A 24,000-YEAR-OLD DISCOVERY IN A EUROPEAN CAVE LEFT RESEARCHERS STUNNED. NOW THEY'RE CALLING IT THE "MOST IMPORTANT" OF ITS KIND

[Judi Lynn]

MICAH HANKS·OCTOBER 18, 2023



One of the most significant Palaeolithic art sites found in recent years has been discovered within a 500-meter-long cave on Europe’s Eastern Iberian Coast.

Hailed by archaeologists as “arguably the most important” cave art discovery in the region, the trove of ancient images, which are believed to be close to 24,000 years old, was found at Cova Dones, a site near Millares located a short distance from Valencia, Spain.

A TREASURE TROVE HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT

Remarkably, although the cave is frequented by locals and visitors to the region, the ancient Palaeolithic art that adorns portions of its walls and ceiling remained undetected until 2021, when a team of Spanish researchers with the Spanish universities of Alicante and Zaragoza, in association with the University of Southampton, UK, detected the ancient paintings.

Among the first representations the researchers recognized at the site had been an auroch, an extinct species of cattle featuring large, elongated horns that are widely regarded as the undomesticated ancestors of modern cattle that thrived during the Pleistocene, with remnant populations remaining in northern Europe until as recently as 1627.

More:
https://thedebrief.org/a-24000-year-old-discovery-in-a-european-cave-left-researchers-stunned-now-theyre-calling-it-the-most-important-of-its-kind/