CUEVA DE ARDALES - FAMOUS ROCK ART CAVE IN SPAIN WAS USED BY ANCIENT HUMANS FOR OVER 50,000 YEARS:

Excavations in Cueva de Ardales, Spain. Photograph diariodecadiz.es.

Although Cueva de Ardales has been long known and studied for its prehistoric occupation and art it is only with recent dating that the great extent of its use by ancient peoples can be appreciated.

"The Cueva de Ardales is a hugely important Palaeolithic site in the south of the Iberian Peninsula owing to its rich inventory of rock art. From 2011 - 2018, excavations were carried out in the cave for the first time ever by a Spanish-German research team. The excavations focused on the entrance area of the cave, where the largest assemblage of non-figurative red lpaintings in the cave is found. - The dating of the Middle Palaeolithic layers agrees with the U/Th dating of some red non-figurative paintings in the entrance area. In  addition, a large assemblage of ochre lumps was discovered in the Middle Palaeolithic layers. Human visits of the cave in the Gravettian and Solutrean can be recognized, but evidence from the Aurignacian and Magdalenian cannot be confirmed with certainty. The quality and nature of meterials found during the excavations indicate that Cueva de Ardales was not a campsite, but was mainly visited to carry out non-domestic tasks, such as the production of rock art or the burial of the dead." (Ramos-Muñoz et al. 2022)

Handprint, Cueva de Ardales, Spain. Internet photograph, public domain.

So there was no sign of actual habitation in Cueva de Ardales, but it was utilized periodically from the Paleolithic Period to modern times for various purposes including ceremonial (a probable reason for the rock art) and as a burial site.

Red painted speleothems in Cueva de Ardales, Spain. Illustration from scitechdaily.com. 

Cueva de Ardales, Spain. Photograph Jose Ramos-Munoz.

“Red-painted speleothems in Ardales Cave – were created more than 64,000 years ago. These cave paintings are the earliest dated so far and predate, by at least 20,000 years, the arrival of modern humans in Europe, which implies Neanderthal authorship.” (News Staff 2018) This is not the only site of that age in Spain, the painted caves of La Pasiega and Maltravieso also contain Neanderthal red painted markings of that age.

"A review of artifacts and more than 50 new dates obtained from the layers of southern Spain's Cueva de Ardales indicates that the cave was not used as a campsite, but was periodically visited for the creation of rock art and the burial of the dead from the Palaeolithic period through the Neolithic period. The internationa team of researchers, led by Jose Ramos-Muñoz of the University of Cadiz, suggests that the cave was probably first used by Neanderthals more than 65,000 years ago. The oldest artworks in the cave, including dots, finger tips, and hand stencils made with red pigment, have been dated to more than 58,000 years ago." (Saraceni 2022)

Cueva de Ardales, Spain. Internet photograph, public domain.

Cueva de Ardales, Spain. Internet photograph, public domain.

Cueva de Ardales, Spain. Internet photograph, public domain.

“Homo sapiens arrived later, around 35,000 years ago, and used the cave sporadically until as recently as the beginning of the Chalcolithic period (Copper Age). – Human remains indicate the use of the cave as a burial place in the Holocene, but evidence of domestic activities is extremely poor, suggesting humans were not living in the cave.” (Lazaro 2022)

This was explained by Ramos-Munoz et al. “The excavations of the area of Geleri’as Bajas in the Cueva de Ardales have not found evidence for prehistoric activity that could suggest the use of the cave as a long-term campsite. The traces of human activity are ephemeral and point out to very specific activities related to the symbolic use of the cave. For instance, burial during the Neolithic. The presence of a substantial number of potential ochre lumps is important in this regard. Ochre lumps were documented in all chronological phases, peaking significantly during the middle Paleolithic. This supports the idea that the cave was maintly used as a location for rock art from the Paleolithic onwards. It seems reasonable to assume that the associated campsite was located outside the cave.” (Ramoz-Muñoz 2022:23)

So, unlike so many of the painted caves in France that were essentially lost for one reason or another (landslides covering the entrances has been documented for more than one cave) the Cueva de Ardales was open and available for human use from as early as 64,000 BCE to the Holocene, and therefore provides a record of that whole time span. "Modern humans then used the cave some 35,000 years ago, after the disappearance of the Neanderthals some 40,000 years ago. Burials dated to the end of the last Ice Age, some 12,000 years ago, were also unearthed. Modern humans continued to use the site sporadically until about 7,000 years ago, the researchers concluded." (Saraceni 2022)

This record is backed up by a unique series of hard dates. “A series of 50 radiocarbon and 12 U/Th dates obtained within the framework of the archaeological excavation confirms a long history of human occupation in Cueva de Ardales. Over 60 U/Th taken from calcite samples covering rock art at the cave gave very valuable additional chronological information.” (Ramoz-Muñoz 2022:27)

We can probably hope for many more significant discoveries from a place with such a significant record of human usage.

NOTE: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.

REFERENCES:

Lazaro, Enrico de, 2022, Study: Spain’s Cueva de Ardales Was Used by Ancient Humans for Over 50,000 Years, 1 June 2022, http://www.sci-news.com/archaeology/cueva-de-ardales-10864.html, accessed 7 August 2022.

Marti, Africa Pitarch, et al., 2021, The symbolic role of the underground world among Middle Paleolithic Neanderthals, edited by Andrew M. Zipkin, PNAS 118 (33), https://doi.org/10.1073.pnas.2021495118

News Staff, 2018, Iberian Peninsula’s Earliest Cave Paintings Were Made by Neanderthals: Study, 23 February 2018, http://www.sci-news.com, accessed 9 July 2022.

Ramos-Munoz, J., Canalejo, P., Blumenrother, J., Bolin, V., Otto, T., Rotganger, M., et al., 2022, The nature and chronology of human occupations at the Galerias Bajas, from Cueva del Ardales, Malaga, Spain, PLoS One 17(6):e0266788, https://doi.org/10/1371/journal.pone.0266788

Saraceni, Jessica E., 2022, Spain’s Cueva de Ardales May Have Held Symbolic Value, 8 June 2022, https://www.archaeology.org/news?page+1, accessed 8 July 2022.