A team of Spanish scientists from the University of Alcala and the Autonomous University of Barcelona determined the age of wicker baskets made by hunter-gatherers and early farmers. The finds turned out to date from 9.5 thousand to 6.2 thousand years ago, making them the oldest such objects found in Southern Europe. To work published In the scientific journal Science Advances.
Ancient artifacts were discovered in the Cueva de los Murcielagos cave on the Iberian Peninsula in the Granada region. In total, archaeologists examined 76 objects made of wood, reed and grass.
This is the first direct evidence of basketry by Mesolithic hunter-gatherer societies in Southern Europe, the researchers said.
“The quality and technological sophistication of textiles make us question our simplistic assumptions about human societies before the emergence of agriculture in Southern Europe,” the scientific paper says.
Other items belonging to primitive people, such as sandals and a wooden mace, were also found in the cave.
Previous scientists to create The oldest wooden structure in history.