gates of Hell” are located, has around 400...

A Viking ship discovered at Salhushaugen Cemetery in Norway

22 April 2023

22 April 2023

Archaeologists in Norway, a 20-meter-long Viking ship has been discovered using georadar on a mound previously believed to be empty....

The altar of Zeus Temple discovered in western Turkey

1 September 2023

1 September 2023

Archaeological excavations in the ancient city of Magnesia, located in the western province of Aydın’s Germencik district, have uncovered the...

2,700-year-old bronze figurine found in Germany’s Tollence River: goddess or weight?

9 April 2022

9 April 2022

A Bronze Age female figurine discovered in the Tollense River in northern Germany may have been a goddess, part of...

Archaeologists Find Mysterious 2,800-year-old Channels in Jerusalem

30 August 2023

30 August 2023

Archaeologists excavating in Jerusalem have uncovered a network of mysterious channels dating back to the days of King Joash and...

Human remains found at prison sewer site are 4,500 years old in East Yorkshire

26 March 2024

26 March 2024

Archaeologists investigating the site of a new sewer to serve a jail being built at Full Sutton in East Yorkshire,...

Two Infant burials found under prehistoric “Dragon Stone” in Armenia

4 June 2024

4 June 2024

An international team of researchers has unearthed the remains of an adult woman and two infants buried under a basalt...

Excavations at Coleshill may rewrite English Civil War history

5 February 2023

5 February 2023

Archaeologists excavating the site of Coleshill Manor in Warwickshire have revealed evidence of what could be one of the first...

City swallowed by sea now center of boat tours

10 September 2023

10 September 2023

The Kekova region, or Sunken City, which has remained under the sea after two major earthquakes in the sixth century...

3000 years old wooden wishing well discovered in Germany

7 January 2023

7 January 2023

In the town of Germering, in the Germany state of Bavaria, archaeologists have unearthed the remains of a well-preserved Bronze...

“Unprecedented” Phoenician necropolis found in southern Spain

28 April 2022

28 April 2022

A 4th or 5th-century B.C Phoenician necropolis has been found at Osuna in Southern Spain. A well-preserved underground limestone vault...

Queen Kubaba: Some 4,500 years ago, a woman rose to power and reigned over one of the largest civilizations in ancient Mesopotamia

28 December 2023

28 December 2023

Is it possible to say who was the first queen in history? Given the size and diversity of human civilization,...

Gladiators were mostly Vegetarians and they were fatter than you may think

6 August 2023

6 August 2023

What better epitomizes the ideal male physique than the Roman gladiator? Gladiators were the movie stars of the first century,...