280 prehistoric engravings stayed unseen in a Spanish cave
· BehindLines newsroom
For more than sixty years, visitors filed past 280 prehistoric engravings without seeing them in the Cova de la Font Major, a Catalan cave in north-eastern Spain. According to ScienceAlert and Gizmodo, the archaeologists Josep Maria Vergès and Míriam Salas-Altès, of the Catalan Institute for Human Palaeoecology and Social Evolution, have now presented this set in the journal Antiquity.
Marks first taken for decoration
The cave's entrance was opened up in 1957, according to ScienceAlert, and cave enthusiasts, treasure hunters and then tourists have come through ever since. It was in 2019 that Vergès noticed a series of parallel lines in a small chamber, the Gatoneres de Cal Palletes. Gizmodo recounts that he was supervising excavations when a group of visitors in wetsuits, on an adventure route, came back out of that chamber; shining a light on the walls, covered with names and dates engraved since 1957, he spotted older marks.
A bestiary of 55 animals
The team counted 280 motifs. Among them are 55 animal figures: horses, deer, goats, cattle, an aurochs and a bear, according to ScienceAlert, which also mentions rows of lines and loops whose age remains uncertain. According to the researchers, about 75% of the known groups along the Iberian Mediterranean façade have at most five animals, and more than 90% at most twenty; ScienceAlert presents this one as the third largest in the region.
Why nobody saw them
The researchers offer a visual explanation, according to Gizmodo: under the straight-on beam of a headlamp, the engravings barely stand out, whereas modern graffiti does. An experienced guide who had come hundreds of times had never noticed the horse; once it was pointed out to her, the team says, it became impossible to ignore.
A date still under discussion
On their age, the articles diverge. Gizmodo mentions at least 19,000 years; ScienceAlert says the age remains an estimate, perhaps earlier than the Magdalenian culture, and that uranium dating is planned. We do not take sides.
Why it matters
According to Míriam Salas-Altès, quoted by ScienceAlert, the north-east of the Iberian peninsula holds first-rate Palaeolithic rock art sites, contrary to what was thought until now. The chamber concerned is closed to the public to protect the engravings, already damaged by erosion and graffiti.