2023-09-13 19:26:15
Aurochs, horses, deer, hand and finger prints traced in red clay… It is a true marvel that scientists have discovered in this cave in eastern Spain. With more than 100 prehistoric paintings adorning its walls, the Cova Dones cave might turn out to be one of the most important Paleolithic sites of this type in Europe.
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[EN VIDÉO] Cinemas during prehistory? Around 41% of the parietal works adorning the decorated caves represent animals in movement….
The cave was already well known to locals and hikers in the region, but no one, until this day in June 2021, had noticed the subtle paintings adorning its walls. It was a team of researchers from the universities of Zaragoza, Alicante and Southampton who realized, upon visiting the Cova Dones cave, that they were facing a true marvel. More than 100 prehistoric representations dating back at least 24,000 years adorn the walls of the cave, making it the most important site of this type on the Spanish east coast.
Decorated cave of Cova Dones: a major discovery
The Cova Dones cave is in fact located in the town of Millares, near Valencia. A region where few Paleolithic paintings had until now been observed compared to the rest of the country. It might even be the cave with the greatest number of motifs discovered in Europe since those of the Atxurra cave in 2015.
More than 100 paintings made with clay
Nineteen different animals are represented, including aurochs, does, horses and deer. Alongside these animal forms, researchers have identified numerous fingerprints and hand marks. Most of these paintings were made with clay, a technique that is seen infrequently, in part because of the poor preservation of this type of painting. But here, they have been remarkably preserved thanks to the humid environment of the cave which prevented the clay from drying too quickly and falling to the ground. Some were coated with calcite, which also protected them from the passage of time.
The first observations have been published in the magazine Antiquitybut researchers explain that the cave still has a lot of information to provide!
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