Spanish archaeologists from the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES) and the Merida Institute of Archaeology have found a cave in northeastern Spain that served as a cemetery for 4 thousand years. It was used by both ancient humans and Neanderthals. The study was published in the scientific journal broadcasting Live Science.
According to scientists, the Cova dels Charagals cave (Cave of the Passage), 90 kilometers from Barcelona, became a tomb about 7 thousand years ago. More than 7 thousand bones were discovered in the natural underground. The oldest finds date back to the Stone and Copper Ages.
As analysis of funerary artifacts shows, in the Cave of the Passage the bodies of persons of high status were placed separately from ordinary deceased, who were provided with public burial places.
Additionally, many bronze and silicon weapons and tools, ceramics, jewelry and other items were found in the cave.
In addition to findings that the cave was used for graves from the Neolithic Age to the Bronze Age, recent excavations have unearthed wild goat bones and charcoal in the cave, which has a history of more than 45,000 years. Neanderthals lived in the region at that time.
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